American Banks Add $600 Billion to Their Market Value in 2026

SadaNews - The six largest American banks recorded a strong increase in their market value during 2025, adding about $600 billion driven by President Donald Trump's administration's move to ease regulatory restrictions on the sector, alongside a significant revival in investment banking activities.

The combined market value of JPMorgan, Bank of America, Citigroup, Wells Fargo, Goldman Sachs, and Morgan Stanley rose to about $2.37 trillion by the end of trading on Tuesday.

This growth compares to about $1.77 trillion at the end of last year according to S&P Global data, and this jump highlights the widening gap between American banks and their European counterparts, which are experiencing slow growth.

The combined market value of the largest six banks in the old continent does not exceed about $1 trillion, extending a significant gap that has established itself in global markets since the global financial crisis that erupted in 2008.

After being burdened by stringent regulatory rules for many years, these institutions began to reap the benefits of the declining restrictions that previously limited the attractiveness of their stocks to investors in financial markets.

Regulators allowed banks to have higher levels of financial leverage and restructured annual stress tests, in addition to lifting lending guidelines linked to high-risk loans to enhance their competitiveness.