Most cases, I would say, in a huge amount of cases, countries that have worked with us and have used our financial facilities have come out quick... more quickly and in a better shape from a crisis than would have come out otherwise.

And then you might decide that the country can just spend maybe years or decades to regain that credit, or maybe give that county the support, the financial support that the market is not willing not do.

We also need a fund that can say 'no'.

We have seen a strong increase in oil prices and up to this year we see that the world has been able to absorb that.

Unlike Milan, Italy's banking capital, or Rome, its religious center, Florence was the place where the rich went to buy goods that would showcase how wealthy they were.

Banks hold deposits and savings entrusted to them by individuals, by businesses, by governments and by central banks. They put that money to work, helping people to buy homes, for example, or lending to businesses to invest in expansion.

When I was a baby, my mom used to have a dance school, and she used to teach classes there. We didn't have money for a babysitter, so she always brought me with her to the dancing school. Back then, I was already watching and listening to Michael Jackson for a long time.

Companies figured out that the easiest way to make money was to reissue records that the accounting department had paid for years ago and already made a profit.