So far only Scandinavia and the Benelux countries have seen significant cross-border bank mergers.
The integrationist camp - especially the founding countries in the Benelux, Germany and France - has lost.
Yet one successful Benelux country, he says, does not mean that bancassurance works as a general model.
The situation is the worst in Benelux area, Northern Italy, and new member states such as Poland and Hungary.
Fortis, a Belgo-Dutch bank overstretched by its role in acquiring ABN AMRO, is now part-owned by the Benelux governments.
Shares in Fortis were suspended, a day after France's BNP Paribas said it would take a 75% stake in the Benelux bank.
Gates also eluded Noel Godin, who's slapped the Wizard of Redmond with a tasty custard pie on a previous trip to the Benelux country.
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As IRISL BENELUX came under increasing scrutiny from European export control agencies, it changed its name twice, first becoming ANTARES SHIPPING and then EIFFE NV.
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Occasionally, the three Benelux countries have tried, without much success, to speed up integration within the European Union by turning themselves into an ever tighter, more dynamic inner core.
North-south divisions are hardly new in the EU. When the euro was planned in the 1990s many German politicians wanted a currency zone comprising only Germany, the Benelux countries and France.
But Europe's longer term worries will remain over Italy, which has traditionally produced prime ministers ready to go along with the French, Germans and Benelux countries in pushing for greater European integration.
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We then expanded into Benelux, a linguistically homogenous region, adjacent to our home market of France, and Poland, where we were again able to partner with a local car sharing network for our first foray into Eastern Europe.
Lagan Cement Group recently signed a memorandum of understanding with Quinn Building Products that may lead to a joint venture (JV) between the two groups whereby they would combine their cement and building products businesses based in Ballyconnell, Derrylin, Kinnegad, Belfast, Cork and Benelux.
At the time, other big cross-border banks, such as Fortis, a Benelux bank, and Dexia, a Belgo-Dutch bank, were in deep trouble, and there were growing concerns among European officials that a country could be overwhelmed if it was home to a big international bank that failed.
The parameters for such interventions are evidently the subject of considerable controversy, particularly given the need to comply with the EU Treaty and the sensitivities towards any formal program of purchases expressed by central banks from the surplus countries (Germany and possibly Benelux, Finland and Austria), Barclays said.
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