We will be the first to say ours is not a perfect 15 years; but we can tell you that the source of our collective confidence in our ability to face up to the challenges ahead. First, we have financial strength. We hold international reserves of more than 36 billion dollars, a historic high.
Specific to MDIs, we commissioned two new research papers for this conference to better understand trends in the MDI banking field. In addition, we have two new research papers on MDIs out of the Chicago Fed, one that explores MDI primary markets, and one that looks at MDI small business lending.