The timely positioning of banks for acquisitions and mergers

A merger is a combination of two or more firms under the same ownership for the purpose of financial solvency and financial gains. While this venture has been researched extensively and reviewed in the finance literature, the substantial increase in bank mergers and combinations in the 1980's and beyond indicates the need for further empirical research on mergers and acquisitions as they relate specifically to the banking industry. Bank combinations are closely linked to changes in technology, to a huge increase in non-performing loans, and to inadequate equity capital prompted by bank deregulation policies and recent liberalization of banking laws, which now permit interstate and interstate bank synergy. Merger theory suggests that mergers will occur with greater frequency when there are financial disturbances within an industry. It also suggests that the targets of mergers earn benefits earned by shareholders of the acquiring firms. Moreover, the growth of timely plans in banks has been another recent change in the management of financial institutions. While few banks seem to have recognized the importance of timely planning until fairly recently, its implementation as a viable option is spreading rapidly to mid-sized and even small banks.; This paper combines the areas of timely planning, merger theory, and financial theory within the framework of commercial bank management. The main purposes of this paper are to show that some banks, whether they are financially sound or insolvent may wish to be considered acquisition targets. This timely positioning may also occur simply by accident: A bank's financial ratios may evolve to a certain point, which results in a merger/acquisition.