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The Institutional Risk Analyst
© 2003-2025 | Whalen Global Advisors LLC All Rights Reserved in All Media | ISSN 2692-1812
Banks | Markets | Finance


How Will Consumer Lenders Fare in a Serious Recession?
Many voices in the media and elsewhere have been predicting an economic slump since 2023. Didn’t happen, but 2025 is very different.

R. Christopher Whalen
22 hours ago11 min read
145 views


Silicon Valley and the Large Bank Dead Pool
When you see a bank with more than 10% of total assets in MBS, that's a big red flag in our book.

R. Christopher Whalen
Mar 97 min read
657 views

HOOD: Is the Bloom off the Rose?
And just why do financial firms like HOOD, SoFi Technologies (SOFI) and Block (XYZ) talk about EBITDA in their investor materials?

R. Christopher Whalen
Feb 134 min read
258 views

Taxing Crypto? And Just Where Is That Consumer Recession?
Yes, net loss rates in percentage terms post default are back up to 2010 levels, but the dollar volume of net charge-offs remains very low.

R. Christopher Whalen
Jan 58 min read
412 views


Q: Is JPMorgan Overinflated?
The banking industry has segmented into a handful of above-average performers and JPM is the largest leader of these "winners"
R. Christopher Whalen
Nov 11, 20245 min read
1,378 views

Powell Overshoots the Runway; Update: American Express & Charles Schwab
Last year, when a lot of people were predicting the demise of SCHW, we told our readers to calm down.
R. Christopher Whalen
Oct 23, 20247 min read
705 views

Recession? Consumer Lenders: AX, AXP, ALLY, Barclays, COF, SOFI, SYF
Axos continues to rebound after the bear raid by Hindenburg Research. AX ranked 18th in the WGA Bank Top Index in Q3 2024 vs 98th for SOFI
R. Christopher Whalen
Sep 2, 202412 min read
722 views


Earnings Setup: Consumer Lenders | ALLY AXP AX BCS COF SOFI SYF
The first comment to make is that consumer defaults are rising across the board. The only question we need to consider is the rate of change
R. Christopher Whalen
Jul 11, 20245 min read
540 views

The Bull Case for Large Banks
Big banks have big CRE exposures, too. So what drives this marvelous progression up the wall of worry?
R. Christopher Whalen
May 15, 20247 min read
569 views

Inside the WGA Bank Top 10 Index
So what makes the WGA Bank Top 10 unique? Below we provide some quantitative and qualitative comments on each of the ten best US banks
R. Christopher Whalen
Mar 13, 20247 min read
631 views

Does CapitalOne + Discover Financial = Shareholder Value?
Elizabeth Warren and progressives in Congress should support COF's purchase of Discover as a way to compete with monopoly JPMorgan
R. Christopher Whalen
Feb 21, 20244 min read
489 views


Good, Bad & Ugly: AXP, SOFI & BAC
AXP is a premium stock that is best acquired when people think, incorrectly, that the world is ending.
R. Christopher Whalen
Jan 30, 20246 min read
863 views


Top Five US Banks by Market Performance
In times of market volatility and suddenly ended delusions of easy money, the prudent path is to fly to quality.
R. Christopher Whalen
Jul 7, 20225 min read
474 views

Update: US Banks Post-QE
Even as the FOMC raises interest rates, we caution our readers to be prepared for disappointment from banks near term
R. Christopher Whalen
Jun 15, 20225 min read
410 views

Update: Block Inc. & Upstart Holdings
Is SQ really, REALLY worth 25x book value? Our respectful answer to that question is no.
R. Christopher Whalen
Dec 22, 20219 min read
333 views

Bank Profiles: Morgan Stanley vs Goldman Sachs
Not all AUM is created equal. Even though GS claims to have twice the AUM of MS, it makes less than half the revenue....
R. Christopher Whalen
Nov 2, 20209 min read
338 views


Bank Profile: Ally Financial Inc
ALLY has all of the required attributes for inclusion in The IRA Bank Dead Pool....
R. Christopher Whalen
Sep 28, 202011 min read
875 views
Christopher Whalen
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