Most investors are somewhat familiar with big banks JPMorgan Chase (NYSE: JPM), Bank of America (NYSE: BAC), Citigroup (NYSE: C), Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC), and Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS). However, it's important to realize that these are five very different financial institutions. In this Fool Live video clip, recorded on April 20, chief growth officer Anand Chokkavelu and Fool.com contributors Matt Frankel, CFP, and Jason Hall give a rundown of these five banks and how they make their money. 10 stocks we like better than Bank of AmericaWhen investing geniuses David and Tom Gardner have a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the newsletter they have run for over a decade, Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has tripled the market.* David and Tom just revealed what they believe are the ten best stocks for investors to buy right now... and Bank of America wasn't one of them! That's right -- they think these 10 stocks are even better buys. See the 10 stocks *Stock Advisor returns as of February 24, 2021 Jason Hall: Yeah, so short version, Wells Fargo, I guess the best way to describe it is it's just the biggest commercial bank in the United States that's a pure-play commercial bank. In other words, they do Main Street lending, so mortgages, business lending, demand deposit accounts like checking and savings and CDs and all that kind of stuff you think about when you think about a bank, that you would use or a business owner would use. That's basically what Wells Fargo does. I think they're also the most troubled of the big banks. This is the one that's still dealing with some of the repercussions of all of the things coming out of their fake accounts scandal. They struggle with getting regulatory agreement with the people that were running the bank and they finally brought in an outsider, and it seems like that's helped come down regulators. A lot of the noise in the background has subsided, but I think it's created a really interesting opportunity in this bank that is very well run, and I think they've addressed a lot of their cultural problems. Anand Chokkavelu: Next up is Bank of America, Matt. Matt Frankel: Yes. First of all, Wells Fargo does have a small investment banking division. Their PR people always reach out to correct me whenever I called them purely a commercial bank. Chokkavelu: Fair enough. I think that was from Wachovia, right? Frankel: Yes. Hall: I think that's why they came along with the Wachovia acquisition that's right. Frankel: Yeah. They do have some. Bank of America is more of a universal bank which means they have both commercial banking and investment banking operations. They are not the biggest bank in the market by market cap at least Anand's going to get to that one next I believe. But they do have the leading deposit market share in the U.S. in terms of consumer deposits. They are the No. 1 small business lender in the U.S. They are the No. 1 auto lender for prime credit borrowers. They lead in a lot of categories. They are not the biggest bank, but it's not by much. They do have a big investment banking division, a big Wealth Management division. Merrill Edge has been wildly successful since they acquired Merrill Lynch during the financial crisis. The bank has about $3.5 trillion of client balances between deposits, investment accounts, and so on. It's a big universal bank. They do pretty much everything. Any type of banking product you could ever need, you could probably find it through Bank of America. Chokkavelu: Jason, you've got JPMorgan which I think Matt was transitioning into as the largest. Hall: JPMorgan Chase is the big boy. This is the largest universal bank in the U.S. with very large commercial and very large investment bank operations. Does all of those things really well and we saw in its last earnings report that the strength and the size of its investment bank really paid off because in economic downturns when there's turmoil and uncertainty a lot of times those investment banking operations can help pick up some of the lifts when commercial lending isn't necessarily as strong. This is just a weird dynamic period where this is a company that's actually getting a lot out of both of those divisions. I would posit particularly for a company this size and this complexity it maybe one of the most well-run businesses in the United States full stop. I mean that's a bold statement, but I'd be willing to say that might be the case with JPMorgan Chase. Anand Chokkavelu: Sounds like a future of the rank. JPMorgan versus other sectors. Hall: I love that idea, write it down. Chokkavelu: Writing it down. Next up the Citigroup. I've got that one. Matt was talking about or sorry, Jason was talking about Wells Fargo and how they're in a bit of a turnaround right now. Citi is always there. They're always one of the ones turning around. They're also the most international of these banks. Even more so than Goldman Sachs. Citi's business is pretty evenly split between North America and the rest of the world. It's got a well-known consumer bank. Many people are familiar with its credit cards but it gets about 2-to-1 sales from its "Institutional Clients Group", which is Wall Street stuff. Citigroup, pretty international, pretty diversified. Next up is Matt, which Goldman Sachs, which has not yet that diversified, but it's getting there. Frankel: Yes, so Goldman Sachs is the closest thing to a pure investment bank out of these five. Up until the financial crisis, it was pretty much a pure investment bank. Goldman Sachs is often referred to as "the smartest guys on Wall Street" and for good reason. Guys and girls. Not a guy, girl thing. For good reason -- they make money no matter what. You know what Goldman Sachs' best return on equity ever was? 2009 during the financial crisis their record revenues were just this past quarter when the markets were going crazy. Goldman Sachs's operations is an investment banking where they have a leading market share in investment banking fees. They do advise on things like mergers and acquisitions, corporate restructurings, they do equity and debt underwritings. They do corporate lending. A lot of times, you'll hear companies backed by Goldman Sachs. That's what that refers to. They have a big asset management business, a big wealth management business, over $2 trillion in wealth management assets. Rich people trust them to manage their money well. It's the best way to say it. Like Anand just alluded to, they are building out a consumer banking platform. You may have heard of the Marcus savings and loan platform. Goldman is also getting into consumer banking by way of credit cards. The Apple Card was their first big credit card product. They recently acquired General Motors credit card business. They're really jumping into the consumer banking space head-on but it's still a pretty small part of their business.Wells Fargo is an advertising partner of The Ascent, a Motley Fool company. Citigroup is an advertising partner of The Ascent, a Motley Fool company. Bank of America is an advertising partner of The Ascent, a Motley Fool company. JPMorgan Chase is an advertising partner of The Ascent, a Motley Fool company. Anand Chokkavelu, CFA has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Jason Hall owns shares of Bank of America and Wells Fargo. Matthew Frankel, CFP owns shares of Apple, Bank of America, General Motors, Goldman Sachs, and Wells Fargo and has the following options: short February 2021 $140.0 calls on Apple and short May 2021 $140.0 calls on Apple. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Apple. The Motley Fool recommends the following options: long March 2023 $120.0 calls on Apple and short March 2023 $130.0 calls on Apple. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.Source