In an incredible process of Darwinian creative destruction it seems as though US investment banks and UK building societies are on the verge of extinction.
In the US the big five investment banks, Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs have been reduced to two and those two, particularly Morgan Stanley, are in a battle for survival. In the UK we used to have four quoted building societies Northern Rock, Alliance & Leicester, Bradford & Bingley and HBOS.
Northern Rock has been nationalised, Alliance & Leicester has agreed to sell itself to Banco Santander, HBOS is on course to be swallowed up by Lloyds TSB and Bradford & Bingley, the biggest lender to buy-to-let looks weak, with its shares down from a peak 457p to 29p and urgently in need of a fairy godmother.
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