Bank Consolidation in a Turbulent Period: A Bibliometric Mapping of Publications Since 2020

The COVID-19 pandemic, followed by multiple geopolitical conflicts, changed the overall functioning of banks and the global merger and acquisition (M&A) market. However, the development of research on bank M&As specifically since 2020 remains unmapped. This study analyses scholarly works on bank M&As published since 2020 using bibliometric analysis to examine publication trends, leading sources, authors, countries, collaboration patterns, thematic development, and the ongoing research agenda. Using a PRISMA-guided screening procedure, 179 Scopus-indexed documents in 138 sources and involving 427 authors were selected for performance analysis and science mapping. The findings show that research activity increased notably in 2024 and 2025, with a marked rise in publications from Asian and developing economies. Finance Research Letters and Journal of Risk and Financial Management emerge as the most productive publication venues. The study shows limited international collaboration among authors alongside a low concentration of author productivity. The bibliographic coupling and co-occurrence analysis show that the domain has moved beyond traditional concerns such as performance and efficiency, incorporating interdisciplinary themes such as organisational culture, fintech, corporate governance, financial stability, and regulatory issues.