Is the European government  banking bailout and new capital adequacy rules leading to a national banking focus? The single market for banking services within the European Union seems to move further away into the future as major banks focus on their home markets and sell off x-border operations in order to pay back any sponsored loans from government but also due to coming more stern demands on equity in banks? It has been suggested that if a bank has business x-border, it needs even more equity than if it has its business only in its home country. If this is true, Europe will see a reduction of competition in banking and also the idea of the single European payments area will in practice be out of scope. Quite contrary to what the European Central Bank and the European Commission are voicing.