As always, protectionism doesn't work. The past resistance to change has resulted in the Italian banking system being still affected by fragmentation, with plenty of small-scale players.

It would take a big global shock to change the prospects for at least modest growth in Europe.

We don't see any change this year. Economic indicators seem to suggest there will be no change in interest rates in the short term.

There are a number of countries that are increasingly uneasy about competitive pressures coming from Asia, and the softening of domestic industry.

We believe that the long-awaited shift from soft to hard data is evidence of a recovery in euro zone private consumption has started, and will likely proceed gradually and modestly over the coming months, in line with the expected improvement in household real disposable income.

The main message here is that the recovery is becoming more fragmented. (But) we should not be misled by a few bad numbers. The conditions are in place for some recovery in the first part of this year.