I don’t think Banks are protecting the comps. They are protecting latest profit statement. If they own a property that had a million dollar loan on it, and they can show it on their books as a 1 million dollar asset, they haven’t lost anything. Once they sell it for, say, $750,000, they have to record an actual loss of $250,000. Multiply this out and it’s a big hit to their quarterly profit. The stock market will take the loss and (correctly) project to onto future earnings. Ouch.
