Here’s support for our thesis from this week’s issue of the Economist:
Genuinely strong results from resurgent American banks, especially Morgan Stanley, suggest decent returns have become feasible. Jamie Dimon, chief executive of JPMorgan Chase, has gone so far as to say that a “golden age” of banking beckons. Profits are beginning to improve, economies are expanding, credit quality is good, regulation is ebbing.
Even Europe’s banks, so slow to put the crisis behind them, are finally looking to the future. In August Jes Staley, the boss of Barclays, reported one of the bank’s “first clean quarters” in years, free of write-downs and fines.
….banks have become more cost-conscious. There have been cuts in staff across the board; at Bank of America by a third, at Citigroup by 44%, and at Barclays by half. If you want in-house baristas, go to the Bay Area tech giants…