Bank M&A down but not out

While many banks are being unfairly painted with a broad brush, institutions will face tougher regulatory examinations and pressure on probability and that should ultimately lead to a strong rebound in bank M&A activity. Those views were delivered by members of the investment and advisory community during two panel discussions focused on bank liquidity that S&P Global Market Intelligence hosted on May 18. The panels featured Ben Azoff, partner at Luse Gorman; Isaac Boltansky, director of policy research at BTIG; Bill Burgess, co-head of financial services investment banking at Piper Sandler; Greg Hertrich, head of U.S. depository strategies at Nomura; Jonah Marcus, partner and portfolio manager at Endeavour Capital; and Chris McGratty, head of US bank research at KBW. In the episode, we discuss the highlights of the panels with fellow moderator, Nathan Sovall, the head of S&P Global Market Intelligence's financials research and the host of Street Talk, a podcast that takes a deep dive into the banking sector. The panelists offered their view of bank valuations, whether institutions should consider repositioning bond portfolios, takeaways from recent regulatory examinations and the outlook for M&A activity.