Citigroup is breaking itself up after failing to meld together its long-planned financial supermarket; Deutsche Bank warned of a big fourth quarter loss, and JPMorgan's profits fell 76%.
The deal would extend a push by Peter Ma, Ping An's chairman, to build a financial supermarket, while helping Shenzhen Development plug a capital shortfall.
The Countrywide and Merrill Lynch acquisitions have turned Bank of America increasingly into the type of financial supermarket model that Citigroup is now being forced to dismantle.
By contrast, it has said, a merger with Deutsche Borse would create a muddled "financial supermarket".
The first is the final abandonment of the idea that has animated Citigroup since Sandy Weill engineered the merger of his company, Travelers, with Citicorp in 1998 that of the financial supermarket.
So the thinking behind the merger goes: As these consumers become more sophisticated with their investments, they'll demand the services of a financial "supermarket" like U.S. firms Citigroup and Bank of America.
"The whole idea of a financial supermarket is ridiculous," said William B. Smith, president of SAM Advisors, a money management firm that owns Citigroup shares.
The piece argues, based mostly on the woes that have befallen that other giant financial supermarket, Citigroup Inc., that BofA, by buying a wounded Merrill, has bitten off more than it can chew.
To further complicate things: Software giant Microsoft has plans to enter the financial services business by offering its own financial supermarket, offering investment, insurance and mortgage advice.
Can he justify the complexities of his financial supermarket?
