Pressure on European private banks to sell out to larger rivals remains strong, even after Tuesday's shock collapse of sale talks for Banca del Gottardo, as big banks hunt for assets in wealth management, experts said.
Insurer Swiss Life failed to agree a sale of Gottardo to Italian bank UniCredito for an expected 1.5 billion Swiss francs ($1.2 billion).
But in a sign that private banking will stay hot for acquisitions, Swiss giant UBS agreed to buy its second UK wealth manager in a week, and Bank of Bermuda approved a take-over by HSBC.
"It's just a bump in the road," said analyst Vasco Moreno at investment bank Fox-Pitt, Kelton in London of the collapsed Gottardo sale. "Effectively, in private banking you're still going to see a significant amount of consolidation."
Merger deals are likely to take small, independent players from the market and swallow up the small units of larger commercial banks that are without the critical mass to service clients profitably.
Private banks, especially in Switzerland, have come under mounting regulatory and competitive pressures, which have led to a spate of deals in recent months.
Banca del Gottardo, a mid-sized Swiss player with about 40 billion francs in assets under management, was expected to be the biggest Swiss sale yet.
Others, including Credit Suisse, BNP Paribas, Citigroup and J.P. Morgan, have said they will buy private banking assets at the right price.
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