Experts: Banking Mergers Not Over Yet

NEW YORK – The proposed banking behemoth of J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. and Bank One Corp. is likely to prompt a shuffle of combinations among the nation’s regional banks while sparking new business for community banks from customers looking for smaller banking alternatives.

The country will have three bank goliaths later this year when the J.P. Morgan-Bank One merger is completed, the No. 2 player between Citigroup, with $1.9 trillion in assets, and the Bank of America-FleetBoston combination with just under $1 trillion.

The J.P. Morgan-Bank One merger, like the Bank of America-FleetBoston deal, awaits shareholder and regulatory approval.

The rationale for the megamergers is that big banks have the heft to compete better internationally, offer a wider variety of financial services, cross-sell products to their customers and gain market share.

At the same time, the emergence of the superbanks is putting pressure on the mid-tier institutions to capture or be captured, analysts said.

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