Two banks look particularly vulnerable: Komercni, the largest commercial bank, and Ceska Sporitelna, the former state savings bank.

ECONOMIST: Eastern Europe��s banks

In the Czech Republic and Slovakia it has two sister savings banks, Ceska Sporitelna and Slovenska Sporitelna, which are already market leaders.

ECONOMIST: Inconspicuous consumption

In 2000 Erste Bank acquired Ceska Sporitelna, the dominant savings bank in the Czech Republic, which had lent recklessly under a flawed privatisation programme.

ECONOMIST: The advance of Austrian banks

The first had been early in 2000 when it agreed to the sale of the biggest savings bank, Ceska Sporitelna, to Erste Bank of Austria.

ECONOMIST: Grab and smash