Les accords de coopération : passé ou futur ?

Abstract

Co-operation agreements : more or less en vogue ? The writer shows that the rebirth of the European banks until the end of the 80’s has seen the emergence of co-operation agreements among those banks. The banks formed clubs, quite informal, their main task being to encourage better personal knowledge between executives of the member banks. Some of the agreements, first of all the one signed between BNP and Dresdner Bank, were exclusive, universal and all-embracing, covering all business areas and paved the way for a forthcoming merger among equals. Today’s trend seems quite different and shows that co-operation agreements are less en vogue. This is due to the willingness of the banks to be stronger on a stand alone basis, on their domestic market, generating thereby a wave of acquisitions, sometimes unfriendly, within the national borders. This is also due to the opening of the world markets favoured by the huge progress of the information technologies as well as the need to get access to all the international customers without the intermediary of local players. JEL classification : F36, G21, G34