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Trump may boost for big banks due to deregulation, small caps

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What big banks and small caps have in common right now

The Trump administration may create powerful tailwinds for two vastly different market groups: Big banks and small cap stocks.

In the case of financials, Astoria Portfolio Advisors’ John Davi predicts deregulation — along with a boost in IPO and mergers and acquisitions — to spark multi-year strength.

“The funny thing about the banks is that they were actually from an earnings standpoint fundamentally getting very attractive prior to the Trump administration,” the firm’s founder and CEO told CNBC’s “ETF Edge” on this week. “The large-cap money centers like Goldman [Sachs], JPMorgan, Bank of America, Morgan Stanley… That’s really the area you want to hone in on with this new administration.”

The money center banks are coming off a strong week. Shares of Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase and Morgan Stanley hit record highs on Friday.

That historic gains are a major reason why Davi likes the Invesco KBW Bank ETF. Its top holdings include JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, according to FactSet.

The ETF is up almost 10% since Jan. 1 and more than 49% over the past 52 weeks.

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Year-to-date chart of the KBWB ETF

While bank stocks rally, VettaFi’s Todd Rosenbluth expects small cap stocks to shine under Trump 2.0. He sees the group adapting quickly to reshoring and tariff threats.

“If we have a focus on the U.S. and making America even stronger, then small-cap companies stand to benefit from that because they have less multinational exposure,” the firm’s head of research said.

Rosenbluth suggests the T. Rowe Price Small-Mid Cap ETF and Neuberger Berman Small-Mid Cap ETF as ways investors can play the group.

He also likes the VictoryShares Small Cap Free Cash Flow ETF, which has solid exposure to biotech. Its top three holdings according to the fund’s website are Royalty Pharma, Oscar Health and Jazz Pharmaceuticals, and its mission statement is to target “quality small cap companies, trading at a discount with favorable growth prospects.” Its top three holdings.

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VictoryShares Small Cap Free Cash Flow ETF,

According to Rosenbluth, the ETF “takes a focus on companies with high quality, strong free cash flow generation, but it has a growth filter to it,” said Rosenbluth, who added the filter sets a high bar for which small-cap stocks ultimately make the cut. 

The VictoryShares Small Cap Free Cash ETF is up almost 10% over the past year while the Russell 2000, which tracks the group, is up about 17%.

By CNBC “ETF Edge” Staff

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Swiss government proposes tough new capital rules in major blow to UBS

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A sign in German that reads “part of the UBS group” in Basel on May 5, 2025.

Fabrice Coffrini | AFP | Getty Images

The Swiss government on Friday proposed strict new capital rules that would require banking giant UBS to hold an additional $26 billion in core capital, following its 2023 takeover of stricken rival Credit Suisse.

The measures would also mean that UBS will need to fully capitalize its foreign units and carry out fewer share buybacks.

“The rise in the going-concern requirement needs to be met with up to USD 26 billion of CET1 capital, to allow the AT1 bond holdings to be reduced by around USD 8 billion,” the government said in a Friday statement, referring to UBS’ holding of Additional Tier 1 (AT1) bonds.

The Swiss National Bank said it supported the measures from the government as they will “significantly strengthen” UBS’ resilience.

“As well as reducing the likelihood of a large systemically important bank such as UBS getting into financial distress, this measure also increases a bank’s room for manoeuvre to stabilise itself in a crisis through its own efforts. This makes it less likely that UBS has to be bailed out by the government in the event of a crisis,” SNB said in a Friday statement.

‘Too big to fail’

UBS has been battling the specter of tighter capital rules since acquiring the country’s second-largest bank at a cut-price following years of strategic errors, mismanagement and scandals at Credit Suisse.

The shock demise of the banking giant also brought Swiss financial regulator FINMA under fire for its perceived scarce supervision of the bank and the ultimate timing of its intervention.

Swiss regulators argue that UBS must have stronger capital requirements to safeguard the national economy and financial system, given the bank’s balance topped $1.7 trillion in 2023, roughly double the projected Swiss economic output of last year. UBS insists it is not “too big to fail” and that the additional capital requirements — set to drain its cash liquidity — will impact the bank’s competitiveness.

At the heart of the standoff are pressing concerns over UBS’ ability to buffer any prospective losses at its foreign units, where it has, until now, had the duty to back 60% of capital with capital at the parent bank.

Higher capital requirements can whittle down a bank’s balance sheet and credit supply by bolstering a lender’s funding costs and choking off their willingness to lend — as well as waning their appetite for risk. For shareholders, of note will be the potential impact on discretionary funds available for distribution, including dividends, share buybacks and bonus payments.

“While winding down Credit Suisse’s legacy businesses should free up capital and reduce costs for UBS, much of these gains could be absorbed by stricter regulatory demands,” Johann Scholtz, senior equity analyst at Morningstar, said in a note preceding the FINMA announcement. 

“Such measures may place UBS’s capital requirements well above those faced by rivals in the United States, putting pressure on returns and reducing prospects for narrowing its long-term valuation gap. Even its long-standing premium rating relative to the European banking sector has recently evaporated.”

The prospect of stringent Swiss capital rules and UBS’ extensive U.S. presence through its core global wealth management division comes as White House trade tariffs already weigh on the bank’s fortunes. In a dramatic twist, the bank lost its crown as continental Europe’s most valuable lender by market capitalization to Spanish giant Santander in mid-April.

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