The banking industry in the United States is  going through major structural changes, as regulatory requirements are forcing  banks out of certain lines of business (like prop trading), while also limiting  revenue upside in other products (like debit card fees). Amidst this changing  landscape, some banks may choose to reinvent themselves, shaping their future  through sales of non-core business (like Citigroup (NYSE: C)), or perhaps  through acquisition (like Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC) may consider).

Recently,  an analyst commented that Wells Fargo should consider expanding by acquiring  rejuvenated commercial lender CIT Group (NYSE: CIT) for more than $10 billion.  Wall Street sources told FOX Business’s Charlie Gasparino that CIT Group CEO  John Thain is actively shopping the company in hopes of landing a buyout bid  from a larger bank. The sources said Thain, a former CEO of Merrill Lynch,  began shopping CIT after failing to acquire ING Direct, which was bought by  Capital last year in a $9 billion deal. Thain has many transformative deals on  his resume, notably working with the New York Stock Exchange when they went  public, before moving over to Merrill Lynch which he helmed during the financial  crisis of 2008 up to their sale to Bank of America (NYSE: BAC).

Stifel  Nicolaus analyst Christopher Mutascio said Wells Fargo would likely pay $52 a  share, or $10.5 billion, for CIT. Shares of CIT jumped on the rumors, a welcome  reprieve. CIT nearly collapsed under the weight of the financial crisis, filing  for a massive bankruptcy in 2009. Today, CIT is a public company once again,  employing more than 3,500 people.

The  San Francisco-based Wells Fargo, is a banking behemoth with $1.34 trillion in  assets, and can leverage the strengths of CIT group, while giving them the scale  they have never had before. CIT’s fragile state since the financial crisis has  caused their cost of borrowing to be comparatively high, restricting profits at  the firm and the strength of their rebound. CIT would benefit from Wells Fargo’s  extremely low cost of funds, which is nearly four percentage points less than  CIT’s core debt funding, Mutascio said.

Whether Wells Fargo strives to acquire CIT or not is purely speculation at this point, though synergies clearly exist across the franchises and it would make sense for both parties, and their respective shareholders.