Meredith Whitney thinks the big bank is going the way of to the Dodo. So much for one stop banking….
At the WSJ’s Future of Finance Initiative Whitney said key parts of the big banking model made them susceptible to the types of problems that caused the financial crisis. She added that five banks controlling two-thirds of mortgage origination and credit cards is fundamentally unbalanced.
This is great news in theory. Unfortunately, our government won’t let the large failed institutions die. I think it’s safe to say that one of the primary lessons from this entire mess is that our banking system has grown too large, too intertwined and too controlled by a handful of entities. This attempt to keep zombie banks alive is unfortunate because the free market is begging us to let them fail and be broken up. Instead, we are propping them up in order to keep shareholders and bondholders whole.
Mr. Roche is the Founder and Chief Investment Officer of Discipline Funds.Discipline Funds is a low fee financial advisory firm with a focus on helping people be more disciplined with their finances.
He is also the author of Pragmatic Capitalism: What Every Investor Needs to Understand About Money and Finance, Understanding the Modern Monetary System and Understanding Modern Portfolio Construction.