(Adds NEW YORK dateline; details from Merrill note; Goldman response; Adds background)

By Joseph A. Giannone

NEW YORK, July 28 (Reuters) - Wall Street giant Goldman Sachs Group Inc (GS.N: Quote, Profile, Research) has considered buying a deposit-taking bank, a move that would help it fund its businesses during times of market turmoil, Merrill Lynch analyst Guy Moszkowski wrote on Monday.

The credit crunch has prompted analysts and investors to speculate that Goldman, eager to establish a new and more stable source of funds, would snap up a bank. The market talk has gained strength in recent weeks as rising loan losses and worries about the U.S. economy has made bank stocks cheap.

Moszkowski, one of the most influential analysts following the banking industry, adds to the growing speculation that Goldman, which has largely avoided the credit losses hobbling its rivals, is looking to acquire a bank.

"We still would not ascribe very high probability, but if a bank with excess deposits were available at the right price, with no need for Goldman to exit existing businesses, we'd no longer rule it out," Moszkowski wrote in a client note after meeting with four senior Goldman executives last week. "These are strange times indeed."

Goldman spokesman Ed Canaday declined to comment.

Moszkowski, who met with Chief Financial Officer David Viniar, said the firm has been "obsessed" with liquidity as it watched how cash flow fears brought down Bear Stearns and now threatens Lehman Brothers LEH.N.

Viniar "noted that the firm had done extensive analysis on the degree to which it might be able to deploy excess deposits to fund core businesses," Moszkowski said. "Based on the willingness to even consider a transaction, it would seem Goldman has satisfied itself that core activities could conceivably be funded this way."