Brussels, 27/10/2006 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday, the European Central Bank (ECB) published its annual report on EU banking structures, which reviews the main structural developments in the EU banking sector in 2005 and until mid-2006. The report, the fifth since 2002, was prepared by the Banking Supervision Committee of the European System of Central Banks (ESCB). It notes that there was a further decline in the number of credit institutions in 2005 (of 2.8% and 1.7% in the euro area and the EU respectively). Banking assets, however, displayed strong growth (with an increase of 21.7% last year), and cross-border mergers and acquisitions picked up in 2005, following the slowdown registered after 2000. Non-bank assets of financial intermediaries grew considerably in 2005, particularly those of investment funds (14%) and pension funds (20%), the ECB adds. In the second part, it looks at the effect of an ageing population on EU banks. More particularly it tries to assess how changes in life expectancy, fertility rates and migration could affect retail banking. The report is available on the ECB website: http: //http://www.ecb.int/pub/pdf/other/eubankingstructures2006en.pdf (ab)