|
Banco Sabadell’s announcement in March that it is to purchase UK bank TSB was a rare example of something that the European banking sector desperately wants to see: large-scale, cross-border M&A.
The £1.7 billion acquisition of TSB, which was previously spun out of Lloyds Banking Group, has plenty of critics and faces big hurdles, not least from the cost of migrating TSB onto Sabadell’s IT platform. But the very fact that it is happening at all only highlights how long it is taking for Europe’s severely over-banked financial sector to see any glimmer of merger activity.
“There is a case for potential consolidation in Europe, both domestic and cross-border,” reckons Javier Oficialdegui, co-head of FIG EMEA at UBS in London.
Access this research
Enter your work email address to sign in or check whether your organisation already has access to Euromoney.
