Over the past few years, we have observed that financial institutionshave become somewhat less willing to borrow extra liquidity through our operations and redistribute it to others. It appears that they have become more focused on meeting their own liquidity needs.
In addition, with the new Basel III regulations requiring institutions to hold high-quality liquid assets to better withstand liquidity shocks, demand for these assets has also increased. And many banks are rationalizing the use of their balance sheets, moving away from balancesheet-intensive and low-margin business lines. Given these changes, we have been reviewing our operating framework to assess its effectiveness.