The group of senior JP Morgan bankers plotting the integration of Bear Stearns will have to wait three months until the deal completes before they can make decisions about which parts of the business to keep. Insiders say they fear the European investment banking operation will be closed with little ceremony. One said last week: “The integration of Bear Stearns’ investment banking business will be a non-event.”

Until its bailout by JP Morgan and the US Federal Reserve, Bear Stearns had this year earned just $7m (€4.5m) in fees from mergers and acquisitions and debt and equity underwriting in Europe, according to Dealogic, an investment banking data provider.