Guillermo Ortiz looks thoroughly at home in his opulent offices at the Central Bank of Mexico. But, as he points out, in the early 1980s he was already ensconced in the Bank’s economic research bureau.

As merger and acquisition activity in the US banking sector slows and foreign heavyweights circle, major players are choosing to diversify their portfolio of interests. Michael Blanden reports.

Last year was a bumper one for the US banks. From the local and regional retail outfits to the international money centre groups, to the specialised investment banking and fee-earning businesses, circumstances conspired in their favour.

The US banks are enjoying a period of calm and they are hoping it will last.