Banking 1989: Not quite a twice-told tale
George Gregorash, Eileen Maloney
In some ways, U.S. bank performance in 1989 seemed a replay of 1987. Less developed countries (LDC) loan provisions at larger banks, a swift equity market correction, and dramatically weakening real-estate markets in distinct geographic regions left analysts borrowing adjectives and analyses from two years prior. But similar as events were to 1987's, 1989 put its own particular twist on things. Indeed, it is the structural differences in the banking environment between 1987 and 1989 that have been most instructive. These ongoing changes include the passage of the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery and Enforcement Act (FIRREA) and the new risk-based capital guidelines.
