Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of California, San Diego, 2005. / Title from first page of PDF file (viewed February 28, 2006). Available via ProQuest Digital Dissertations. Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.A.)--Georgia State University, 2006. / Title from thesis t.p. Glen T. Eskew, committee chair; C.M. Kuhn, committee member. Electronic text (166 p.) : digital, PDF file. Description based on contents viewed July 26, 2007. Includes bibliographical references (p. 159-166).

Thesis (doctoral)--Oestrich-Winkel, European Business School, 2007. / Includes bibliographic references (p. 139-149).

Controversy currently exists over whether abnormal returns (ARs) are earned by shareholders of bidder and target banks through a Merger and Acquisition (M&A). The state of the economy in which the firms operate is often mentioned as a reason for firms engaging in M&As, however, the extent to which economies influence the ARs of shareholders is unknown. Following MacKinlay (1997), the aim of this study is to determine the average ARs earned or lost by shareholders of several banks around the world during an M&A. The results obtained may indicate that shareholders of bidding firms consider an M&A to be a wealth-destroying event irrespective of the state of the economy. It would seem that target firms’ shareholders consider M&As to be wealth-creating events when they occur during a period of real economic expansion. However, during periods of real economic contraction, target firms’ shareholders consider M&As to be wealth-destroying events. Thus, the state of an economy during an M&A can affect average ARs considerably.

M.Comm. / Rationalization processes are part and parcel of the environment within which we all function. ABSA Bank Limited is one of the companies that had to be rationalized. The banking sector is a very competitive sector. The only way for a company to be distinguishable from other similar companies, is to excel in quality service performance. The overall goal of this study was to determine to what extent, Gap 3: The performance gap, exists in the International Banking Services of ABSA Bank Limited and also to formulate recommendations on how to decrease the size of Gap 3. Gap 3 forms part of the service quality model, which consists of five gaps, designed by Parasuraman, Berry and Zeithaml (Zeithaml et al, 1990:46). The first of these gaps, Gap 1, constitutes the difference between the client's expectations and the management's perception of the client's expectations. The second gap, Gap 2, is representative of the difference between the management's perception of the client's expectations and the expected service quality specifications. The third gap, Gap 3, concerns itself with the difference between the specifications for the service and the actual service delivered. The fourth gap, Gap 4, represents the difference between the actual service delivered and the promise of the service which was communicated to the client. The fifth gap, Gap 5, called the service quality gap, defines the difference between the client's expectations and the client's perceptions of service quality. Gap 5 is the result of all the aforementioned gaps. The study was based on a questionnaire designed by Parasuraman, Berry and Zeithaml (Zeithaml et al, 1990:196 - 197, 201-205). In conclusion, the studies showed that the actual size of Gap 3 is smaller than expected for a company which has recently been rationalized. The main factor contributing to the existence of Gap 3, is the evaluation and remuneration processes. The second factor, is the employees' need to be empowered to take more decisions on their own. The last main contributor to the size of Gap 3, is role conflict: due to the rationalization process, the employees are not sure of what is expected of them. Recommendations were made to decrease the size of Gap 3 even further, in order for ABSA Bank Limited to be more successful in the banking sector.

I analyzed a sample of 228 U.S. bank acquisitions announced from January 1996 to December 2015. This dissertation explores whether acquiring banks pay more for targets with a higher capital ratio using a better measure of goodwill than previous studies. Specifically, this study uses manually collected goodwill to evaluate the value of bank capital, a measure that I argue is superior to those used in prior studies. I collect information about goodwill for 203 merger and acquisition (M&A) deals. I find a positive relation between the target's capital ratio and the goodwill paid for targets, which is consistent with previous cross sectional analysis on the relation between bank equity capital and value. This positive relation exists in the deals with a bank target, but not when the target is a savings institution. Furthermore, I find that the positive association between the target's capital ratio and goodwill paid by the acquirer only exists in the sample of acquisitions of banks announced before the 2007 financial crisis. This dissertation also evaluates the value of bank capital by analyzing the changes in shareholders' wealth around the announcement of M&As. My empirical analysis shows that banking mergers create value for the shareholder of targets. However, I find a significantly negative association between target's capital ratio and cumulative abnormal return to acquirers in M&As. Furthermore, I also report that this negative association only holds in M&As announced during and after the financial crisis. This dissertation also investigates the impact of bank capital on the cost of equity, another channel through which capital can influence banks' value. This dissertation tests the potential impact of bank capital on the cost of equity in the context of bank M&As. M&As are a good laboratory to study the relation between bank capital structure and the cost of equity capital because M&A transactions alter capital structure, and thus could change the cost of equity capital of the acquiring bank. My empirical results show a positive association between the target's capital ratio and the change in acquirer's annual cost of equity capital after the completion of the deals. Additionally, I also analyze a sample of non-US bank M&As and find a negative association between the target's capital ratio and the cumulative abnormal return of banks acquired in M&As.

