Salient to Investors:

Jonathan Weil writes:

Comptroller of the currency, Thomas Curry, cautioned that some banks seemed to have been scrimping on their allowances against their loan losses – a fancy way of saying they may be fudging their numbers.

Several large US banks, including JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America and Wells Fargo have been “releasing reserves” – often referred to as “low-quality earnings.”

The banking industry’s loan-loss allowances are more robust than they were during the years leading up to the financial crisis: 2.1 percent of total loans and leases versus 1.1 percent in early 2007.

Read the full article at  http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-09-20/it-s-not-too-early-to-start-worrying-about-banks-again.html

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