'Wounded' Banks Invite Takeover Trouble

It lists that banks that he been easy prey in the past - Bankers Trust, NatWest, Union Bank of Switzerland and, or course, Barings. All had the same thing in common - a damaged reputation and an uncertain future.

Rumours of further mergers currently abound and bank bosses expect futher consolidation in the industry. CSFB and Merrill Lynch have recently had their reputation's tarnished. CSFB was fined $100m by US regulators for its part in an IPO scandal and Merrill is currently underfire as a result of claims that it issued biased research to clients.

Does this mean that both are now 'in play' ? Perhaps. CSFB has been paired off by the rumour mill with Barclays, Deutsche and UBS. Merrill could fall to Deutsche, who is worried itself about being gobbled up by powerful Citigroup.

If the Economist is right and banks tend to fall to predators shortly after their reputations hit the deck, we could soon see further consolidation and big global deals.