... Austria, Spain, Finland, Ireland, Italy and Portugal, and down in Belgium, Germany and theNetherlands. For the latter, it goes up in Spain, Ireland, Italy, down in Belgium and Germany. However, ... Cottarelli and Kourelis, 1994, and Borio and Fritz1995). Recent cross-country studies by Kleimeier and Sander (2000 and 2002), Donnay and Degryse(2001), Toolsema et al. (2001), and Heinemann and Schüller ... setting by universal banks and the transmission mechanism in the euro area21Milbourn, T., Boot, A. and Thakor, 1999, Megamanagers and expanded scope: Theories of bank size and activity diversity,...