I've got at least two brokers in the room scouting on behalf of rival banks.

NatWest was forced to abandon its merger, but refused to agree to a takeover by a rival bank.

The advertisements were denounced as jingoistic by rival banks, most of which are Australian owned.

Their original aim was to create the habit of thrift amongst the very poor but they have evolved to compete with and rival commercial banks.

Bank A's generosity has served only to enrich rival banks, not Mexico.

But fund managers and analysts at rival banks said Indonesia had not yet hit bottom - let alone turned the corner.

Some rival banks do the same, while others count only certain accounts toward the minimum.

And last month it sublet 6,000 additional feet from the rival bank, this time for eight years, and plans to move in on March 15.

"Their hearts haven't been in the consumer business," a senior executive at a rival bank said.

With no other management knight riding to the rescue, the market apparently expected a rival British bank to make a bid.