The Globe and Mail reports in its Monday, Jan. 30, edition that there has been speculation about whether Royal Bank of Canada's deal with HSBC Canada, should it win approval from regulators and the federal government, could open the door to a merger between Big Six banks. The Globe's James Bradshaw writes that a previous Liberal government blocked two such deals in 1998, and they have been widely viewed as off-limits since then. However, allowing RBC to absorb HSBC Canada would let the country's biggest bank get bigger, reaching a share of Canadian loans and deposits -- about 24 per cent -- that would be comparable to the combined market share of National Bank of Canada and Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce. The regulatory review of RBC's deal "has the potential to open the door to additional consolidation, even if it is by just a crack," said Barclays Capital Canada analyst John Aiken last week. National Bank chief executive officer Laurent Ferreira is not so sure a Big Six merger proposal would clear the political and regulatory hurdles that stand in its way. He says, "Any merger has to make sense for Canadians." He is dubious whether a big bank merger would make the sector more competitive.