The Citigroup deal did mean a lot to bankers across all types of spectrums, ... The perception is that bigger is better.

Also when we look at the market share that it was able to keep this year in a pretty poor environment, we think that is also key. And that the company will come out very strong given a good economic and market recovery into 2002,

The key with Merrill is they're not as dependent on some of the venture capital private equity gains some of these companies earned earlier in the year, but have now lost.

Their earnings are coming out today. They're in the midst of merger activity, they have grown their franchise from $6 billion to $75 billion with acquisitions here in St. Louis. The ... numbers will tell us more in the next say 12 months as they fully integrate (different) franchises.

It's giving everybody an opportunity to do some spring cleaning.

It's more their diversification. The business revenue mix is not all from the IPO activity.

A bull market can cover a lot of sins and cultural issues.

This is a wake-up call that boards no longer do deals for the people at the top but for what is best for the shareholders.

This gives them a good platform to build on, but I don't think this is the last deal you'll see, ... You'll continue to see them building on these types of transactions.

This is really about cutting expenses, ... You need the volume to create the synergies of scale. When you look at Citigroup, they have been looking to get bigger, particularly on the consumer side.