- Despite constant concerns about banks that are "too big too fail," the amount of assets that the U.S.'s five largest lenders control has grown to 44.2% of the total in the sector from 43.5% in 2012, a report from provider SNL Financial shows.
- In 2007, the figure was 38.4% and in 1990 it was just 9.67%.
- The banking operations of JPMorgan (NYSE:JPM), Bank of America (NYSE:BAC), Citigroup (NYSE:C), Wells Fargo (NYSE:WFC) and U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) held $6.46T in assets as of Q3 2013.
- The easing of regulation, which gained momentum in the 1990s, encouraged consolidation in the sector, as did the government pushing stronger banks to buy those that were about to collapse - or did collapse - because of the financial crisis in 2008.
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