When the decision was made two months ago by the boards of Sweden’s Svenska Enskilda Banken (SEB) and Förenings Sparbanken (Swedbank) to abort their proposed merger, the recriminations were swift. The banks blamed the European Commission for imposing penal conditions that wrecked the logic of the deal, one of Sweden’s largest.
But Brussels shrugged off such criticism, pointing out that the suitors failed even to wait for the final conditions to be negotiated. Could it be that the banks had repented of their marriage and were mightily relieved for an excuse to split?
The case raises thorny competition policy issues.
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