The "Trump Bump" has rekindled interest building a bank from scratch with the The FDIC evaluating 6 applications for bank charters from 5 investor groups. The Dow Jones small banks index was trading at less than 1.3 times book value at the end of October; it is now at almost 1.7 times.
Last April the FDIC tried to spur new bank formation by shortening the period in which new charters are subject to enhanced supervision and capital monitoring, from seven years to three. It also waived a requirement that banks of less than three years’ operating experience submit any significant change in business plans for the FDIC’s review. Both measures were put in place in 2009, after officials noticed that charters less than three years old were failing at a rapid rate. Another FDIC official said that the recent rally in stock prices meant that many listed banks were no longer trading at bargain prices, and that it now made more sense for would-be bank backers to set up on their own.