The Institutional Risk Analyst

New York | The failure of Bear Stearns & Co a decade ago illustrates the key lesson of financial markets, namely that non-banks are dependent upon 1) banks and 2) clients for liquidity. And no amount of capital will save a non-bank that has a deficit in terms of confidence. In times of market stress, credibility and character are far more important than capital. Like the Crisis of 1907, when JPMorgan (NYSE:JPM) had to rescue the trust banks at the behest of President Teddy

Since the November 2016 election, large cap financials have moved sharply higher, in the case of Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) up almost 60%. This spasmodic upward movement in reaction to the election of Donald Trump reflected both the collective desire of professional managers to increase allocation to financials but also the shared frustration of investors with the chronic under-performance of large banks. Let’s face it; there’s a whole generation of managers on Wall Street w