francine: we are back with alicia of levine and michael shaoul -- alicia levine and michael shaoul.king sector, we are waiting for a consolidation. what needs to happen for cross-border mergers? alicia: it is a regulatory issue. there has to be some sort of impetus for it. i suspect the ecb will be involved. i think christine lagarde will be part of the impetus for this to happen because we cannot have different banking systems with one central banks in an age of negative rates where it affects them differently depending on what is on their balance sheets, which need to be cleaned up as well. francine: when you have a consolidated europe in terms of banking system, is there value or do you need to clear the markets? alicia: the first thing that needs to happen is the balance sheets have not been unpacked fully, which is part of what we are seeing, why there is so much underperformance. opportunity and an investing you need to go where it feels most uncomfortable when you sense a positive change coming. about am thunderstruck the equalization in europe and monetary policy, that these