greedcanbgood

First Mariner: Microcosm of an Industry's Woes

Well....I think you need to first look at why FMAR is in this prediciment. If they were like some community banks and were heavily involved in speculative real estate developments then the story is different versus an organization that is seeing massive write-offs in consumer credit.

Impact of Obama Plan on Prospect of Big-Bank Breakups

Jasper - look at the spreads on debt issuances by these institutions. This is a good indicator of how the market preceives risk. PNC, BB&T and USB (USB especially) consistently fund debt at a MUCH lower rate than peers. My issue with the chart is that it's sorted by how many "notches" a company's rating was lowered - but one needs to also consider from where it was lowered.

Impact of Obama Plan on Prospect of Big-Bank Breakups

Bad table, not so useful....or at least sorted VERY poorly. Banks like USB, BB&T and PNC STILL are mainting VERY high ratings and generally fund much cheaper thier their respective pier groups. This indicates significantly less risk in these institutions when compared to the rest of the industry. A rising tide raises all ships but the chart/article fail to make note of the converse.