Have the large bank holding companies enhanced their market share at the cost of smaller institutions?
No. A study conducted through the Federal Reserve Bank of New York reveals that the increase in the concentration of assets is primarily because of external growth through mergers and acquisitions, implying that the enhanced concentration "reflects a transfer of banks assets as ownership changed through consolidation, instead of internal growth of existing subsidiaries." Therefore, the key motivation behind the rise in merger activity in the year of 1990s was the removal of excess capacity instead of an effort to employ competitive advantage to expand existing operations.