BENTON E. GUP holds the Robert Hunt Cochrane-Alabama Bankers Association Chair of Banking at the University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa. He is the editor or author of numerous books, including The Future of Banking (2003), Megamergers in a Global Economy: Causes and Consequences (2002), and The New Financial Architecture: Banking Regulation in the 21st Century (2001), all published by Quorum Books.