"The current financial crisis has led to a big consolidation drive by the country's largest banks: JPMorgan Chase bought Bear Stearns, Bank of America acquired Countrywide and Merrill Lynch, Wells Fargo purchased Wachovia and PNC absorbed National City. The same consolidation move is sweeping smaller, regional banks, with some launching into real takeover frenzies. Earlier this month, California's East West Bank doubled in size after it acquired San Francisco-based United Commercial Bank. Minnesota-based US Bancorp, the country's sixth-largest commercial bank with 264 billion dollars in assets, has expanded across the country this past year to the tune of some 26 billion dollars. In October alone, US Bancorp took over nine banks in the southwest. Even the small Ameris Bank, of Moultrie, Georgia, the US state hardest hit by the sub-prime mortgage cisis, has bought two banks in recent weeks." - Steven Perez from Bookmarklet