Bank Profits Down And Firms Have 'Already Seen Their Glory Days,' Analysts Say

washingtonpost.com:

Revenues at big financial firms are down across the board and could continue stalling for years as new regulations kick in and consumers borrow vastly less than before.

"They've already seen their glory days," said Matthew McCormick, a banking analyst and portfolio manager at Bahl & Gaynor. "Revenue growth is anemic. You're seeing essentially a bunch of banks surviving, not prospering."

Read the whole story: washingtonpost.com

Comments

[optimist7]

09:14 PM on 11/30/2010

"The end result could be a fundamental rebalancing of the U.S. economy in which a smaller portion is devoted to finance."
 
aaaawww .... what a pity!
 
Maybe they'll just have to go back to banking and competing for customers by offering the man on the street a reasonable loan, at affordable interest rates. It might seem counterintuitive, but they could try dropping the interest rates on their credit cards too! That way, maybe people could actually afford to use them, and to pay their bills, without being left with no choice but to file for bankruptcy to save themselves from overblown balances, inflated with fee upon fee upon fee and usurious interest rates that take decades to repay without charging another dime.
 
Bankers being stodgy old grey-suited legitimate bankers, instead of the glamorous jet-setting crowd they transformed themselves into beginning with the Reagan years, when their credit card rates first soared to the 20+% we see again today, would be a "good thing" (thanks Martha) for America!

[leftLibertarian]

08:30 PM on 11/30/2010

The bailout was a bad idea. These so called too big to fail firms should have filed for bankruptcy protection if they could not float on their own.

[citizenwatch]

01:18 AM on 12/01/2010

Let them do so now!

F&F

[truthseeker42]

08:50 AM on 12/01/2010

But it was an EMERGENCY(sense my sarcasm)

F&F

[lonbwoy]

07:58 PM on 11/30/2010

Yeh maybe the small banks, the the big honchos have seen record profits this yr, go figure!.

[Sundialsvc4]

07:52 PM on 11/30/2010

Every one of these "so-called Too Big To Fail" banks ... every single one ... HAS failed.

They're dead. They just haven't had the good grace to stop wiggling yet.

Why are they dead?

Because they didn't realize that the Glass-Steagall Act was created by a couple of guys who knew a great deal about banking ... about what it would actually take to be a successful bank IF you actually wanted to be a successful bank ... and, a great deal also about human nature.

Glass-Steagall stated that a single company may not simultaneously be (a) a bank, and (b) an insurance company, and (c) a finance company.

Glass-Steagall realizes that these three pursuits are both "mutually exclusive" and "mutually inter-dependent." None can survive without the other two, but none can survive unless all three are forever at-odds with one another. When the three are arranged in this way, they create an unshakable and self-righting tripod. But there are plenty of greedy people who want to bind all three activities together so as to "play the ends against the middle." (Which G-S therefore forbids.)

This is what these companies tried to do... and they very-promptly "fell over and couldn't get up." So, they turned to massive fraud, and to keep it all going, even-more massive bribery. Everybody got screwed; including them.

But we need: banks. Insurers. Financiers.

Honest ones.

(Gasp!)

[citizenwatch]

01:22 AM on 12/01/2010

I fear you are correct and we are doomed because all our politicians continue to sell out to banks, insurers and Wall Street.

[joe kim]

07:11 PM on 11/30/2010

Why would these banks not make even more money with all the free cash they are getting from the Fed.

All they need to do is borrow at 0% and buy treasuries that the fed has said it will buy with it's POMO and QE money.

Why would banks ever need to lend again? It is all free money....

They don't need to take any risk, and it is all given to them by the fed.

No risk, and limitless free money who wouldn't do well in this environment?

It is beyond stupid if these banks do not make more money than they ever have.

[rikster]

06:44 PM on 11/30/2010

yeah..right...

[Longtimeliberal]

06:28 PM on 11/30/2010

These are some of the top 2% of so called small business's that Republicans want to keep tax cuts for. These cuts are not for regualar business who pay their taxes. If all tax loopholes and tax havens were stopped all corporate tax would fall by 10% which would help business and jobs here.

[mendoza915]

05:17 PM on 11/30/2010

Sunny days, sweeping the clouds away. On my way, to where the air is sweet... Can you tell me how to get, how to get to Wall Street.

These banks levied unheard of charges and hidden fees on their customers, signed shady contracts and mortgages, and played games with our money as if they were at an arcade trying to get tickets to trade in for knick-knacks. While the middle class suffers, they are out frolicking in a meadow full of flowers. We may have been duped, but the people that let this happen were elected in to office and they in turn were in the pockets of the corporation.

[The other mike]

04:37 PM on 11/30/2010

When Glass-Steagall was repealed in 1999, the door was opened for these big banks to become casinos. The result was the financial meltdown of 2008, leading to a massive bailout at taxpayers' expense. The banks have mostly recovered, but now they are complaining that the new rules put in place to protect consumers and prevent another financial crisis are cutting into their profits. Funny, but it hasn't prevented them from paying out record bonuses this year.

[watson11111]

04:32 PM on 11/30/2010

At least a third of the people are aware of the (one world order) and no one will let the happen.ben bernake you are a fking traiter and should be tried for treason along with your buddies!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
http://www.thetrumpet.com/index.php?q=7701.6280.0.0

[lightningbolt]

03:11 PM on 11/30/2010

The only reason the big banks appear to be profitable is because they have extorted the FASB to change the accounting rules so they can hide their losses.  This happened during the Bush administration and is continuing under Obama.  Both parties are in on the scam.

[cassie reinara]

03:27 PM on 11/30/2010

Yes, "mark to market" comes to mind first and foremost. Accounting has become a joke and corporate fraud is the new game being played.

[uneeda]

03:10 PM on 11/30/2010

short the banks

[floodmfx]

02:51 PM on 11/30/2010

They are lucky to be surviving - it is more than many of their victims are doing.

[mrclark]

02:44 PM on 11/30/2010

The large banks have nothing coming and need reduced in size or even better yet broken up as their obscene profits at taxpayer cost is bad for our economy. They have become to speculative and have abrogated there first duty which was to facilitate economic development in America. Wall Street is currently a fixed gaming casino and no longer reflects the American economy which is in real trouble due to the lack of an efficient industrial base.

[Anne Johnson]

02:06 PM on 11/30/2010

Well I guess there is only so much banks can do anymore to be profitable.  With so many of us out of work, homes foreclosed, and credit card debt defaults, how many of us are seeing our credit ratings drop drastically?  Nobody qualifies for loans anymore, and many people without jobs and incomes won't even bother to try to get one.  The banksters have squeezed pretty much all they can out of the consumer and I suspect that now they will be going after their own low level employees next.  Now that will cause even more unemployment and the vicious cycle will continue until we have trickle-up poverty.