Listen: Street Talk | Episode 112: Banks face Bob Ross effect, tougher exams but 'huge' M&A on horizon

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, Joe Mantone, the head of S&P Global Market Intelligence’s US FIG News team and the host of The Pipeline: M&A and IPO Insights. 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.