While the US administration continues to make headlines through historical summits, threats of trade wars and attacks on long-standing international allies, it is also creating a more lax and buoyant environment for its banks. The softening of much of the Dodd-Frank body of legislation – created to safeguard taxpayers after the financial crisis and which has weighed on banks’ activity since – has been good news for the sector.
By the time of the first rollbacks, approved earlier in 2018, the largest US banks were already in very good shape, displaying stable capital to assets ratios and growing profits. Based on the latest annual results, JPMorgan and Bank of America continue to lead the North American ranking. Wells Fargo and Citigroup follow in third and fourth positions, having swapped places from the 2017 ranking.
