When I was in banking, some years ago, they were regarded as the model for all investment bankers, everyone in NYC watched them, tried to emulate their success and would base the evaluation of a proposed strategic course of action on what Morgan would do in this situation. The days of such simplistic reasoning are gone, most of their competitors have been swallowed up or closed and Morgan reacted to the challenges presented them fairly well. They were never the biggest but they have consistently been among the most profitable.
