Everyone's been talking about how bank mergers are likely in the GCC soon. Amlak and Tamweel, the UAE's two big mortgage lenders, have been dancing around a merger for a while, but ever since Emirates Bank merged with National Bank of Dubai to form Emirates NBD in 2007, no major bank mergers have materialised.

That hasn't stopped people from talking about it. It's getting to the point where it almost seems as if the investment banks (and the analysts who work for them) are trying to put bank mergers in the news because they know mergers mean business. And they need business right now.

"One of the initiatives by the Government could be to co-ordinate mergers and acquisitions,"  Kamran Butt, the head of the Middle East equity research and private banking at Credit Suisse, told The National in February. "This will be a way to provide the needed stability."

Thing is, that rings more like a conspiracy theory than the truth. Even Sultan Nasser al Suweidi, the UAE's central bank governor, has chimed in saying banks should consider mergers, after all. Officials around the Gulf have been making similar statements recently, too.

"I've always encouraged bank mergers and at this stage I'd say mergers are a very good choice for banks," Mr al Suweidi told Reuters last October. "[This is] not necessarily for weak banks, but also for strong banks because mergers among strong banks will cut expenses and other administrative costs."

With all the talk from analysts and the encouragement from powerful officials, the question now is of course: why haven't any big banks merged? Read on...