The Institutional Risk Analyst

So the $200 billion asset Fifth-Third Bank (FITB) is buying $80 billion asset Comerica Incorporated (CMA)? Is this the start of a wave of similar transactions among regional banks? Hopefully not. This deal neither creates great value nor promises significant synergies, but it does make for a bigger regional bank with so-so financial metrics. Essentially FITB is rescuing CMA shareholders.

If Thomas Edison were alive today, would he tell Elon Musk to make electric cars with batteries?

If the FOMC raises the target rate for fed funds further, then banks like CMA are likely to come under renewed selling pressure.

If Henry Ford lived today, would he build electric cars? With lithium batteries?

We speak with a revolutionary in the world of lending, Tom Showalter, Founder and CEO of Candor Technology.

Watching the meltdown of Tesla Motors (TSLA) founder and CEO Elon Musk last week unfold in the pages of The New York Times, we are reminded that enterprises need both vision and operating smarts to be successful. It was obvious years ago that Elon Musk needed help to build a new car company. Yet somehow the members of the board of directors of TSLA did nothing as Elon Musk led this extraordinary endeavor.