The profession of Andrea Orcel vividly encapsulates the latest historical past of European banking. At Merrill Lynch, now a part of Financial institution of America, Mr Orcel suggested on offers that fashioned a part of the wave of mergers that crested in 2007, when a pan-European troika purchased ABN AMRO, a Dutch lender. After the monetary disaster of 2007-09, grand cross-border ambitions have been ditched. Mr Orcel’s subsequent job was to run the investment-banking arm of UBS, a Swiss champion.