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fter last week’s rumours about a possible marriage between UBS and Credit Suisse , the topic of bank mergers continues to hold sway among the leaders of the Swiss and European financial centre. James von Moltke, Deutsche Bank’s finance chief, said yesterday that Germany’s largest bank is preparing for a wave of mergers in the industry and is keen to seize this opportunity. ‘We are focusing on implementing our strategy and are confident that this will prepare us for mergers when the time comes and the right opportunities present themselves’ he told an analyst conference. ‘Consolidation will pick up speed in Europe’ he added.The managers of the two large Swiss banks are also convinced that the sector’s concentration process is destined to continue. According to Credit Suisse CEO Thomas Gottstein, who spoke at a Bank of America conference, bank mergers would make a lot of sense, even if the ‘Too big too fail’ regulation is undoubtedly a major obstacle to marriages between large institutions. UBS CEO Sergio Ermotti, who spoke during the conference, also sees a further consolidation of the sector in Europe as inevitable
