Industry Update: “Clearly We are in a Slow Growth to No Growth Environment”

Bank stocks rebounded in 2012 from a difficult year in 2011, but there still are enormous challenges for the industry in a low interest rate, low growth environment, said Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Vice Chairman John Duffy, speaking at Bank Director’s annual Acquire or Be Acquired conference in Scottsdale, Arizona, last week. The KBW Bank Index, which tracks the largest banks in the industry, was up 30 percent in 2012, compared to 10 percent for the KBW Regional Banking Index, and 13 percent for the S&P 500 Index. For investors, bank stocks look “cheap” because they are trading so much...