Bob Diamond

come from the regional and community banks.

They don't come from the big banks.

Many of the big four, many of the larger regionals just don't have the cost structure or the attention to service smaller businesses.

So we think the credit quality on balance and lending is very, very good across regional and community banks.

I think the cutting rates, I mean, if you think of the go-forward environment, so let's say a regional bank buys a community bank, you get the synergies, you have an ROE, and now you're focused on additional acquisitions and what's the go-forward?

The go-forward is terrific.

I mean, the Treasury, the Fed,

The SEC are encouraging consolidation.

They're talking about simplifying capital rules.

They're talking about endorsing these mergers and this consolidation.

And then you have rates at 4% to 4.25%, likely coming down this month, potentially again in December.

You have 100 basis points between twos and tens.

You can't make a better environment for banks going forward than this.

So if you strengthen through consolidation, and then you look at the go forward, obviously, assuming that the economy stays stable and strong, it's a great environment for banks.

Is that right?

More than that.

More than that.

I think one of the situations we faced prior to this administration is there wasn't quite the same support for approving mergers.

Was it Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders a little bit on the edge?

Like, I'm very, very surprised, Ann Marie, that Elizabeth Warren would come out and say we shouldn't approve consolidation in banks.