RBC Expects US Bank and Thrift M&A Activity to Accelerate in 2006

SNL Financial LC, 22 December 2005RBC Capital Markets' commercial banking research team delivered its forecast for M&A activity in 2006, saying that they expect activity to pick up after a slow 2005 because of the "completion of the 'digestion phase' of the acquisition cycle for selected acquirers," a coming slowdown in earnings growth and regulatory burdens starting to ease.RBC noted that based