So far there has been no doubt about who is taking over and who is running the show. It means that execution risk is kept at reasonably low levels.

The commercial rationale for cross-border mergers (in banking) remains a little tenuous and the evidence is not conclusive that cost and revenue synergies can be achieved.

With earnings so strong for the time being, there is pressure for money to be deployed either in share buybacks or special dividends or to go out and spend it.

One motivation that could be at the back of European minds is the danger of the American banks coming in.

There was no doubt who was running the show. Reggie was asking the questions, taking the notes, using the laptop. He was in control of the situation.

A lot of what I do is running businesses rather than buying stocks. My worst decision is probably when I know I have the wrong chief executive running the business, and I keep on waiting to make the difficult decision of replacing him.