Merrill Lynch's move to establish a fixed-income, currencies and commodities unit last week will have taken many people by surprise. It was not because the bank was again restructuring its businesses but because it was paying one of its closest rivals such an obvious compliment.

Goldman Sachs set up a fixed-income, currencies and commodities division in 1997, a business that made $4.3bn (€3.4bn) in revenues in the past quarter and has helped Goldman become the most profitable investment bank on Wall Street.