Investopedia: A Look Back At The Year In Banking

There were at least a couple reasons why this should not have been an especially good year for banks in the United States. Low interest rates have made it very difficult for banks to thrive on their core spread businesses, and new banking regulations have certainly crimped their ability to generate the same fee-based income as before. And yet, lending has gradually improved and many banks have seen investors increasingly become willing to assign more reasonable valuations to their shares.

All in all, the regional banking industry has seen better than an approximate 30% appreciation this year, well ahead of the 13% gain in the S&P 500.

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