2) Mergers and acquisitions: during the period of 1990-2006, the wave of
consolidation was the main factor in reducing the number of banks from 1,2 thousand
in 1990 to 575 in 2015 [3].
Despite mergers and acquisitions, Italy still has a relatively large number of
banks: less than in Germany, but more than in France, which has a larger banking
system, and more than 2 times more than in Spain (see Fig. 1). A large number of banks
means a relatively low concentration of assets: the Herfindahl Index for Italian banking
assets is 435, while the 5 largest banks hold 34% of all bank assets (see Table 2). The
highest concentration among the major countries of the Eurozone is in France, with the
Herfindahl index 589; 5 banks own 60% of all assets.
Figure 1 – Number of banks in the largest countries of the Eurozone
Source: based on [3]
Table 2 Structure of the large euro-area banking systems, 2015
The Indicator
Germany
Spain
France
Italy
Herfindahl Index, from 0 to
10,000
273
896
589
435
Market share of 5 largest banks,
%
31
60
47
41
Branches per 100,000 inhabitants,
pieces
14,0
67,5
37,5
49,5
Employee per branch, person.
17,3
6,0
12,4
9,8
Assets per employee, mln. euro
11,852
14,348
19,211
13,111
Population per branch, person
2,397
1,493
1.770
1,993
Source: based on [3]
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