Banks are increasingly difficult to analyse because of the various business nature and regulatory compliance requirements which needs to be monitored.
I am not adept at analyzing banks because I do not have an in-depth understanding of the industry. If I made any mistake here, please forgive and do point out to me. I am still learning to understand the industry and will hopefully get better over time.
Folks who invest in the 3 local banks do so because they are the main core of STI components. If you track their returns respectively, you'd see a lot of similar correlation between the two. Hence, I believe many folks who bought into banks do so because they believe MAS is regulating them efficiently and sufficiently.
I've drawn up the basic lists of a few of the important factors when I do look into banks as an investment. These are not extensive ...