Book Description

Since the 1990s, the mergers and acquisitions (M&A) of commercial banks have been at a climax throughout the world, and the mode of M&A has been accepted by western countries, bringing new opportunities for the development of the banking industry. In a majority of the countries of the world, the banking industry is involved in a wave of economic M&A. Developed countries, such as the United States and those in Europe, have made significant gains through mergers and reorganizations of commercial banks, whetting the appetite of many developing countries' commercial banks to become involved in such activities.In the 21st century, through the development of the world economy and the bank and its special position in this economy, its development model has attracted significant attention. Banks will struggle to maintain their profits as the global economy slows and credit risks increase. China's interest rate liberalization is a major challenge that commercial banks are faced with, including the arduous task of smoothly adapting to the change. The banking industry contains countless bodies, and the business scope is homogenized. Moreover, fierce market competition constantly increases the management pressure in the banking industry. M&A activities have become the strategic choice of many banks. With the widening and deepening of the opening-up and competition degree of China's financial market, domestic banks are continuously penetrated by foreign capital and are facing great challenges, and the inherent desire of M&A is constantly presented. Compared with European and American commercial banks, the commercial banks in China are in a special situation: weak market competition, too much government intervention, more M&A aimed at preventing regional financial risks, and fewer M&A cases due to the requirements and motivations of commercial banks in the M&A activities. The growth mode of commercial banks includes an endogenous growth model of self-accumulation and a leapfrog growth mode of equity acquisition. Until now, western commercial banks have experienced five waves of M&A activity. The development and expansion of internationally active banks are usually inseparable from equity M&A. M&A activities have become important to international commercial banks seeking to realize leapfrog growth. After reforming, listing, and expanding its capital strength, China's commercial banking industry is actively attempting to realize leapfrog growth through equity M&A. These banks are also gradually transitioning from an endogenous growth mode relying on internal accumulation to a growth mode valuing both endogenous growth and leapfrog development through and external M&A activities. This paper summarizes the rules of the development and expansion of foreign commercial banks through strategic M&A activity by using a systematic analysis of the five waves of international commercial banks' M&A activity. This paper then puts forward the strategies of China's commercial banks as related to strategic M&A activities. Taking the acquisition of Shenzhen Development Bank (hereinafter referred to as SDB) by Ping An Insurance (Group) Company of China (hereinafter referred to as "Ping An Group" or "Ping An") as an example, this paper summarizes the background, motivation and process of the M&A of both parties, and focuses on the analysis of synergies after the M&A. Through analysis, this paper finds that all indicators of the two companies have obvious synergies, and Ping An Group, the leading party, has been significantly improved in terms of operation, finance, corporate culture and management after merger and reorganization. To study the efficiency of M&A, this paper takes M&A of Wing Lung Bank by China Merchants Bank's as a case, and draws a conclusion and summarizes the suggestions of Chinese banks to improve the efficiency of merger and acquisition through empirical analysis, case study and other methods. Based on Ping An Group's acquisition of SDB, this paper puts forward recommendations for the merger activity undertaken by China's commercial banks at the end of the paper. These recommendations consider future M&A trends in China's banking industry, the strategic choice related to future M&A activities, and the role of the government in mergers and reorganizations, particularly related to relevant policy formulations, regulatory coordination, the role that control plays, and so on. The objective of this paper is twofold. First, this paper analyzes the current competitive pattern of China's commercial banking industry and at the same time studies the development process and M&A history of the American and overseas banking industry to demonstrate the M&A opportunities in China's commercial banking industry. Second, this paper uses a case study to discuss the M&A strategy, synergistic effects, and M&A efficiency of Chinese commercial banks. Key Words: M&A strategy, Synergistic effect, M&A performance.