I am truly honoured by the presence of Prime Minister Barroso, a true European statesman with a long tenure as President of the European Commission, the government of the European Union, who left his mark on Europe in unprecedented and difficult times.
Over the past decade, consolidation has had a profound effect on the structure of the banking and thrift industries. Between 1990 and 2000, the number of commercial banking and thrift organizations decreased by one-third, from roughly 12,000 to 8,000. This decline was driven by a sharp reduction in the number of banking and thrift organizations in the smaller asset-size categories.