U.S. bank stocks rallied Wednesday, led by Zions Bancorp, Regions
Financial Corp. and SunTrust Banks Inc., amid speculation about mergers
and acquisitions in the industry.

Barclays PLC /quotes/comstock/23s!a:barc
(UK:BARC
347.85,
+2.05,
+0.59%)

/quotes/comstock/13*!bcs/quotes/nls/bcs
(BCS
17.05,
-3.62,
-17.53%)

is considering another major acquisition in the United States and is
hunting for a retail bank that would give it more deposits and extend
the presence of its Barclays Capital unit, The Wall Street Journal
reported Tuesday, citing people familiar with the matter.

The bank, in response to potential changes in banking regulation, has designated an internal team to assess possible targets, the newspaper said. Still, Barclays isn't in talks with any businesses in
the U.S. and no deal is imminent, the Journal's report said.

In a similar vein, Royal Bank of Canada /quotes/comstock/13*!ry/quotes/nls/ry
(RY
56.31,
-0.21,
-0.37%)

/quotes/comstock/11t!ry
(CA:RY
57.79,
-0.17,
-0.29%)

is interested in U.S. banks with $10 billion in assets or more to add
to its consumer lending business, executive James Westlake told
Bloomberg News this week.

The financial crisis triggered a jump in unemployment in the U.S., denting demand for loans among consumers and businesses. That could
drive consolidation as the banking industry adjusts, said Nancy Bush,
president of bank research firm NAB Research, in a recent interview.

Zions /quotes/comstock/15*!zion/quotes/nls/zion
(ZION
20.87,
+0.38,
+1.86%)
gained 7.5% to $20.71 in morning trading Wednesday. Regions
/quotes/comstock/13*!rf/quotes/nls/rf
(RF
7.35,
+0.06,
+0.82%)
climbed 7.5% to $7.43 and SunTrust
/quotes/comstock/13*!sti/quotes/nls/sti
(STI
26.55,
+0.06,
+0.23%)
rose 4% to $26.86.