Simon Walls

I would say the energy in the city is good at the moment.

We are the second largest market in the world, unambiguously.

We're the world leader in derivative markets, commodity markets, FX.

So there's loads of strength, but it's a competitive world out there.

We're competing with all sorts of established and competitive markets.

So we need to keep this challenge in mindset.

But I'd say the mood is good.

But you're right to have some caution.

There's a lot of things.

We need to be on this road for a long time.

Yeah, it's a good question.

Difficult in the abstract.

I mean, the first thing I would say is...

Everybody in the city and wider into politicians are talking about a move away from risk aversion, this sense that we need to optimise risk rather than just reduce it.

But the proof of the pudding is in the eating.

It gets much harder when you talk about specific risks and making sure that the societal appetite is there.

One of the things that we're really keen to support is more retail participation in capital markets, broadly defined.

Lots of initiatives, the ones I mentioned today, but also targeted support, a way of

bridging the gap between full fat financial advice and what people use at the moment.

But the more retail invest in capital markets, we have to accept that sometimes you lose money.