Norway gets the urge to merge

For years there has been resistance in Norway to banks' attempts to consolidate. When Den norske Bank, one of the dominant banks and perhaps the most international in outlook, tried to take over Bolig-og Naeringsbank, the government blocked the move; Christiania Bank's attempted takeover of insurance-based group Storebrand was voted down by Storebrand's executives.

But two consolidation moves suggest things may be about to change. The first is an alliance, not a full merger, between Union Bank of Norway, the country's largest savings bank, and Gjensidige Group, its second-largest insurer, to create Gjensidige Nor, a group with Nkr281 billion ($38 billion) assets under management measured on 1997 statistics. (Union Bank of Norway was itself formed from the merger of five savings banks in 1990, and unsuccessfully attempted to merge with Trondheim-based Fokus Bank last year.) Union Bank of Norway will buy the banking arm of Gjensidige,...