Cross-border pioneer fights on

摘要

The most frequently asked ques-tion in international banking is; when will there be a major cross-border merger in Europe? Usually the answer is that the European market is not sufficiently integrated for it to make economic sense. The answer should be: it has already happened, look at Dexia. Dexia is "the first real cross-border merger between European banks", says its chairman and CEO, Pierre Richard, referring to the 1996 merger of Credit Local de France and Belgium's Credit Communal - two institutions that specialised in municipal finance - that created Dexia. "It's the only true European bank, not only because of the merger, but because of the income breakdown by country." Only 45% of the bank's income comes from Belgium and France, with 30% coming from Luxembourg and 25% from the US following the 2000 acquisition of Financial Security Assurance (FSA); a specialist in the insurance of bond issues.