Harry Terris

Faced with an influx of money that could stream out as suddenly as it arrived, banks are being forced to maintain big pools of liquid assets, and potentially earn negative returns on deposits.

The industry's giants have received most of the flows generated by tidal shifts in money markets, and have been impelled to shore up core funding by new liquidity rules.

Business lending has been a lonely source of recent growth for banks, and already it's coming under scrutiny for signs of a bubble in the making.

Growth rates have approached levels observed during the onset of the financial crisis in 2008.

Foreign entities could account for roughly half of reserves booked at the Fed, but, recently, wavering confidence in European banks appears to have channeled some reserves to domestic banks.

A slowdown in inflows at foreign entities appears to have played a role in the biggest jump in deposits at domestically-chartered banks in more than two years.

Recent stock sales by banks fall into three categories: the very good, the not so bad and the downright ugly.

"Gain on sale" margins have fallen along with volume, helping turn mortgage production into another weak point for the banking industry.

A flatter yield curve during the period likely added to pressure on bank net interest margins, which have been drifting down since a recent high early last year.

A flatter yield curve during the period likely added to pressure on bank net interest margins, which have been drifting down since a recent high early last year.

Expansion in C&I portfolios appears to have cooled a bit, but declines in other major loan categories moderated.

Recent stock sales impacted bank issuers differently, depending on why they came to market. But nearly all of them outperformed the KBW Index in the ensuing month, even those suffering heavy dilution.

For most large companies, products and services are what cements a strong reputation. Not so for banks. At least since the crisis, consumers have cared more about the governance of banks. And even more than governance, what they care about now is performance.

Cards have accounted for nearly all the loss allowance reductions at B of A and JPMorgan Chase over the last five quarters, and loan performance continues to improve.

Reserve releases are an exhaustible resource, but, with chargeoffs falling steeply, they are poised to fuel earnings for some time to come.

Gaps in rates appear to persist over time, but the competitive or economic root causes are not apparent in unemployment data and scores of the level of competition.

Decennial data published late last month suggests a sharper deterioration than quarterly data, but more renters mean less surplus housing, an analyst argues.

For the first time in almost 3 years - and after about $1.6 trillion of cuts - unused credit card lines increased in the first quarter.

Delinquency statistics for leading originators of Federal Housing Administration-backed loans may not provide a straightforward road map for which companies are in the greatest peril.

According to the standard antitrust scale, markets like Kansas City and Chicago rank as the most competitive, while markets like Charlotte and Buffalo are concentrated among a handful of dominant players.