Investing in Banks: Strategies and Statistics for Bankers, Directors, and Investors by Richard J. Parsons (2016-04-12)

Chock full of information, very legible and the principles of bank investing well outlined. Statistically oriented. Kind of a “quant” or “MoneyBall” approach to looking at data and applying it to bank investing. Too bad it stops at 2014.

Note: this is an incomplete review.In chapter 2, when the author argue against "the banker's new cloth", the only way to increase capital to 25% is to sell new shares, which causes ROE drop to 4.13%. However, the other way is to paying down the debt by pausing dividend and cutting cost withing increase shares, so my rough estimate is that ROE will be at least doubling 4.13%.The point is that the author is making a lopsided argument, while I wish it's all angels considered.

This is a great book for serious investors. I have invested in financial service stocks for years and have a reasonably good handle on the basics. However, the book is filled with detail. Banking has been around forever. The accounting is very standard (within the industry) and the financial performance of a bank is associated with its ratio metrics. Return on assets or net interest margin are like HR's and RBI's. But there is a wealth of detail -- and even a serious investor is unlikely to dig this deeply. Like the Texas ratio.I'm not sure it will make anyone money, but it should help an investor avoid mistakes. The author's lengthy industry experience adds a tone of authority to his observations.The audience for the book is obviously narrow. But if you think you might need it -- then I am confident that you will find something that makes this worth your time. If it isn't for you -- it will be immediately obvious after a couple of pages of the free sample.

I am embarrassed that I ever invested in banks/finance companies without having read this book first. The book contains a wealth of metrics and considerations by which the investor can evaluate banks.

Investing in Banks is a well researched analysis using extensive statistics and metrics that provide a road map not only for investors, but for bank directors and executive management. And though the focus is on publicly traded banks, non public banks and institutions - regardless of size - can gain valuable insights on strategies for superior performance. By analyzing the fundamentals of banks that performed well during the financial crisis, Mr. Parsons makes a compelling case for the key metrics that contribute to strong performance even in economically challenging times. Investing in Banks should be required reading for all bank directors and executives management.

I have been a community bank director for nearly 20 years. This book is a great history lesson on banking and investing in banks and bank stocks. The author has captured and shared macro trends and influences= GDP and NIM... But also micro trends and influences= age of CEO and types of loans made.I heartily recommend this book and I plan to refer to it often as I consider investing in future financial service companies.

Incredibly useful for any banker and/or investor. I have been in banking for over 25 years and this book opened my eyes to aspects of banking of which I was less familiar. Great Job Mr. Parsons!

Complete contrast to his previous book, Mr. Parsons exhibits his mastery on numbers and risk management in this MUST-READ for banking professionals in early and professional stages of their career. Unique as this book offers academic perspective as well...

Very informative and written in an accessible style. A must read for anyone wishing to gain knowledge of the US banking system.The only issue that is not dealt with is unfortunately one of the largest which is simply large scale corruption in the banking system evidenced by multitudinous fines in the last ten years against the Worlds biggest banks (meaning they were judged in court on the evidence of having committed willful crimes - think Precious Metals etc). The author attempts to make deliberate knowledgeable decisions into mistakes in risk management rather than simple graft in operation.Again for someone thinking of investing in US banks I can't recommend it highly enough as it clearly and accessibly deals with the basic terminology and structure of the banks and system with the caveat noted above.