The likelihood is that they would close offices and would get rid of a lot of people. They see (personal advisers) as a very expensive way to do business.
PNC has a major home run here. I don't see a downside.
Trading is the biggest business in the world, one of the fastest-growing and one of the best, and Merrill has been behind the curve here. This quarter shows that Merrill is catching up to where it needs to be.
It's not an international bank. It doesn't have an international reputation. It's not a core business.
This event highlights, once again, the difficulty in determining earnings for derivative transactions.
Some firms are projecting 30 percent M&A growth next year, after 36 percent this year. Companies are still sitting on piles of cash, and they'll get to work after the new year.
It is quite possible that Wal-Mart could, at some point, follow a similar course by simply opening a thousand bank branches in its stores and then challenging Congress to close them down. We think Wal-Mart will do this and that Congress will back down.
It's a grand-slam home run. They wind up getting rid of the high-cost, labor-intensive delivery systems and get in return a business which has a faster secular growth rate with a higher rate of return.
This problem doesn't exist to the same degree at the other major brokerage firms because they haven't lost top people like Morgan Stanley has.
because it reinforces Mr. Dimon's hand to make the changes he wants.