Find your niche and stick to it

What species of bank will fill the ecological niches of the new Europe? Noel Gordon describes the type of creatures - value capturers, optimizers, consolidators and innovators - who may survive.

It is by no means certain which European banks will be well positioned post-Emu. Without the critical mass needed to challenge the first-tier US banks, most European institutions will have to focus on carving value out of niche market positions. Those banks that have benefited from operating in areas that the big US institutions have so far seen fit to ignore may have to find a new niche, and fast.

For mid-tier European banks, recent research by Andersen Consulting identifies strategies that have allowed a new superbreed to emerge in the financial services industry.

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