A democracy is a compromise by its nature. It's not a dictatorship.

I think the Republicans have really thoughtful financial policies, and I'm more in the middle on taxation.

It's offensive to me to be called a cost cutter.

It's an advantage for both parties to have the other. It also creates good stability of earnings. Our business mix means we have a diversified earnings stream, which is one of the things why we got through the tough times so successfully.

My operating assumption is we will always have very tough competition. And even with some European banks struggling right now, some of them can reemerge - and maybe even stronger.

I do think there will be more Japanese companies expanding out of Japan, and there will be more cross-border flow from Japan.

I think one could argue that there's more political input into the regulatory side, and on the regulatory side there seem to be fewer people with financial and banking experience - there are more lawyers, academics, economists, maybe politicians now.