And when regulators and economists say that big banks should be broken up, with "casino" investment banks split off from "utility" retail banks, Mr Ackermann retorts that "smaller banks will not make us safer".Mr Ackermann speaks with the authority of a man who steered his bank through the crisis more deftly than most.
On bank regulation our demands that over-big banks be broken up and casino investment banks be split off, bankers' bonuses and pay be tightly regulated, and toxic credit derivatives be banned or closely supervised, are not reported.
Personalities and personality conflicts - really smart people who wanted to play their own method, or do it their own way - early on many of the NY people from an investment bank (Citi) split off right after Bill took over management, and ran their own team for a while.
In particular, a lively debate over whether risky "casino" investment banking should be split from "utility" commercial and retail banking, guaranteed by the taxpayer, has been cut short.
Mr Watanabe was the architect behind Nomura opening up to global markets, but his acquisition of Lehman Brothers' non-American assets has hurt the bank.An eyebrow or two was raised when Sandy Weill called for investment banking to be split from the retail side at banks that are too big to fail.
Sanford Weill, the financier who advocated for the repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act, now thinks the government should split investment banking from banking.
"The commission has two tough challenges – how to split investment banking from basic banking and then give retail customers real choice.
In opposition, Vince Cable, now the business secretary, called for investment banking "casinos" to be split off from retail savings banks to avoid the need for another multibillion-pound bailout.
There is still much to do in banking sector reform, to split investment banking from retail banking, reduce leverage in the financial sector and go after toxic products.
"What we should probably do is go and split up investment banking from banking," he said.
