I do think actually it was considerably
more disruption coming out of
the financial crisis.
Certainly there were a lot
of layoffs in that timeframe
as banks curtailed their
efforts materially.
And I think that ultimately was a catalyst
to the explosion of the boutique side of
the industry.
So I think that disruption ultimately
really shifted the competitive landscape
in a lot of ways.
And interestingly,
while I think a lot of the big banks
thought boutiques might take small and
mid-cap opportunities away from
them over time given a greater
focus on potential conflicts
of interest in larger banks.
I think more and more large clients have
been more comfortable working on critical
strategic matters with boutique.
So it's a more diverse set of competitors
and I don't think that's changing.
There will be some shakeout of some firms
that ultimately don't have sufficient
market share to support their base.
But I think the handful of bulge
brackets with many boutiques, that will
continue be sort of the future of finance,
at least for the foreseeable future.
Other than that I think clients
are perhaps more readily willing
to spread their business around.
I think it used to be the case that you
expected to have certain clients for
life until you declined to
work with them any further.
That's no longer the case.
I think there's a competition from
international firms as well as
global commerce continues to
become more and more fluid.
So from a banking perspective,
it is a very diverse marketplace in
terms of the number of competitors.
And I think that was a very substantial
change coming out of the financial crisis.
