Barry Ritholtz, Columnist

Fining Banks Is Only Half the Job

June 6, 2014 at 12:34 PM UTC

Barry Ritholtz is a former Bloomberg Opinion columnist. He is chairman and chief investment officer of Ritholtz Wealth Management, and was previously chief market strategist at Maxim Group. He is the author of “Bailout Nation.”

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, father of too big to jail?

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Since 2008, the U.S. authorities have meted out $87.53 billion in fines to global banks. That number comes from data compliedby the Financial Times. Some people believe that bankers are finally getting their due, being hit with billion-dollar penalties for their recklessness.

I don’t see it that way; rather, it looks like little more than a belated attempt to walk back the too-big-to jail trial balloon floated by U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder.