The Lost Bankers

These are tough days to be a banker, I talk with a lot of them and in general they are a glummy bunch. Having spent 15+ years as a commercial real estate banker I can tell you that the fun in banking is doing deals...their not doing many deals right now. While I would agree that as an industry we got a little strung out on the risk curve the current stance seems to be a bit of an overreaction. While it is true that much of the overreaction is driven by concentration issues, capital, and other portfolio points there is a significant dose of fear--fear of making a decision (right or wrong). And really who knows any more, maybe commercial real estate will implode this year and there will cease to be retail stores, no one will live in apartments, no one will stay in hotels, and people will stop going to work in offices. Its a crazy unpredictable world.