Mergers in Financial Services 2000
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Mergers in Financial Services 2000 The OECD Competition Committee debated mergers in financial services in June 2000. This document includes an executive summary of that debate and the documents from the meeting: an analytical note by Mr. Gary Hewitt for the OECD, written submissions from Australia, Canada, the European Commission, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Japan, Korea, Mexico, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey, the United Kingdom, the United States, as well as an aide-memoire of the discussion. The number and size of bank mergers have recently been on the increase in many OECD countries and this seems to be related to four interactive forces: regulatory reform; globalisation in both financial and non- financial markets; excess capacity/financial distress; and technological change including the development of electronic banking. All but a very few of the mergers have proceeded without challenge under competition laws. Where there have been competition problems, competition officials have been faced with some difficult questions, especially as regards market definition, expected efficiencies, and the probable impact of electronic banking. While it is difficult to generalise, most of the competition problems that have been identified seem to relate to lending to small and medium sized enterprises. Remedies for such problems have often involved divestment of carefully selected bank branches. To achieve their goals, such divestments call for close scrutiny by competition authorities. In most countries, bank mergers are subject to oversight by both competition authorities and prudential regulators and some of these countries have adopted policy guidelines explaining how prudential regulators and competition agencies will work together in reviewing mergers. Also, some countries have adopted specific competition policy regimes for the banking sector. OECD Council Recommendation on Merger Review (2005) Oligopoly (1999) Enhancing the Role of Competition in the Regulation of Banks (1998) Relationship between Regulators and Competition Authorities (1998) Unclassified DAFFE/CLP(2000)17 Organisation de Coopération et de Développement Economiques OLIS : 15-Sep-2000 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development Dist. : 20-Sep-2000 __________________________________________________________________________________________ English text only DIRECTORATE FOR FINANCIAL, FISCAL AND ENTERPRISE AFFAIRS Unclassified DAFFE/CLP(2000)17 COMMITTEE ON COMPETITION LAW AND POLICY MERGERS IN FINANCIAL SERVICES English text only 95308 Document complet disponible sur OLIS dans son format d’origine Complete document available on OLIS in its original format DAFFE/CLP(2000)17 2 DAFFE/CLP(2000)17 FOREWORD This document comprises proceedings in the original languages of a Roundtable on Mergers in Financial Services, which was held by the Committee on Competition Law and Policy in June 2000. It is published under the responsibility of the Secretary General of the OECD to bring information on this topic to the attention of a wider audience. This compilation is one of several published in a series entitled "Competition Policy Roundtables". PRÉFACE Ce document rassemble la documentation dans la langue d’origine dans laquelle elle a été soumise, relative à une table ronde sur les fusions dans le secteur des services financiers, qui s'est tenue en juin 2000 dans le cadre de la réunion du Comité du droit et de la politique de la concurrence. Il est publié sous la responsabilité du Secrétaire général de l'OCDE, afin de porter à la connaissance d'un large public les éléments d'information qui ont été réunis à cette occasion. Cette compilation fait partie de la série intitulée "Les tables rondes sur la politique de la concurrence". Visit our Internet Site -- Consultez notre site Internet http://www.oecd.org/daf/clp 3 DAFFE/CLP(2000)17 OTHER TITLES SERIES ROUNDTABLES ON COMPETITION POLICY 1. Competition Policy and Environment OCDE/GD(96)22 (Roundtable in May 1995, published in 1996) 2. Failing Firm Defence OCDE/GD(96)23 (Roundtable in May 1995, published in 1996) 3. Competition Policy and Film Distribution OCDE/GD(96)60 (Rounddtable in November 1995, published in 1996) 4. Competition Policy and Efficiency Claims in Horizontal Agreements OCDE/GD(96)65 (Roundtable in November 1995, published in 1996) 5. The Essential Facilities Concept OCDE/GD(96)113 (Roundtable in February 1996, published in 1996) 6. Competition in Telecommunications OCDE/GD(96)114 (Roundtable in November 1995, published in 1996) 7. The Reform of International Satellite Organisations OCDE/GD(96)123 (Roundtable in November 1995, published in 1996) 8. Abuse of Dominance and Monopolisation OCDE/GD(96)131 (Roundtable in February 1996, published in 1996) 9. Application