Wachovia's purchase of Golden West places pressure on other banks across the country to seek merger partners, according to analyst Dick Bove with Punk, Ziegel & Company. One bank in particular that Bove fixates on is Wells Fargo. He suggests that the bank's lack of acquisitiveness since acquiring Norwest in 1998 has hurt its competitive advantage. So who does Bove believe would be Wells' best bride? SunTrust. While Bove focuses his attention on Wells, other pairings he believes could result from the Wachovia deal include:
- Washington Mutual - Citigroup
- Comerica - J.P. Morgan Chase
- U.S. Bancorp - HSBC
- First Horizon - PNC
- National City - Key Corp.
- Mellon - Bank of New York (of course both are no longer retail banks)
—Matthew Wurtzel
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