top of page

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


Q: Which Top Seven Bank is Most Vulnerable in a Recession?
If we consider the larger picture, we already have years of pent-up credit expenses awaiting realization, but add to the sauce Donald Trump.
R. Christopher Whalen
2 days ago14 min read
431 views


Banks Slide as Asset Sales Accelerate
If we told you that the Trump White House was planning to end the issuance of all agency MBS, how do you think this will impact financials?
R. Christopher Whalen
Mar 115 min read
582 views

WGA Releases Q1 2025 Bank Industry Survey | Higher for Longer May Throttle Deposit Growth
Industry results in 2024 were reasonably good, but the banking industry is still 200 bp below 2019 levels of asset and equity returns
R. Christopher Whalen
Feb 282 min read
180 views

QT + Lower Federal Outlays = ?
Banks continue to show a strong preference for late vintage loans over securities, a fact which may cause loan yields to continue falling
R. Christopher Whalen
Feb 115 min read
360 views

GSE Release? Really. What Do JPM and BAC Say About 2025 Earnings?
Without profits from commissions and capital markets, BAC would have reported a down quarter due to higher funding and operating expenses.
R. Christopher Whalen
Jan 166 min read
435 views

Update: Has Jane Fraser Redeemed Citigroup? Nope.
Citi seems to be tracking the group now, whereas pre-COVID the stock significantly underperformed in terms of market beta. But performance?
R. Christopher Whalen
Dec 18, 20247 min read
551 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
1,376 views

Fed Duration Trap Threatens Banks, SOMA
It’s time for the Fed to get smart on duration risk before circumstances create another money market crisis.Â
R. Christopher Whalen
Nov 1, 20248 min read
1,094 views

Update: Citigroup, Bank America and Goldman Sachs
How is Goldman going to extricate itself from this profoundly unattractive business with AAPL without destroying Apple Card?
R. Christopher Whalen
Oct 18, 20247 min read
456 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
721 views

The Top Seven Banks: JPM, BAC, C, WFC, USB, PNC & TFC
Banks lose money every single day by holding onto a below market security from the 2019-2021 period.
R. Christopher Whalen
Aug 18, 20249 min read
696 views


Update: Pinnacle Financial & Synthetic Credit Risk Transfer
We hear in the channel that banks with festering multifamily exposures are paying north of 10% for similar CRT transactions.
R. Christopher Whalen
Jul 18, 20246 min read
817 views


Bank Earnings: JPM, BAC, AX, GS & SCHW
GS saw loss provisions fall slightly in Q2 2024 to $282 million but the number was still $600 million in the first half of the year...
R. Christopher Whalen
Jul 17, 20245 min read
479 views


Goldman Sachs Fails Fed Stress Test
Notice that the Fed stress test is silent on trillions of dollars in mark-to-market losses facing US banks from COVID-era securities
R. Christopher Whalen
Jul 7, 202410 min read
3,175 views


USSC Kills Chevron | Zombie Banks Pass Stress Tests?
The Fed bank stress tests are another sign of magical thinking in Washington.
R. Christopher Whalen
Jul 1, 20248 min read
915 views

Q2 2024 Earnings Setup: JPM, BAC, WFC, C, USB, PNC, TFC
Citigroup leads the pack with a net loss rate of 133 basis points (bp) that is almost five times the average for Peer Group 1 at 27 bp.
R. Christopher Whalen
Jun 23, 20249 min read
1,439 views

Update: BMO + Bank of the West = ?
BMO arguably has the weakest reserve position among the large Canadian banks....
R. Christopher Whalen
Jun 17, 20246 min read
988 views


WGA Bank Top 100 Index | Q2 2024
Our Bank Top 10 and Top 25 indices continue to outperform the industry benchmarks, but the broader samples show growing financial stress
R. Christopher Whalen
Apr 29, 20243 min read
580 views


The Death of Leverage; What's the WAC of Bank America?
The yield on BAC's $320 billion commercial and industrial (C&I) book was just 5.4% or more than 150bp below peer at year-end 2023.
R. Christopher Whalen
Apr 24, 20247 min read
936 views

Update: Bank of America & Charles Schwab
BAC is in big trouble, not due to credit but because of sub-par asset returns. BAC’s return on assets has fallen to just 0.8% in Q1 2024
R. Christopher Whalen
Apr 17, 20246 min read
641 views
Christopher Whalen
bottom of page