of Competition Policy to High Tech Markets OCDE/GD(97)44 (Roundtable in April 1996, published in 1997) 10. General Cartel Bans: Criteria for Exemption for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises OCDE/GD(97)53 (Roundtable in April 1996, published in 1997) 11. Competition Issues related to Sports OCDE/GD(97)128 (Roundtable in October 1996, published in 1997) 12. Application of Competition Policy to the Electricity Sector OCDE/GD(97)132 (Roundtable in October 1996, published in 1997) 13. Judicial Enforcement of Competition Law OCDE/GD(97)200 (Roundtable in October 1996, published in 1997) 14. Resale Price Maintenance OCDE/GD(97)229 (Roundtable in February 1997, published in 1997) 4 DAFFE/CLP(2000)17 15. Railways: Structure, Regulation and Competition Policy DAFFE/CLP(98)1 (Roundtable in October 1997, published in 1998) 16. Competition Policy and International Airport Services DAFFE/CLP(98)3 (Roundtable in June 1997, published in 1998) 17. Enhancing the Role of Competition in the Regulation of Banks DAFFE/CLP(98)16 (Roundtable in February 1998, published in 1998) 18. Competitition Policy and Intellectual Property Rights DAFFE/CLP(98)18 (Roundtable in October 1997, published in 1998) 19. Competition and Related Regulation Issues in the Insurance Industry DAFFE/CLP(98)20 (Roundtable in June 1998, published in 1998) 20. Competition Policy and Procurement Markets DAFFE/CLP(99)3 (Roundtable in June 1998, published in January 1999) 21. Regulation and Competition Issues in Broadcasting in the light of Convergence DAFFE/CLP(99)1 (Roundtable in October 1998, published in April 1999) 22. Relationship between Regulators and Competition Authorities DAFFE/CLP(99)8 (Roundtable in June 1998, published in June 1999) 23. Buying Power of Multiproduct Retailers DAFFE/CLP(99)21 (Roundtable in October 1998, published in July 1999) 24. Promoting Competition in Postal Services DAFFE/CLP(99)22 (Roundtable in February 1999, published in September 1999) 25. Oligopoly DAFFE/CLP(99)25 (Roundtable in May 1999, published in October 1999) 26. Airline Mergers and Alliances DAFFE/CLP(2000)1 (Roundtable in October 1999, published in January 2000) 27. Competition in Professional Services DAFFE/CLP(2000)2 (Roundtable in June 1999, published in February 2000) 28. Competition in Local Services: Solid Waste Management DAFFE/CLP(2000)13 (Roundtable in October 1999, published in July 2000) 5 DAFFE/CLP(2000)17 TABLE OF CONTENTS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY .......................................................................................................................... 7 SYNTHÈSE................................................................................................................................................ 11 BACKGROUND NOTE ............................................................................................................................ 17 NOTE DE RÉFÉRENCE ...........................................................................................................................59 QUESTIONNAIRE SUBMITTED BY THE SECRETARIAT............................................................... 107 QUESTIONNAIRE SOUMIS PAR LE SECRETARIAT ....................................................................... 111 NATIONAL CONTRIBUTIONS Australia .................................................................................................................................... 115 Canada ...................................................................................................................................... 125 Finland ...................................................................................................................................... 145 Germany.................................................................................................................................... 153 Hungary..................................................................................................................................... 159 Italy….. ..................................................................................................................................... 169 Japan…...................................................................................................................................... 181 Korea.. ...................................................................................................................................... 185 Mexico ...................................................................................................................................... 191 Poland. ...................................................................................................................................... 201 Spain….....................................................................................................................................