The Institutional Risk Analyst

When Elizabeth Warren and Maxine Waters spoke publicly against the CapitalOne-Discover transaction, they were actually supporting the monopoly position of JPMorgan and other large banks. By opposing CapitalOne-Discover and, indirectly, supporting JPM, Warren, Waters and other progressives are actually hurting low income consumers.

Some of the largest banks by assets have dropped from the top quartile into the bottom half of the distribution for the top 100 banks

Many voices in the media and elsewhere have been predicting an economic slump since 2023. Didn’t happen, but 2025 is very different.

If we consider the larger picture, we already have years of pent-up credit expenses awaiting realization, but add to the sauce Donald Trump.

Even as President Donald Trump demands rate cuts, the Powell FOMC is sharply reducing US economic growth estimates

There is an old rule on Wall Street that industry sectors like airlines and auto manufacturers are trades rather than investments...

If we told you that the Trump White House was planning to end the issuance of all agency MBS, how do you think this will impact financials?

When you see a bank with more than 10% of total assets in MBS, that's a big red flag in our book.

Industry results in 2024 were reasonably good, but the banking industry is still 200 bp below 2019 levels of asset and equity returns

Like 2023 and 2024, the year 2025 may end up being relatively stable, yet investors remain worried about stealth externalities.

And just why do financial firms like HOOD, SoFi Technologies (SOFI) and Block (XYZ) talk about EBITDA in their investor materials?

Folks in the financial sector are beginning to wonder if certain parts of the government apparatus will continue to function.

A look at the bottom quarter of WGA Bank Top 100 Index. We view TCBI as a work in progress. But kudos to KEY...

We think it is notable that AMP has underperformed the other members of the group other than SCHW over the past year.

GS had not appeared in the top 25 since we began the indices a year ago, while MS had made it three times.

When President Donald Trump says that interest rates are too high, he may not fully understand just how right he is about the cost of credit

The SVB duration management from 2020 onward was recklessly negligent by any reasonable standard

Without profits from commissions and capital markets, BAC would have reported a down quarter due to higher funding and operating expenses.

Private equity portfolio companies are about 10 times as likely to go bankrupt as non-PE-owned companies.

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.