5 biggest banks now own almost half the industry

CNBC reports:

Too-big-to-fail banks, instead of getting smaller, are pretty much taking over the financial universe.

The largest five banks in the U.S. now control nearly 45 percent of the industry's total assets, according to an analysis from SNL Financial that comes amid an earnings season that has been generally positive for the largest institutions.

In total, the five institutions—JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Citigroup and U.S. Bancorp—had just under $7 trillion in total assets as of the end of 2014. That's good for 44.61 percent of the industry total. It also leaves the other 55.4 percent of the assets to be divided up among 6,504 other institutions. Banks had total assets of just over $15 trillion at year's end, a number that has grown to about $15.3 trillion in 2015, according to the Federal Reserve.

More regulation means less competition. Thanks Dodd-Frank ! Thanks Liz Warren! Thanks for cartelizing an industry through bailouts and massive regulations!