Take the big German banks: Deutsche, Dresdner, Commerzbank, and Bayerische Hypo-und Vereinsbank.

ECONOMIST: Fund management

If so, then Hypo deliberately misled Vereinsbank during their merger talks.

ECONOMIST: German banks

Vereinsbank merged with its cross-town rival, Hypo Bank, and the deal received remarkably favourable tax treatment without which, most people think, it would not have happened.

ECONOMIST: European mergers

Some see this as a victory within the bank of Germanic conservatism over Anglo-Saxon risk-taking: Vereinsbank has always been happier with low risks and low returns than wheeler-dealing Hypo-Bank.

ECONOMIST: German banks