The S&P 500 has started off on shaky ground so far in 2016, but few stocks have been hit as hard as big bank stocks Bank of America(BAC), Citigroup (C) and Morgan Stanley (MS), all of which are already down more than 25% this year. These banks’ earnings are all at multi-year highs, and the Federal Reserve finally started raising interest rates in December, so there’s something more going on with these stocks than simple “market fundamentals.”

What’s the deal?

Breakup Fears Dragging Down MS, BAC, C Stock

As all Americans are constantly reminded, 2016 is an election year, which means plenty of political headlines and market uncertainty. Despite the fact that the financial crisis is now eight years behind us, there has been a renewed push of late to break up the banks that were once considered “Too Big To Fail”. We’re looking at you BAC, C, and MS.

New president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis Nell Kashkari has spearheaded this public discussion, claiming that the 2010 Dodd-Frank legislation didn’t go far enough in protecting the U.S. economy from the big banks.

“Now is the time for Congress to consider going further than Dodd-Frank with bold, transformative solutions to solve this problem once and for all,” Kashkari recently said in a speech. Of course, with a growing income gap in the U.S., any politician knows that lashing out at giant corporations gets a big cheer at every rally. Both Democratic presidential front-runners Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders have expressed desires to break up the big banks, although Sanders has made the issue a centerpiece of his campaign.

Bank Reformation

Anyone holding BAC, MS, or Citigroup stock are all-too aware…

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