I analyze the effects of bank mergers and competitive market structure after the Riegle-Neal Interstate Banking and Branching Efficiency Act. The first chapter studies the incentives to decide mergers and the effects of market competition. Nationwide branching from deregulation and the resulting bank consolidation have brought more a competitive market environment. In particular, branch networks play an important role in bank merger analysis. Using commercial banks' branch-level location data in Texas from 1994 to 2005, I estimate a two-sided matching model of merging and target banks with transferable utility. To study post-match values, I apply the maximum score estimator developed by Fox (2010). I find the positive assortative matching of bank sizes and I confirm that a bank prefers matching with target banks that have geographically overlapping markets. Moreover, I extend the standard matching model to incorporate externalities of market competition and the merger activities of rivals. Competitive rivals lessen the effects of mergers but mergers that increase market power have positive externalities on unmatched banks. The second chapter develops a structural model of demand and supply for retail banking to predict post-merger price. Ownership consolidation can affect not only price but also product characteristics. Once demand parameters and price elasticities are estimated, the adjustments in banking characteristics following mergers are considered in order to estimate marginal costs. I apply Peters’ (2006) simulation methods to account for the discrepancy between simulated merger changes and actual changes. The third chapter builds on an entry model of Berry and Waldfogel (1999) to quantify market competition. Significant consolidation waves after the Riegle-Neal Act brought a decrease in the number of banking institutions, while the relaxation of branching regulations almost doubled the number of bank branches and fortified market competition. When a new branch with high quality enters, I analyze the effects of market deposit expansion, business stealing from rival incumbent banks and cannibalization from other branches operated by the same bank. I find evidence that business stealing effects dominate cannibalization effects as market size increases. However, the impact of competition is localized and cannibalization effects are rather reversed at remote distances.

本文首先針對國內金融機構跨業經營進行分析，其次以國內金融機構間的合併案為樣本，探討合併溢價之情形及影響合併溢價之因素。同時選取主併者及被併者的財務變數、市場變數及公司治理變數，來探討其對合併溢價之影響。 　　實證結果發現ROA高的主併者，愈會付出較高的溢價來進行收購；而ROA高的被併者，也會得到較高的溢價。另風險性高的主併者在進行購併時，所願意付出的合併溢價則較低。同時本文亦發現，對於業務相關性高的金融機構，主併者願意付出較高的價格來進行合併。 　　此外市場的環境，對於合併價格的決定亦有很大的影響，本文發現被併者的市場集中度與合併溢價成正向關係。而公司治理變數則顯示，被併者的董監事及經理人持股比率與合併溢價呈負向關係。至於不同型態之金融機構，合併溢價是否有顯著差異，實證結果則無此發現。

