Thank you.
Thank you very much for your time today.
I had to step out, so if I'm repeating anything, my apologies.
I did have a question. There was a discussion earlier with Mr. Macklem, so maybe, Mr. Rudin, you can help answer it.
The material we received talks about the success of the banking system here in Canada, of which we are all immensely proud. There is a piece about the banks experiencing profits greater than expected or predicted, and yet at the same time there is a comment that it's not the amount of credit so much as the cost. Certainly, anecdotally, that is what we're hearing. So this morning I've already heard some inconsistencies in saying yes, there's a lot of lending happening, but we're pulling back on the securitization aspects of it--which I think is a good thing, given everything we've seen. Then we have banks seeing higher profits than expected, and yet we're also hearing that the cost of lending has gone up.
I would like it if maybe both you and Monsieur Halde could comment on that, because I have yet to really hear an answer as to why that is.