Recent history – for example, the battle for control of Banca Antonveneta, a medium sized Italian bank, in 2005 – has illustrated the potential for regulatory approval requirements to impede cross-border takeover activity involving financial institutions.  This point has not been lost on the European Commission, which believes that one reason for the low level of cross-border consolidation in the European financial sector may be the current regulatory framework for supervisory approval of financial institution takeovers.

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© Herbert Smith LLP 2008