Standard Chartered CEO: banking sector ‘extremely strong’ despite NYCB episode

There is hardly anything wrong with strength of the broader banking sector, says Bill Winters – the chief executive of Standard Chartered PLC.

CEO Winters shares view on the banking sector

Winters is convinced the likes of Silicon Valley Bank and Credit Suisse that collapsed last year were “idiosyncratically weak”.

The finance and banking space at large, he said in an interview today, was “extremely strong measured by capital, returns, liquidity”.

His view is in line with Michael Nierenberg – the chief executive of Rithm Capital who also sees regional banks as healthy, as per his recent remarks on CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street”.

Note that the positive commentary from both experts follows a more than 50% hit to the New York Community Bancorp Inc after it reported a surprise quarterly loss that made Moody’s cut it to “junk”.

Insiders loaded up on NYCB stock as it crashed

The loss, the credit rating, or the sell-off – none of it has been enough to make the management any less positive on the New York Community Bancorp, though.

In fact, securities filings this morning confirm that insiders loaded up on some $0.85 million worth of NYCB stock as it tanked in recent weeks.

Shares of the financial services company are in the green at writing after analysts at the Bank of America Securities told clients that it has “the playbook to turn things around”.

Last week, the New York Community Bancorp Inc was reported to have approached investors for capital (read more).