J.V. Rizzi

Current political forces pose a number of risks for financial institutions, including their stock prices and performance, if not their very existence.

Some industry officials are offering rosy projections about the future of banking, but institutions that follow that logic may find themselves overextended in the next downturn.

Bankers should be careful in their push to deregulate, as efforts to roll back some crisis-era rules will likely add new risks to the financial system.

In the wake of President Trump’s tax cut, banks would be wise to take the time to explore investment opportunities before returning increased profits to shareholders.

A perfect risk-based capital ratio obviously is preferable to an admittedly imperfect leverage ratio. The problem is there is no perfect risk-based measure.

Just as pre-crisis success was illusory, so too might be expectations that banks could ever regain that type of profit growth again.

Many banks curtailed leveraged lending following the financial crisis, and for good reason. But we may be on the verge of a leveraged-loan comeback.

Any method for unwinding too-big-to-fail institutions that tries to avoid bailouts is a fool's errand. A more effective path may be reducing the size of TBTF banks or regulating them as utilities.

Concerns about cross-selling run deeper than the risk of misbehavior. The practice also has a questionable economic rationale.

While some institutions find it sensible to appoint chief operating officers to assist the CEO or as part of a succession plan, many others increasingly choose to go without a COO.