The mystery deepens with ABN.  Turns out several Banks are looking at it, including Citi, who may be interested in the whole thing, or Lasalle in Chicago.

Citigroup is not alone in considering an offer for ABN Amro. European banks such as BBVA and Santander, of Spain, BNP Paribas, of France, and ING, of the Netherlands, are understood to have made informal approaches to ABN Amro in the weeks before it entered exclusive talks with Barclays. Royal Bank of Scotland, Britain’s second-biggest bank, is also thought to be monitoring developments.

Source: Citigroup prepares to ambush ABN talks-Business-Industry Sectors-Banking & Finance-TimesOnline

One thing they all need to heed is the cultural aspect.  ABN has internal issues, and the leadership won’t take well to talk of takeover.  In the Barclays situation, they were talking of moving HQ to Amsterdam.

In my experience, mergers are difficult at best, and unless highly co-operative from the top, the only other viable alternative is a clear winner.  Otherwise the internal rivalries at the middle management level, never go away until people retire, and that’s not productive.