Is it time to buy American banks?

Despite the continuing fragility of the US economy, American banks are in much better shape than British banks. So is it time to buy them? Phil Oakley examines whether they're worth putting your money into.

At first glance, there's not much to cheer about in America. Unemployment remains high, and it has horrendous financial problems with trillion-dollar deficits and ballooning government debts.

Yet compared to most other parts of the world, America has a lot going for it.

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Bank of America7.580.720.0420.6%0.3511.4
Citigroup27.680.9900.0%0.456.7
JP Morgan33.8124.941.193.5%0.687.8
US Bancorp30.65800.0%1.6611.1
Wells Fargo31.3166.330.8522.7%1.179.6

Phil spent 13 years as an investment analyst for both stockbroking and fund management companies.

 

After graduating with a MSc in International Banking, Economics & Finance from Liverpool Business School in 1996, Phil went to work for BWD Rensburg, a Liverpool based investment manager. In 2001, he joined ABN AMRO as a transport analyst. After a brief spell as a food retail analyst, he spent five years with ABN's very successful UK Smaller Companies team where he covered engineering, transport and support services stocks.

 

In 2007, Phil joined Halbis Capital Management as a European equities analyst. He began writing for MoneyWeek in 2010.