Thesis (MComm)--Stellenbosch University, 2013. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The banking industry today is seen as a demanding world of work where employees are constantly exposed to high demands and this may have an influence on their work engagement levels and their organisational commitment. It seems that in this industry, employee turnover and absenteeism levels are high, and some employees seem to be de-motivated in their work. The impact of this changing world is most evident in changes in the employment relationship that exist between employer and employee. Employees are expected to give more in terms of time, effort, skills and flexibility, whereas there is a strong perception that employees receive less in terms of career opportunities, lifetime employment and job security. It is in view of the above work complexities that employee engagement has become a focus area, and in particular, to understand the mediating effects of certain psychological conditions in relation to work engagement. Should either employment party not fulfil its contractual terms in any way, the psychological contract will be breached or violated and the employee might attempt to balance the situation by reducing his or her job efforts and making use of various counterproductive work behaviours. Transformation or change of the working circumstances, such as during or after mergers, seem to present a serious challenge to the employment relationship and the prevailing levels of job satisfaction, organisational commitment and productivity. The research question for this study was: “To investigate whether differential exposure of employees of a retail bank to change-related stressors is associated with different configurations of perceived job demands and job resources, affective states, psychological contract, job engagement, burnout and counterproductive work behaviour, and to study the relationships between these variables with the view to understanding the development of the job engagement, burnout and performance-related behaviours of these employees”. This study utilised a quantitative descriptive research design to analyse the data using statistical procedures. All the data was statistical in nature. The sample (n = 300) comprised of employees of three main levels on the organigram such as, team leaders, team managers and employees, from the Regional Head Office in Pretoria. The primary research tool utilised to conduct the study was a self-compiled questionnaire. This was hand delivered and collected from all respondents. The six questionnaires constituting the composite questionnaire were: the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI-GS), Counterproductive workbehaviour Inventory (CWB), Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES), the Job Characteristics Inventory (JCI), Psychological Contract Inventory (PCI) and the Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale (WEMWBS). The descriptive statistics reflected a majority of participants had been working for 1 to 4 years (34%) and 5 to 9 years (33%). The largest percentages of participants (74%) were team members while other participants were defined as team leaders (22%) and team managers (4%). The majority of these participants (59%) were also appointed prior to the merger while the median was calculated at 3 years for the amount of years the participants have remained in their current job band (salary structure). A very high percentage of participants (82%) did not manage people directly nor indirectly (83%). It was found that an inter-correlation existed between the demographic variables and the psychological constructs, confirming that the number of years employed was associated with a lower likelihood of psychological withdrawal. While the years of employment in the same position related positively with absorption, and negatively with perceived job resources, the level of abuse experienced, showed a positive association with the degree of psychological contract adherence by the employee and a negative correlation with the extent of perceived contract violation. Evidence was also found for the moderating effect of work engagement in the relationship between well-being and work engagement and between work engagement and some of the counterproductive work behaviour dimensions. Evidence also revealed that mental well-being was experienced some of the time and counterproductive work behaviour almost never. The higher burnout scores, coupled with the simultaneous higher level of work engagement could possibly be viewed as an exploitable factor. The limitations of the current study and recommendations for organisations are discussed. This study highlights the fact that virtually all the comparisons between the pre-merger appointees and the post-merger appointees were insignificant. Burnout was however much more evident with the post-merger group. Employee or employer obligations towards the respondents were also viewed as insignificant, irrespective of the differences in psychological contract each employee experiences. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die banksektor word vandag gesien as 'n veeleisende werksomgewing waar werknemers konstant blootgestel word aan hoë werkseise. Dit kan dalk 'n invloed hê op hul werksbegeestering en hul organisasieverbondenheid. Dit blyk dat hierdie industrie hoë vlakke van werknemeromset en afwesigheid ervaar en dat sommige werknemers gedemotiveerd is in hul werk. Die uitwerking van die veranderende werksplek is veral sigbaar in die verandering van die diensverhouding tussen werkgewer en werknemer. Van werknemers word verwag om al hoe meer opofferinge te maak in terme van hulle tyd, insette, vaardighede en aanpasbaarheid, terwyl daar ‘n persepsie bestaan dat hulle al hoe minder ontvang in terme van loopbaanontwikkeling, lewenslange indiensneming en werksekuriteit. Dit is binne die konteks van die waargenome kompleksiteit binne die werksplek dat werksbegeestering 'n fokusarea geword het,en in die besonder om begrip te ontwikkel vir die mediërende effek van sekere sielkundige kondisies in verhouding tot werksbegeestering. Sou enige van die partye nie hul kontraktuele verpligtinge in enige opsig nakom nie, sal dit ‘n verbreking of skending van die sielkundige kontrak tot gevolg hê en mag die werknemer poog om die situasie te balanseer deur sy of haar insette te verminder en verskeie kontraproduktiewe vorme van werksgedrag tegebruik. Transformasie van, of verandering in werksomstandighede, soos tydens of nasamesmeltings, skyn ‘n ernstige uitdaging te bied vir die heersende vlak van werks tevredenheid, organisasieverbondenheid en produktiwiteit. Die navorsingsvraag virdie studie was: “Om ondersoek in te stel of verskillende tipes blootstelling van werknemers van ‘n kommersiële bank aan veranderingsverwante stressors geassosieer word met verskillende konfigurasies van werkseise en werkshulpbronne,affektiewe toestande, die sielkundige kontrak, werksbegeestering, uitbranding en kontraproduktiewe werksgedrag, metdie oogmerk om die verhouding tussen die veranderlikes te bestudeer met die doel om die ontwikkeling van die werksbegeestering, uitbranding en prestasiegerigte gedrag van daardie werknemers te verstaan”. Die studie het gebruik gemaak van ‘n kwantitatiewe navorsingsontwerp om alle data wat deur statistiese prosedures versamel word te ontleed. Die steekproef (n=300) bestaan uit 3 van die vernaamste vlakke op die organigram naamlik, spanleiers, spanbestuurders en werknemers van die streekshoofkantoor in Pretoria. ‘n Self-saamgesteldevraelys, wat per hand uitgedeel en versamel is, is gebruik in die studie. Die ses individuelevraelyste waaruit die vraelys bestaan het,sluit die volgende in: dieMaslach Burnout Inventory (MBI-GS), Counterproductive workbehaviour Inventory (CWB), Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES), die Job Characteristics Inventory (JCI), Psychological Contract Inventory (PCI) en die Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale (WEMWBS). Die beskrywende statistiek reflekteer ‘n meerderheid van die respondent wat werkend is tussen 1 tot 4 jaar (34%) and 5 tot 9 jaar (33%). Die grootste persentasie van respondente (74%) was spanlede, terwyl die ander gedeelte van respondente verdeel is as spanleiers (22%) and spanbestuurders (4%). Die meerderheid van respondente (59%) was ook voor die samesmelting van die bank groep aangestel terwyl die mediaan bereken was op 3 jaar vir die hoeveelheid diensjare wat elke werknemer in hulle huidige posvlak was. ‘n Baie hoë persentasie van respondente (82%) het glad nie ondergeskiktes direk of indirek (83%) bestuur nie. Daar is bevind dat ‘n inter-korrelasie bestaan tussen demografiese veranderlikes en die sielkundige samestelling, wat weer bevestig dat die aantal jare wat individue in diens was, geassossieer word met die moontlikheid van ‘n lae psigologiese onttrekking. Terwyl die hoeveelheid diensjare in dieselfde pos posisie positief verbind word met absorpsie en negatief verbind word met waarneembare werkshulpbronne, word die vlak van wantoestand wat ervaar word, positief verband met die graad van nakoming van die sielkundige kontrak by werknemers en ‘n negatiewe korrelasie met waarneembare kontrakbreuk. Bewyse was ook gevind vir die modererings effek op werksbegeestering in die verhouding tussen psigologiese welstand en werksbegeestering en tussen werksbegeestering en somige dimensies van teenproduktiewe gedrag. Bewyse het getoon dat psigologiese welstand ook somtyds ervaar was, terwyl teenproduktiewe gedrag amper nooit ervaar was nie. ‘n Hoë uitbranding telling, gelyktydig gekoppel aan hoë vlakke van werksbegeestering kan moontlik beskou word as ‘n ontginbare faktor. Die beperkinge op die huidige studie en aanbevelings vir die organisaie is ook bespreek. Dié studie beklemtoon ook die feit dat al die vergelykings tussen pre-samesmelting aanstellings en post-samesmelting aanstellings totaal onbeduidend was. Uitbranding was baie meerduidelik opsigtelik onder die post-samesmelting groep. Werknemer of werkgewer verpligtinge teenoor die respondente was ook gesien as onbeduidend, ongeag van die verskille in die sielkundige kontrak wat deur elke werknemer ervaar word.

