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

ECONOMIST: Fund management

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

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

ECONOMIST: German banks

Vereinsbank's shareholders are miffed that the share-swap ratio cannot be renegotiated because the two banks had agreed not to change the terms for most unforeseen risks.

ECONOMIST: German banks

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

Or the threat may have come from another predator: Bayerische Vereinsbank sought a merger with a Bavarian rival, Hypobank, because its management was scared of being gobbled up by Deutsche Bank.

ECONOMIST: How mergers go wrong

Mr Kohlhaussen has a tendency to balk at headline-grabbing deals, even at the last minute: in 1996, he pulled out of a merger with Bayerische Vereinsbank (now HypoVereinsbank) days before it was due to be announced.

ECONOMIST: German banks

Vereinsbank was always in charge.

ECONOMIST: German banks