Nordea’s offer to buy rival ABN AMRO over the summer, reportedly rejected by the Dutch government (ABN’s 77% shareholder), is likely to be the first of many cross-border bank tie-up rumours in Europe over the coming months, analysts at Citi predict.

The Dutch government, which stepped in to rescue ABN AMRO in 2008, has veto rights on the majority of ABN AMRO shares and blocked a takeover approach first made by Sweden’s largest bank in June.

According to reports, Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank also held failed talks about the idea of a merger over the summer. Both German lenders are looking at options to rebuild their weak profitability.

In a note to clients, Stefan Nedialkov, financial analyst at Citi, wrote that while he does not believe a Nordea/ABN merger makes much financial or strategic sense, investors are likely to face similar stories in the near future.

“Weaker banks in Italy, Spain, Germany and Portugal are the most likely takeover targets, we believe, but larger cross-border mergers with some synergy potential cannot be ruled out.” Nedialkov added.

“The European Central Bank/Single Supervisory Mechanism have publicly been encouraging more M&A within and across European countries as an antidote to the low profitability.”