The answer to this riddle helps explain not only why investment banking is consolidating but also why consolidation may not end the industry's maladies.Investment banks once made easy money as middlemen: they matched buyers with sellers and charged a big fee for their efforts.
"Investments in hard and soft technologies are fuelling a virtuous cycle by supplying cities with yet more new talent and consolidating their place as hubs of innovation and connectivity.
If it's frustrating for him to see Michael Bradley's Toronto experience consolidating rather than threatening his USA place, or indeed Julio Cesar's position as number one keeper for the presumptive World Cup favorites being equally unaffected by his MLS sojourn, Defoe will have plenty to occupy him in the coming weeks to help his side compensate for the absence of those two.
Santorum will increasingly be seen as an obstacle to consolidating the conservative vote, rather than as the recently crowned Iowa winner that he is.
Critics worry that what he's really doing is to fulfil Bingu's legacy by consolidating power in the hands of the Mutharika family.
The next government could solve this by simplifying, consolidating and improving the existing legislation to clarify local authority responsibilities and individual entitlements to care and support".
Consolidating sleep at night, he says, provides a greater proportion of the slow-wave, restorative sleep that promotes brain development and reinforces what has been learned the day before.
We are aiming to grow by 300% over the next three years, consolidating our growth in the sports market and developing our units and kiosks into other retail sectors.
Consolidating the two businesses may be the latest move – this time to appeal to a variety of consumers under one umbrella.
And although some of it concerned consolidating bonuses, the "going rate" concerns of the treasury for wage rates more generally were no doubt provoked by the big-sounding increases.
We must now go much further: pushing for a massive devolution of power to our cities, regions and towns and, by extension, reducing what is done in Whitehall by consolidating and merging departments and cutting the number of ministers by at least a third.
