SPECIALIZATION BRINGS RISKS. The collapse in equity market values of banks around the world since 2007 and the disappearance of many players have vastly reduced the value of the raw material that brokers of financial stocks get paid to shift around.
George Cochran, chairman of Fox-Pitt Kelton Cochran Caronia Waller, a firm renowned for its research coverage of US and European financial stocks, agrees: "The snapshot photo is that the value of UK financial stocks, for example, is down 70% and several names have disappeared, so for a firm that gets paid a few...
