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The Institutional Risk Analyst
© 2003-2025 | Whalen Global Advisors LLC All Rights Reserved in All Media | ISSN 2692-1812
Banks | Markets | Finance
R. Christopher Whalen
23 hours ago5 min read
Update: Charles Schwab | SCHW
The SVB duration management from 2020 onward was recklessly negligent by any reasonable standard
208 views
R. Christopher Whalen
3 days ago12 min read
Residential Mortgage Finance 2025
The majority of the actual cash profit generated from residential lending is found in the mortgage servicing rights (MSRs).
289 views
R. Christopher Whalen
7 days ago6 min read
GSE Release? Really. What Do JPM and BAC Say About 2025 Earnings?
Without profits from commissions and capital markets, BAC would have reported a down quarter due to higher funding and operating expenses.
357 views
R. Christopher Whalen
Jan 136 min read
Big Losses in Commercial Real Estate & PE in 2025?
Private equity portfolio companies are about 10 times as likely to go bankrupt as non-PE-owned companies.
920 views
R. Christopher Whalen
Jan 87 min read
Trump, Risk and Liquidity
With Gov Michael Barr stepping down from bank supervision, perhaps Fed Chairman Jerome Powell is more willing to test liquidity lower bound
154 views
R. Christopher Whalen
Jan 58 min read
Taxing Crypto? And Just Where Is That Consumer Recession?
Yes, net loss rates in percentage terms post default are back up to 2010 levels, but the dollar volume of net charge-offs remains very low.
400 views
R. Christopher Whalen
Jan 28 min read
Critiquing Bill Ackman Statement on GSE Release
Cute reference to "average cost," but total return to date would be of greater interest.
2,229 views
R. Christopher Whalen
Dec 30, 20248 min read
Update: Top Bank Asset Managers
As and when GS can exit the loss leading credit card relationship with AAPL, the performance of the business should improve significantly.
222 views
R. Christopher Whalen
Dec 27, 202411 min read
Four Big Risks Ahead in 2025
Indeed, if President Trump wants to be rid of Jerome Powell he can simply impeach him for violations of the Federal Reserve Act
805 views
R. Christopher Whalen
Dec 23, 20247 min read
Liquidity & Rates Fall as Trump Trades Beckon
What does the upsurge in repo rates at the end of September suggest? None of the media who supposedly cover the Fed seem able to ask.
439 views
R. Christopher Whalen
Dec 18, 20247 min read
Update: Has Jane Fraser Redeemed Citigroup? Nope.
Citi seems to be tracking the group now, whereas pre-COVID the stock significantly underperformed in terms of market beta. But performance?
536 views
R. Christopher Whalen
Dec 16, 20243 min read
The IRA Bank Book Q4 2024
WGA notes that bank stock prices have soared in the second half of 2024, with the WGA Bank Top 10 Index up 40% year-to-date in 2024.
299 views
R. Christopher Whalen
Dec 12, 20247 min read
Liquidity Preference: SVB Financial Group, WaMu & Reemerging GSEs
Selling the Treasury's control position in the GSEs while dragging the furious shareholders along behind is not an attractive opportunity
481 views
R. Christopher Whalen
Dec 10, 202415 min read
Kamikaze GSE Release? Oh Yeah...
Yes, that's right, we are going to downgrade $8 trillion in GSE MBS and hundreds of billions in corporate debt.
3,230 views
R. Christopher Whalen
Dec 9, 20249 min read
WGA Bank Top 10 Index | Time to Short Financials?
When SCHW surpassed U.S. Bancorp in size in 2021, you knew that SCHW’s leadership had gotten lost.Â
473 views
R. Christopher Whalen
Dec 5, 20244 min read
Update: Blend Labs Inc.
BLND is generating operating leverage via cost reductions, another way of saying that management is slowly winding up the business.
347 views
R. Christopher Whalen
Dec 4, 20246 min read
The Trump Trade & Sovereign Ratings
What happens to the Trump Trade and the broader equity markets if the FOMC passes on a December rate cut?
599 views
R. Christopher Whalen
Nov 26, 20248 min read
Fed Fiddles as Liquidity Risk Looms
Our bet is that the Bessent "3-3-3" plan likewise will be a failure and that the Fed will be forced to restart QE sooner rather than later
1,189 views
R. Christopher Whalen
Nov 20, 20246 min read
Profile: Bank of Hawaii & QE
The asset returns of BOH are substandard vs its peers. We cannot discern any reason for this save management lapses.
435 views
R. Christopher Whalen
Nov 18, 20247 min read
Trump, Deficits & Credit Default Swaps
As a practical matter, no Fed chairman or governor can function without the support of the White House and the US Treasury.
935 views
Christopher Whalen
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