NEW YORK, NY -- (Marketwire) -- 09/25/12 -- Banking stocks have been some of the strongest performers in the markets. Recent stimulus measures announced by the U.S. and Europe have helped ease concerns of a global economic slowdown. The SPDR S&P Bank ETF KRE has gained roughly 20 percent year-to-date. The Paragon Report examines investing opportunities in the Banking Industry and provides equity research on JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) and Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS).

Access to the full company reports can be found at:

www.ParagonReport.com/JPM
www.ParagonReport.com/MS

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. has urged the banking industry to increase their focus on unbanked Americans. According to numbers from the FDIC's National Survey of Unbanked and Underbanked Households the number of U.S. households that do not use banking services increased by 821,000 from 2009 to 2011. Approximately 8.2 percent of the nation's population manages their finances without the use of bank accounts from financial institutions.

"Insured financial institutions have an important chance to grow their customer base by expanding opportunities that bring unbanked and underbanked individuals into mainstream banking," Martin J. Gruenberg, the acting chairman of the FDIC, said in an e-mailed statement.

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The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency recently reported that JPMorgan's trading loss has resulted in a 73 percent drop in cash and derivative positions at U.S. commercial banks when compared to last year. "While both normal seasonal weakness and reduced client demand played a role, it was clearly the highly publicized losses at JPMorgan Chase that caused the sharp drop in trading revenues," Martin Pfinsgraff, deputy comptroller for credit and market risk, said in a recent statement.

The Wall Street Journal recently reported that Morgan Stanley has increased its stake in the Morgan Stanley Smith Barney brokerage to 65 percent after purchasing an additional 14 percent from Citigroup for $1.89 billion. Morgan Stanley will look to purchase the remaining 35 percent in the coming months, but will need approval from federal regulators.

The Paragon Report has not been compensated by any of the above-mentioned publicly traded companies. Paragon Report is compensated by other third party organizations for advertising services. We act as an independent research portal and are aware that all investment entails inherent risks. Please view the full disclaimer at: http://www.paragonreport.com/disclaimer

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