Salient to Investors: Jonathan Weil writes: The reason it’s a good idea to separate securities firms from commercial banks is to protect consumers from brokers selling schlock investments. There are countless tales of banks cross-selling unsuitable investments to unsophisticated customers. Many people trust the advice they get from their local
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Clive Crook writes: The US and advanced economies have not done enough to head off the next financial meltdown. Gain made in safety is likely to be too small even to offset the danger created since the crash by greater concentration in the finance industry. The emerging
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Big banks claim a safer financial system would be bad for the economy because tougher banking rules will squeeze their lending and hold back investment. Markets disagree. On July 9, the day regulators published their proposal, the S&P 500 Index rose 11 points and the 10-yr US T-note held steady. On
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Brad Hintz at Sanford C. Bernstein said rising rates will affect mortgages, and that’s negative for the banking group, while trading revenues look good across the board. Read the full article at http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-07-12/jpmorgan-profit-rises-31-on-trading-beats-estimates.html Click here to receive free and immediate email alerts of the latest forecasts.
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Matthew C. Klein writes: Glass-Steagall 2 would do nothing to protect us from the devastation we recently experienced. The belief that the 1933 Glass-Steagal Act made the financial system safe and promoted decades of prosperity and that the 2007 crisis would never have happened if G-S had
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Matthew Peron at Northern Trust said the strong jobs report is good for equities because it’s supportive for earnings growth, and we know this is not going to be a terrific earnings season. Peron said the focus will be on guidance and now is the time for the
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: If there is a chance to rig benchmark rates in world markets, someone will try. Charles Geisst at Manhattan College said time and again all these markets have been influenced by major market-makers – a polite way of saying they have been rigged. Barclays, UBS, and RBS have been fined $2.5
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Goldman Sachs study says: Bond investors do not perceive the 6 biggest US banks as too big to fail, including itself. The 6 banks have had an average funding-cost advantage over smaller competitors of 0.31 percent since 1999 – widest in the financial crisis and now an average 0.10
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: China is the world’s fastest-growing market for credit cards, even as delinquencies have tripled in the past 4 years and profit remains elusive. Debit cards outnumber credit cards 10-to-1 in China. Rainy Yuan at Masterlink Securities said credit cards are the ultimate growth area and also the battlefield for banks in China. China’s $7
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Russian investment banks controlled by Russia are squeezing out foreign competitors, helped by a bailout of the country’s richest men five years ago. Freeman & Co says Russian banks won 38 percent of fees in 2012 versus 7 percent in 2005, European banks dropped to 32 percent from
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