Bank analyst Dick Bove says Democrats have more concerns with banks than Republicans in Congress

Banking analyst Dick Bove of Odeon Capital said in a research note Friday that this week’s Capitol Hill hearings between bank CEOs and members of Congress revealed more topics of interest from Democrats than Republicans. “As might be expected, the Democrats had meaningful differences in interest from the Republicans,” Bove said. Democrat issues with banks include excessive profits, a lack of sensitivity to the needs of the underbanked and low-income households, overdraft fees, mortgage underwriting and affordable housing, reimbursement for fraud in Zelle payments, programs for banks in low income communities and climate control. Republican issues include overregulation by banks, and under regulation of non-banks; banks overburdened by regulations to the extent that they cannot perform functions, capital requirements forcing banks to reduce lending in bad times; banks intimidated by the “woke” movement that fail to make required loans for oil and gas development, and opposition to plans by credit card companies to add a code to identify purchases at gun retailers. Financial Select Sector SPDR ETF XLF, -1.68% is down 19.2% in 2022 compared to a drop of 21.2% by the S&P 500 SPX, -0.84%.