This PhD research focuses on the economies of scale and scope of financial institutions. Since the start of the most recent financial crisis in 2007, several large financial institutions have received state aid and concerns have been raised regarding the status of these financial institutions as being too-big-to-fail. The research aims to uncover the legitimacy of those concerns and whether or not a policy response is required. This research is in part conducted on a aggregate level by focussing on a large scale data set of European banks, while another part focuses on an in depth case study analysis of the ABN AMRO bank.

Furthermore, a focus is placed on bank competition in the Netherlands. Market shares of the biggest mortgage suppliers have risen since the start of the financial crisis. Meanwhile, margins on mortgages appear to have risen as well. It is investigated if state aid conditions imposed by the European Commission could have played a role in coordinating price setting behavior in the Dutch mortgage market.