The Performance of Financial Groups in the Recent Difficult Environment

The past few years were characterised by an economic downturn, a substantial stock market correction from March 2000 to March 2003, financial asset deterioration, record corporate default rates, the Argentina sovereign default and several natural and man-made catastrophes, including most notably the September 11 attacks. Against this background, the present note looks at the performance of financial groups during this period. The recent decade has seen the formation of an increasing number of such groups, although some have argued that, ex post, the benefits associated with the formation of such groups may have been smaller than initially thought. The note concludes that financial groups have been quite resilient in the face of these various shocks, which is reflected in their equity market valuations...