One of the key figures to review in earnings reported by banks is the fee income. Unlike other types of incomes, income from various types of fees are somewhat predictable and stable. Many U.S. banks in recent decades have ventured into the insurance business and their insurance subsidiaries generate sizable revenues. In the first quarter …
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The Global Finance magazine recently announced its annual ranking of the World’s 50 Safest Banks for 2011. These top banks were selected based on an evaluation of long-term credit ratings—from Moody’s, Standard & Poor’s and Fitch—and total assets of the 500 largest banks worldwide. From the magazine report: The sovereign debt crisis is still raging …
Volatile equity markets and divergent economic growth between the developed and emerging markets have driven trading in Global and American Depository Receipts to new records, according to a mid-year review report by BNY Mellon Depository Receipts. During the first half of this year, 80.5 billion DRs valued at an all-time high of $1.91 trillion, traded …
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Der Speigel has published an excellent report titled The Destructive Power of the Financial Markets discussing the size and power of various players on the global financial markets. The graphic below shows the astonishing size of the global financial industry: Click to enlarge From the report: The financial industry grew rapidly, as did the …
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The S&P 500 is down 10.7% YTD. Among the sectoral indices, the financials are the worst performers with the KBW Bank Index off 32% YTD. As U.S. equities continue their downward trend, some investors are wondering if they are cheap now. The following chart from a CFR report shows that stocks are either cheap or the …