The consolidation of the financial services industry: Causes, consequences, and implications for the future

This article designs a framework for evaluating the causes, consequences, a nd future implications of financial services industry consolidation, review s the extant research literature within the context of this framework (over 250 references), and suggests fruitful avenues for future research. The ev idence is consistent with increases in market power from some types of cons olidation; improvements in profit efficiency and diversification of risks, but little or no cost efficiency improvement on average; relatively little effect on the availability of services to small customers; potential improv ements in payments system efficiency; and potential costs on the financial system from increases in systemic risk or expansion of the financial safety net. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.