This thesis develops a range of prediction models for the purpose of predicting the acquisition of commercial banks in the European Union using publicly available data. Over the last thirty years, there have been approximately 30 studies that have attempted to identify potential acquisition targets, all of them focusing on non-bank sectors. We consider that prediction models developed specifically for the banking industry are essential due to the unusual structure of banks' financial statements, differences in the environment in which banks operate and other specific characteristics of banks that in general distinguish them from non-financial firms. We focus specifically on the EU banking sector, where M&As activity has been considerable in recent years, yet academic research relating to the EU has been rather limited compared to the case of the US. The methodology for developing prediction models involved identifying past cases of acquired banks and combining these with non-acquired banks in order to evaluate the prediction accuracy of various quantitative classification techniques. In this study, we construct a base sample of commercial banks covering 15 EU countries, and financial variables measuring capital strength, profit and cost efficiency, liquidity, growth, size and market power, with data in both raw and country-adjusted (i.e. raw variables divided by the average of the banking sector for the corresponding country) form. In order to allow for a proper comparative evaluation of classification methods, we select common subsets of the base sample and variables with high discriminatory power, dividing the sample period (1998-2002) into training sub-sample for model development (1998-2000), and holdout sub-sample for model evaluation (2001-2002). Although the results tend to support the findings of studies on non-financial firms, highlighting the difficulties in predicting acquisition targets, the prediction models we develop show classification accuracies generally higher than chance assignment based on prior probabilities. We also consider the use of equal and unequal matched holdout samples for evaluation, and find that overall classification accuracy tends to increase in the unequal matched samples, implying that equal matched samples do not necessarily overstate the prediction ability of models. The main goal of this study has been to compare and evaluate a variety of classification methods including statistical, econometric, machine learning and operational research techniques, as well as integrated techniques combining the predictions of individual classification methods. We found that some methods achieved very high accuracies in classifying non-acquired banks, but at the cost of relatively poor accuracy performance in classifying acquired banks. This suggests a trade-off in achieving high classification accuracy, although some methods (e.g. Discriminant) performed reasonably well in terms of achieving balanced overall classification accuracies of above chance predictions. Integrated prediction models offer the advantage of counterbalancing relatively poor performance of some classification methods with good performance of others, but in doing so could not out-perform all individual classification methods considered. In general, we found that the outcome of which method performed best depended largely on the group classification accuracy considered, as well as to some extent on the choice of the discriminatory variables. Concerning the use of raw or country-adjusted data, we found no clear effect on the prediction ability of the classification methods.