The US banking food chain is a dangerous place to be. The minnows, though, have got off lightly, while bigger fish have made a meal of each other. Where does that leave prospects for consolidation among the 8,000-odd US banks, struggling with exposure to home equity lending and commercial real estate?

The three largest US banks – Bank of America, Citigroup and JPMorgan Chase – now hold almost a third of the nation’s deposits between them, despite the regulatory cap set at 10 per cent of domestic deposits for each.