The Banks' Big Giveaway: A Moment of Generosity or Just Good Business?
Let’s be honest, when you think of a bank, the word ‘generous’ doesn’t exactly leap to mind. For the past decade and a half, they’ve been more like nervous squirrels, hoarding every last acorn of capital under the watchful eye of regulators. So, when I see a headline about Bank of America launching a $40 billion share buyback, my cynical eyebrow goes up. Are they finally learning to share, or is something else afoot?
To me, it looks less like a sudden change of heart and more like the final chapter of a very long, very boring book on financial regulation. After the great unpleasantness of 2008, banks were sent to their rooms with a stack of homework. They had to rebuild their balance sheets, prove they could withstand a financial hurricane, and generally behave themselves. Well, it seems they’ve finally finished their assignments. They’ve passed the stress tests, their capital ratios are looking rather healthy, and now they’re left with a pile of excess cash. What’s a mature, multi-trillion dollar institution to do?