Because of regulatory quirks most did not go overseas until the 1960s, and despite the huge advantage of their customer base at home few were able to maintain the global presence they had aspired to.HSBC's Mr Geoghegan moved to Hong Kong in early 2010.
And although many of them have historically aspired to join, Britain and Denmark have formal opt-outs from the euro, and Sweden is also unlikely to join for many years, if ever.
Houphouët-Boigny was never rich nor aspired to be.
In 1995 he was elected to the regional parliament and named minister for territorial policy a big job in a part of Spain that has often aspired to independence.Mr Pujol has handled that aspiration skilfully, never demanding outright independence for Catalonia, but always insisting on special status and treatment from the central government in Madrid.
In Britain, he aspired to recreate 9/11 by detonating limousines packed with explosives in underground carparks or setting off a "dirty bomb" full of radioactive material.
And as for Kate – even if she's never aspired to be one, well of course she's a role model to young women; you can't design collections for Top Shop and imagine yourself to be anything else.
"I never even aspired to do anything like that," she says.
He aspired to emulate the "respectable project that took place in Madrid" (the Madrid train bombings) and was the ringleader of the plot, said Edmund Lawson QC, for the crown.
He aspired to work for a band but did not want to be in group.
According to Vitae's latest Careers in Research Online Survey (CROS) in 2011, 26% of respondents said they aspired to a research career outside of higher education, and 16% a non-research career, compared to 44% of respondents who aspired to a career in research in higher education.
One explanation for Mitchell's continental success is that she has always aspired to the German ideal of Regietheater, which prioritises the director's interpretation over the writer's intention.
