Don't bank on it, says Barry

Bloomberg ran the story, Investment Bank Profits May Drop on Regulations, JPMorgan Says.

Barry Ritholtz read the JPM report and was not swayed:

With the least amount of regulatory oversight in generations in the 1990s and 2000s, bank profits were less than zero — indeed, their losses were so great that many of the biggest financial institutions bankrupted themselves.

Banks were allowed to set their own leverage, determine their own risk levels, and control their own fate more than anytime in history. And quite bluntly, they blew it.

Stop and consider the simple fact that with much less regulation, the bank profits were less than zero — their losses were so massive they bankrupted themselves.

They require oversight as they have proven beyond any doubt they are incapable of handling themselves, managing risk, to the point where they blew themselves up.