Investing in US bank stocks the past five years has disappointed many investors. "The result was not a random event," says DICK BOVE, chief financial strategist at ODEON CAPITAL GROUP, outlining three reasons why he believes the industry performed so badly relative to the market overall. The reasons include the steady climb in US interest rates as the Fed embarked on its campaign to tame runaway inflation.

Many banks are now scaling bank as lending is curbed, and as rating agencies signal warnings, downgrade a roster of banks and put others on a watch list. "My bigger issue is this," says MAT VAN ALSTYNE, ODEON co-founder and managing partner, referring to the regulatory environment. "The United States government is telling the world: We don't want regional banks; we don't want smaller banks because we have different rules for big banks - so the goal is to become a big bank, or get out of the way."

Elsewhere, the CONVERSATION looks at developments, political and economic, in China, Russia and compares their performance and stability with the US. As China grapples with multiple economic challenges, BOVE says China's banks in the nation's troubled real estate sector would have declared bankruptcy if they had been operating under US rules. Host JOHN AIDAN BYRNE notes how global investment flows have been shifting since COVID-19 altered dynamics. The US, he adds, has seen a pick up in foreign direct investment, for example.

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