Bank of Ireland's directors may take a measure of comfort in the collapse this week of the proposed merger of two of Germany's top three banks, Deutsche and Dresdner, to create the world's largest bank by assets.

The difficulty in blending two management cultures even within the same country put the collapse of its proposed deal with the British Alliance & Leicester into context.

The latest fiasco in the much-heralded rationalisation of the European banking sector took the markets by surprise even though those same markets had pronounced negatively on the whole idea since it was first announced.

The descent of the supposed merger of equals into the present acrimony with both sides blaming each other only strengthens the view that neither management properly understood the nature of the merger/take-over at the outset.

The only people happy with the current outcome are the staff of both banks who were facing swingeing cuts as part of the bedding down of any deal. However, with Dresdner in particular now vulnerable to outside approaches, those jobs may not be safe for long. Allianz, the biggest loser in the deal which would have seen it become a domestic force in retail and investment banking, holds 21 per cent of Dresdner and the word is it is willing to sell.