Wells Fargo, maybe.[1]

And we need Glass-Stegall back. Banks and brokerages should be separate. There is no good reason that Goldman Sachs should be a bank, other than for bailouts, which is why they became a bank.

[1] https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/WFC/wells-fargo/to...

The Treasury Department’s capital “stress tests” seem to have been a good thing, though?

Can you explain why you think that commercial and investment banks should be separate? To be clear: Amoung highly developed nations, this is universally allowed now -- all of them allow commercial and investment banks within the same company.

Also, Goldman became a nationally regulated bank to get access to the Federal Reserve window. So did Morgan Stanley.

Because "too big to fail" produces moral hazard. Followed by bailouts. Like 2008.

The US also has a relatively huge amount of small banks that are specialized in financing niches. It’s actually a huge competitive advantage. If I want a bank that specializes in loans for PNW fishing boats, that exists, and they are able to competitively price a loan that BoA won’t even consider.

The flip side is that big banks are great at driving down costs for standard operations (when there are enough of them to be competitive). If all I need is a business checking account as a consultant, I can access that for no cost via one of the giants.

> If I want a bank that specializes in loans for PNW fishing boats, that exists, and they are able to competitively price a loan that BoA won’t even consider.

What's the specialty here, risk assessment?

Niche risk assessment. Or more generically knowing the industry.

Small banks with a specialty will have loan officers that deeply understand the industry they specialize in and are able to parse a bad deal from a good one.

If a fishing captain comes in and wants to borrow $75k to replace an engine, that could be a great loan to make or a terrible one depending on factors that require knowledge of boats and the fishing industry. If this captain was paid out $150k last season, the hull has a clean survey and this season has a higher harvest quota, it’s a good deal. If the hull is a floating wreck, and the fishery is likely to be closed or contract this season, don’t make the deal. Bank of America does not have a loan officer who knows how to read a commercial vessel hull survey, or who understands local fishing payout customs, nor is it really worth their time to find that person.

A bank that has that knowledge has a competitive edge over banks that don’t. The captains in the fleet all know of that bank, and so do the diesel engine dealers.

In the US, for many industries, there is a bank that maintains that competitive edge, and most of the time it is a bank that you have never heard of.

This isn’t hypothetical, if you want the loan I’m talking about you probably will end up on the phone with these people: https://www.peoplesbank-wa.com/business/loans-lines-of-credi...

Makes sense, thanks for the explanation.