AMP yesterday revived its bid for Axa Asia Pacific in a combination that management is this time styling as a "fifth force" in financial services.The door is open to AMP thanks to the ACCC's rejection of the bid by National Australia Bank several months ago, and the continued interest (if not desperation) of Axa SA to cut a deal to extract the Asian businesses of Axa APH from its Australasian operations.The terms of the new offer include the sale of the Asian assets to Axa SA on the same terms as NAB was willing to pay.This time Axa SA will kick in more capital as needed, to ensure cash and shares offered by AMP to Axa APH shareholders maintain their  notional value of A$6.43 per Axa share, provided shares in AMP do not fall below $4.50.The deal would take AMP from number two to number one in retail superannuation; from number five to number one in life insurance; from number three to number one in retirement income products, and from number 10 to number five in non-super managed funds.The combined group would control 19 per cent of the financial planning market, with 3000 "aligned and owned" planners.This proposed concentration of businesses received the green light from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission only months ago, in the course of the ACCC ruling out the NAB bid.It remains to be seen if this reduction in competition in retail funds management and superannuation, and also life insurance, will annoy those politicians presently moaning over the lack of competition in banking. However, there are champions of the AMP bid for Axa outside of AMP itself who see the move as pro-competitive for banking.The Australian's columnist John Durie wrote today that "AMP's banking operation is a minnow and it is in a hurry to grow", though there's not much sign that AMP Bank has been starved of capital since the restructure of the wider AMP group earlier in the decade.Many of AMP Bank's problems are operational in nature and tied to the lack of distribution - and the lack of a branch network - that the Axa takeover will not improve.AMP has fine core banking products; they're just hard to get.