At first glance, I think it's an excellent result. Wealth management and the investment bank are the clear drivers.

The outlook for our capital markets, investment banking, and wealth management businesses remains positive, driven by expectations for moderate growth in the North American economy and continued strength in equity markets. Merchant banking revenue is expected to be lower than in 2005 as we have significantly reduced the size of the portfolio.

A good story has things that draw you in, like great management and great fundamentals, ... A good investment has many of the same characteristics.

The numbers aren't good at all, especially because of the costs. Even without what was recently disclosed, investment banking, wealth and. Asset management and even non-life insurance looks heavy on costs.

We've heard it from a host of our clients, both from the broker-dealer and investment-management perspective.

As far as we are concerned, our companies and us, we make independent investment decisions. It's the boards and management of our companies that make the investment decisions.