Politics and commercial real estate are the biggest perils for banks, according to Bloomberg Intelligence senior credit analysts Arnold Kakuda and Jeroen Julius. “In terms of CRE, it hits mostly the smaller regional banks,” Kakuda tells Bloomberg News senior editor James Crombie in the latest Credit Edge podcast from Bloomberg Intelligence. “If the sovereign rating comes down or is put on negative outlook, bank ratings are likely to follow,” Julius says, referring to European financial institutions. In addition, Julius and Kakuda debate unrealized losses sitting on balance sheets, consolidation, regulation and the outlook for more bank bond issuance. They also weigh opportunities in Additional Tier 1 and preferred debt. “You get high-yield returns for IG risk,” says Kakuda, speaking of the latter.