Do bank mergers have hidden or foregone value? Realized and unrealized operating synergies in one bank merger

Recent mergers in the banking industry have often generated disappointing shareholder returns. Delays in implementing potential operating savings and realizing benefits of scale economies may be one reason these mergers have disappointing returns. Using data envelopment analysis (DEA), we analyze a 200-branch network formed in a merger of four banks. The operating efficiency of each branch is benchmarked against ‘best-practice’ branches in the combined merged bank as well as ‘best practice’ branches within each pre-merger bank. This analysis identified opportunities to reduce branch operating costs by 22 percent for the entire merged bank. In contrast, the cost savings opportunity is under seven percent when analyzed within each pre-merger bank. These findings suggest benchmarking across the entire merged bank to identify the best practices bank-wide that can generate added savings. However, in this bank merger, these merger benefits were not realized until four years after the merger. Interviews with key players in the merged bank indicate that the bank deferred realizing these benefits because of political pressures, personnel integration issues, system integration issues, and financial components of the merger such as restructuring reserves and the purchase price. These causes suggest areas where shareholders can and should demand more rapid improvement in performance of bank mergers and areas for future corporate merger research.