Financial-services M&A rises 40% as APAC recovery stays cautious

Average transaction size climbed to $815m as larger deals dominated the market.

Financial-services mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are recovering globally, but activity in Asia-Pacific (APAC) remains more measured than in other regions, even as several large domestic deals take place. 

In 2025, the region accounted for about 23% of global financial-services M&A deal value, or roughly $116b, according to McKinsey & Company analysis. 

The rebound in global dealmaking has been driven by larger transactions. 

Total deal value in financial services rose about 40% from 2024 to reach $499b in 2025, whilst the number of transactions remained broadly stable at 612 deals compared with 605 in 2024. 

Average deal size increased from $590 million to $815 million, with deals valued between $1b and $10b accounting for more than half of total deal value. 

In APAC, activity has been shaped largely by domestic consolidation and selective large transactions. 

One of the biggest deals involved China Mobile Communications raising $18.1b through a transaction linked to Postal Savings Bank of China. 

Other notable regional deals included Naver Financial’s $10.5b acquisition of South Korea’s Dunamu. 

Despite these deals, cross-border M&A flows in the region have been slower to recover compared with other markets. 

Lower asset prices and cautious investor sentiment have also weighed on activity, keeping APAC’s share of global deal value below that of the Americas and Europe, the Middle East and Africa. 

Across the financial-services sector globally, banks and fintech companies are increasingly using M&A to scale operations and upgrade technology. 

Commercial and retail banking remained the largest segment for dealmaking in 2025, with 179 transactions valued at about $190b, whilst fintech and payments deals reached $64b across 55 transactions. 

Within APAC, consolidation amongst domestic players and capability-driven acquisitions are expected to remain the main drivers of activity. 

Banks and fintech companies are targeting technology capabilities and scale advantages, particularly in payments, embedded finance and digital platforms, as they compete in a more digital financial-services market.