TOKYO (August 30): MITSUI Bank and Taiyo Kobe Bank have agreed to merge next April to create the second largest bank in the world.

Analysts said the merger was the biggest in recent memory anywhere in the world.

'In terms of sheer scale, there's nothing like it,' said Simon Smithson, analyst at Kleinwort Benson Securities. 'It dwarfs anything that exists' in other countries.