Harry Terris

Repurchase provisions continued to bite in the first quarter even as they fell sharply from a period marked by a pair of large settlements.

Borrowing on credit cards may be near a bottom, but the nation's largest issuers have ceded market share and are increasingly fighting for the same kinds of customers.

Mountains of bad assets have already been charged off, but mountains of underwater loans remain. However the meltdown plays out, most of the action is on bank balance sheets.

Enormous pools of home equity loans that in fact have little or no home equity standing behind them continue to inspire doubts about the nation's banking giants.

An analysis of local deposit share reveals which regional banking companies have the strongest positions across the markets in which they operate.

In 26 metropolitan statistical areas, branches accounting for more than 10% of market deposits were operated by institutions that agreed to sell or failed since July 1.

Preliminary data indicates that C&I lending continued to show strength in the first quarter - but mainly at big banks - while other loan categories remained lifeless.

In absolute terms, there has been a fair bit of churn in states like Florida and Texas, but relatively little as a proportion of those states' total deposits.

Among the nation's banking giants, Wells Fargo has by far the strongest branch network as measured by the proportion of markets in its footprint that it dominates. Competitors like Capital One and PNC also rank high.

Stock price to book ratios have gained on deal valuations, perhaps indicating the broader availability of potent acquisitions currency.

Wide NIMs held pretty well late last year as large segments of the industry managed further expansion, and the recent shift in the yield curve has improved the outlook.

Large banks' overall funding advantage continued to drift down through the fourth quarter, but some of the narrowing could reflect lagged repricing in small banks’ time deposit portfolios.

Investors have hammered acquirer shares after recent deal announcements, perhaps signaling a rapid end to the "buyer's market" that prevailed through much of the crisis.

Projections for losses in target loan portfolios in recent deals were in league with markdowns taken against Wachovia and Nat City in late 2008, when the economy was in freefall.

A review of goodwill or, conversely, bargain gains as a percentage of acquired assets in recent years offers another perspective on an apparently slipping advantage for buyers.

Pinpointing the geographic epicenter of the crisis is not a simple task. Viewed one way, California and Florida top the list. Viewed another, Puerto Rico and Nevada rank highest.

After collapsing about a year before dividends followed suit, share buybacks began to tick up in the second half of 2010.

At the nation's biggest banking companies, releases of loan loss allowances – which have delivered large boosts to earnings for about a year – continued to increase in the fourth quarter.

Fourth quarter mortgage buyback data shows B of A catching up on agency liabilities and JPMorgan Chase building litigation reserves for claims from private investors.

Business loans remained about 25% below peak in December, though performance could be trending better than after the last bank crisis.