Page 147 - Articles Written by JGJ EF DPS

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) reported that bank
profits surged to a record $171.3 billion in 2016 commenting:

“The industry reported $171.3 billion in net income for full-year 2016,
$7.9 billion (4.9 percent) more than the industry earned in 2015. Almost
two out of every three banks— 65.2 percent—reported higher earnings
in 2016 than in 2015. Only 4.2 percent of all banks had negative full-year
net income. This is the lowest percentage of unprofitable banks for any
year since 1995.” (8)

FDIC-insured institutions reported aggregate net income of $43.7 billion
in the fourth quarter of 2016, boosted by a best-ever $45.6 billion in the
third quarter. The year's proceeds brought the total post-crisis net
(measured from the third quarter of 2009) to $987.8 billion, according to
FDIC records. (7,8)

Since the financial crisis the Banks have raked in nearly $1 trillion in
profits. However, they have had to pay out $321 billion in fines related to
the crisis (Diagram 6, 7), according to a study, March 2017, released by
the Boston Consulting Group with U.S. banks accounting for most of
those costs (7).

Diagram 6: Bank Penalties

This total can only climb in coming years as both European and Asian
regulators catch up with their more aggressive US counterparts.