Because the difference between proprietary trading and market making is hard to distinguish, we in the Group proposed to keep them together in the separated trading entity. It is better to err on being too prudential than supporting potentially risky activities with insured deposits.
Over the past seven years, output per hour has been growing at an annual rate of more than 2-1/2 percent, on average, compared with a rate of roughly 1-1/2 percent during the preceding two decades. Although we cannot know with certainty until the books are closed, the growth of productivity since 1995 appears to be among the largest in decades.