Are US Banks Playing with Fire in the Commercial Loan Market ...

As interest rates remain historically low, the biggest U.S. banks are seeing the need to increase the volume of lending to businesses. The dramatic uptick in commercial and industrial loans is adding significant risks for banks that have with fire in the past and gotten burned. Regulators are aiming to tighten restrictions before severe damage can be done.

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The very small margins have been troubling for banks like?Wells Fargo?(NYSE:WFC) and?Bank of America?(NYSE:BAC) since the beginning of the year. In order to make more on the lowest margins in over 50 years, banks have had to push big in commercial lending, according to?The Financial Times. Regulators have noticed dangerous trends developing for the first time since the financial crisis of 2008. Consequently, the Fed has issued new standards for leveraged lending practices among banks.?Citigroup?(NYSE:C)?and?JPMorgan?(NYSE:JPM) join BofA and Wells Fargo in having to comply with the new Fed guidelines by Tuesday May 21.

How can the top banks put their own business and the economy at risk? According to Moody?s, the problems come from the banks? refusal to discipline themselves and stay away from loans to businesses already saddled with debt. Other risks are general overexposure and the potential to create an asset bubble. Amid calls for banks to increase the amount of capital in their portfolios, the lending practices so far in 2013 have reflected a trend in the opposite direction.

Source: http://wallstcheatsheet.com/stocks/are-us-banks-playing-with-fire-in-the-commercial-loan-market.html/

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