I used to work in the financial institutions group at a buldge bracket bank doing valuation and M&A on the banks team. The thing about bank valuation that's weird, is that it's balance sheet valuation and not income statement valuation. Banks don't sell things, they sell money. The make money off interest earned on loans - their cost of capital (~interest paid on deposits=0) - branch/hr overhead (if they have branches). Anyways, to compare a bank to another company that sells physical goods or widgets is kind of silly to begin with. They are not valued the same way, and they make money completely differently.