“There's a concentrated effort to break Lehman. And I can't say it won't work because it worked with Bear.” (Bloomberg)

Fortis chief poised to take the rap for ABN buy. (The Times)

RBS selling ABN’s Aus operations to NAB. (Telegraph)

But Zurich not buying insurance businesses from RBS. (Guardian)

Citi unloads some of its $500bn of unwanted assets – Crédit Mutuel buys its German retail units. (FT)

Swiss regulator gets mean, ups capital demands on Swiss banks. (FT)

Morgan Stanley is the only top quality US bank, says Goldman. (Clusterstock)

“We expect Credit Suisse to show more resilient operating performance than Deutsche Bank.” (Bloomberg)

Analyst bonuses (allegedly) delayed at Merrill. (Dealbreaker)

The EU is deliberately strangling securitisation and accidentally asphyxiating derivatives. (FT Alphaville)

Banks to Bank of England: Extend the special liquidity scheme, or else. (Guardian)

“Money's really all that it's about, the husbands know it, but the wives will never say it.” (The Times)

Three laboratory studies investigate the hypothesis that the presence of wealth may influence people's propensity to engage in unethical behaviour. (Infectious Greed)

Secret nurses soothe banker breakdowns. (Bloomberg)

All the signs are there: black is the new purple, baked beans are the new foie gras. And there are animal rights protesters picketing UBS. (FinTAG)

Fun, fun, and more fun:

The bruthas from Lehman get down at Limehouse Youth Club. (YouTube)