consolidation

BNP Paribas wants to expand its current activities with targeted acquisitions such as that of Axa Investment Managers. CFO Lars Machenil discusses the bank's strategy – and points to the obstacles that remain making cross-border consolidation in the European banking sector difficult.

The European telecoms industry is moving ahead with a long-awaited market consolidation. But the initial M&A euphoria can often be short-lived.

The mergers currently planned by French asset managers are likely to be just the beginning of a wave of consolidation in Europe. One factor is that the size gap compared to American players remains large.

While banks in France, Spain, and Italy experienced a significant number of closures years ago, the consolidation trend in Germany started later. Currently, the reduction of banks in Germany is more substantial than in the entire Eurozone.