Wall Street: Giants of Banking Report Higher Profits Despite Recent Upheaval

• Financial

The recent banking crisis, which has been referred to as the biggest upheaval in the industry since the Global Financial Crisis, has not been able to shake the giants of Wall Street. Despite the failure of Silicon Valley Bank and Credit Suisse's fire sale to UBS, the largest banks in the nation, including JPMorgan, Wells Fargo, and Citigroup, reported higher quarterly profits on Friday.

Weathering the Storm: Bank Leaders Address the Crisis

JPMorgan's CEO, Jamie Dimon, addressed the crisis during the bank's earnings call on Friday, stating that the events of recent weeks are not comparable to the 2008 financial crisis and that the situation "will pass." However, he acknowledged that new regulations, particularly for non-mega banks, may be put in place by federal regulators in the aftermath of SVB's failure.

Dimon pushed back against the notion that a widespread overhaul of banking regulation, similar to the Dodd-Frank regulations implemented after the last financial crisis, is necessary. "Obviously, when something happens like this, you should adjust, think about it," said Dimon.

"But it doesn't have to be a revamp of the whole system. It's just recalibrating things the right way. I think it should be done knowing what you want the outcome to be. The outcome you should want is very strong community and regional banks." BlackRock CEO, Larry Fink, emphasized the importance of being nimble and reimagining the business, especially in periods of dislocation. "We're here to advise.

We're here to navigate. And through all that, there is an opportunity for something inorganic and transformational," said Fink. Citigroup's CEO, Jane Fraser, addressed the crisis head-on during the bank's first-quarter earnings call, stating that while a small number of institutions still have challenges to overcome, the US financial system remains unmatched globally.

Fraser expressed her concern over the quantity and quality of activity in the shadow banking industry and the potential exacerbation of credit tightening that may occur if capital requirements were to increase for the large banks.

Wells Fargo's leadership did not mention SVB by name, but the bank saw moderate inflows from the few specific banks that were highlighted in the press. However, these inflows have abated, with deposits down 2% from the prior quarter, according to Wells Fargo's CEO, Charlie Scharf.