Seminar paper from the year 2002 in the subject Business economics - Investment and Finance, grade: 1,0 (A), Berlin School of Economics, course: International Corporate Finance, language: English, abstract: The last decade of the 20th century was a decade of enormous changes in the banking sector worldwide. If one compares the largest banks of the world in 1995 with those at the end of 2000 it is obvious to see that many changes have happened in recent years: In 1995 all top five banks were from Japan (total assets in million USD in brackets): Dai-Ichi Kangyo Bank (626,171), Sumitomo Bank (617,053), Sakura Bank (607,245), Sanwa Bank (600,111) and Fuji Bank (587,154. At the end of 2000 the top five banks ranked by total assets were: Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp., Japan (958,189), CitiGroup, USA (902,210), Deutsche Bank Group, Germany (882,577), HSBC Holdings, U.K. (673,814) and Bayerische HypoVereinsbank, Germany (672,720). These newly-formed banking groups arose from mergers and acquisitions (M&As) and therefore they are good examples for all the M&As that have taken place in the banking sector worldwide in recent years. In this scientific paper the M&A activity in the banking sector is being analysed on a global basis and, where appropriate, with a special focus on European activities. To do so, the following procedure has been chosen: After the presentation of typical patterns of consolidation the main causes of consolidation and risks arising from M&As will be examined. Afterwards the economical results of the M&A process will be analysed to give a conclusion and an estimation on future activities