If the government isn’t going to allow bank mergers, the banks will look elsewhere for growth, and that’s exactly what they’re doing. In fact, they turned south of the border:
TD Banknorth Inc., which is paying $1.9 billion for New Jersey-based Hudson United Bancorp Inc., hopes to double in size and make a push into New York City over the next few years, its chief executive officer said on Tuesday.
[The deal] would also give Canada’s Toronto-Dominion Bank, TD Banknorth’s new majority shareholder, a much larger U.S. presence. Other Canadian banks interested in the country include Royal Bank of Canada and Bank of Montreal, which owns Chicago’s Harris Bank.
I don’t know if it’s good or bad that our banks are expanding into the States. On the one hand, it’s great for growth and to allow them to compete globally. On the other hand, what if they forget about tiny old Canada?
Read: Reuters
MasterMaq's Blog 
**Note: It didn’t seem to post this comment the first time I submitted it, but there might be a double.**
What do you mean, "tiny old Canada"? You’ve got a nice piece of land up there 😉
But politically, Canada doesn’t make a lot of news, if that’s what you meant. But in my opinion, the less world\media attention a country draws, the better off they are because the media reports the bad news first, as you know…
Yeah it might be in our interest to have less media coverage 🙂
No I meant more in terms of population! New York and the surrounding areas alone almost match the population of our entire country.