Last fall, the Citizens Bank Commercial Markets Team conducted its annual M&A outlook survey for 2017, which predicted a busy year for mergers and acquisitions. Respondents indicated that their perceptions of the market in 2017 did not depend on the results of the presidential election. A survey conducted in February showed that might not have been the case, though, as overall optimism in the economy has increased. Head of Corporate Finance and Capital Markets at Citizens Commercial Banking Bob Rubino broke down the results of the new survey in an interview with ABF Journal.