Financial News Online notes that Goldman Sachs' assets have topped $1 trillion for the first time. Morgan Stanley entered the club last year. So what you have is the top investment banks gaining a bit on the commercially oriented banks. Merrill Lynch's stands at about $1 trillion. Citigroup's assets total $2.2 trillion, while Bank of America's stands at about $1.5 trillion, with JP Morgan Chase coming in at about $1.4 trillion. So what does this mean? Well, the investment banks have certainly diversified into all forms of asset management. That has boosted their size and their clout. The commercially oriented banks have fared well in investment banking and they certainly benefit from their large retail banking operations. One could still argue that they have the more stable businesses, not that it has been evident lately.  

For more:
- here's the Financial News Online article

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