Abstract
The financial crisis has had a significant influence on the European and
the US banking sector. The results of the analysis show that as a result of
the crisis the size of the banking component of the most developed financial
systems has decreased. At the same time, cross-border expansion has lost
its importance. The concentration level has ceased to rise in the European
Union, and economic efficiency is subject to significant volatility. In this
context, it should be noted that the process of creating a single market for
financial services is far from being completed in the European Union. The
evolu tion of the US banking sector bears some similarity to the performance
of the European banks, however credit institutions in the US have better
financial results.