The American Banking landscape is under change. As the financial crisis heated up in 2008 we saw many companies loose billions of dollars and some even go under such as the largest bank failure in U.S. history, the Washington Mutual Savings Bank. Shall we call it the changing of the guard or the survival of the fittest? It doesn't really matter, for history will decide for us. Today there is a gloomy outlook for the financial industry and the economy, but one thing is for sure the change goes on. With Bank of America (BAC) purchasing the storied Wall Street Brokerage house of Merrill Lynch and Wells Fargo's (WFC) purchase of an old southern regional powerhouse of Wachovia Bank, both will take on bigger rolls. Bank of America will be a much bigger player in the brokerage business as well as a major player in the mortgage business with its purchase of the largest independent mortgage company, Countrywide Financial. Wells Fargo will have an east coast presence now that it owns Wachovia with its many branches throughout the south east. Wells to will even be bigger in its real estate mortgage business. Then there is PNC Financial (PNC) which was a north eastern regional but suddenly jumped into a new roll as a money center bank with its recent acquisition of National City Bank. This gives PNC a larger east coast exposure which will include the the state of Florida who has a huge retirement community. Then their is Bank Branch & Trust (BBT) another North Carolinian bank that has managed to stay out of trouble with its more "Plain Vanilla " bank lending, which it turns out boring can be better after all. We also have another one of Warren Buffett's stocks U.S. Bank (USB) which also has had higher lending standards than some of its competitors. Suntrust has also remained in the mix but paying some what of a price, by selling some of its Coca Cola (KO) stock, which it has owned since 1919. We can not forget Goldman Sachs(GS) and Morgan Stanley(MS)that were brokerage businesses that have now converted over to chartered banks to escape going under. Citigroup (C) who was once the largest bank might take on a smaller role in the changing of the guard, while JP MorganChases purchase of Washington Mutual's assets will give them a much larger retail client base.
Where they stand now:
Quote Yield PE MktCap Revenue
Bank of America 14.04 9.07 12 70b 87,304b
Branch Bank & Trust 26.66 7.03 9 15b 7894b
Citigroup 6.96 9.14 - 38b 124,467b
Goldman Sachs 83.70 2.22 18 33b 53,579b
JP Morgan Chase 30.71 4.94 15 115b 71,387b
Morgan Stanley 16.44 6.49 14 17b 61,883b
PNC Financial 47.87 5.50 13 17b 6166b
Suntrust 29.83 7.21 9 11b 10,035b
US Bancorp 24.57 6.91 12 43b 13,136b
Wells Fargo 29.65 4.59 15 99b 35,177b
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