Home » Archive for August, 2009
No Housing or Banking Recovery Any Time Soon
After the attempts by the FOMC yesterday to assure people the economy has been ‘leveling’ off, it left a hollow ring in our ears, as news that homes about to go into foreclosure rose by seven percent from just June to July... More of this article »
ING Finally Back in the Black After Three Losing Quarters
After struggling with three consecutive losing quarters, ING Group announced today that it enjoyed a small profit in their second quarter, coming in at $100 million, although down significantly from the same period last year when the... More of this article »
Colonial Bancgroup Unable to File 2nd Quarter Results Citing Accounting Irregularities
A meeting between Alabama banking regulators and Colonial Bank scheduled for Wednesday, August 12, was canceled, which was set to talk about the possible takeover of the company by the FDIC. The reason it was canceled was because a... More of this article »
U.S. Banks Starting to Hire Again
After letting thousands of employees go over the last couple of years, banks in the U.S. are starting to hire again, although at a slow and generally cautious rate. The vast majority of the hiring has been on the investment banking... More of this article »
Investors Flee Banking Stocks as Fundamentals Haven’t Improved
The drop in U.S. stocks today came about from an announcement by Rochdale Securities analyst Richard Bove that the underlying fundamentals in the banking and financial industry really haven’t improved at all. A plunge in the... More of this article »
Freddie Mac Posts Q2 Profit, Does Not Seek Additional Aid
Freddie Mac surprised Wall Street by announcing that it swung to a profit in the second quarter, its first profit in the past two years. The mortgage company also said it does not require additional financial aid from the government... More of this article »
U.S. Banks Quietly Increasing Overdraft Fees for $38 Billion in Profits!
Editorial A research paper from Moebs Services asserts that a large number of banks in the United States have quietly been adding overdraft fees throughout the last year, and could end up making about $38.5 billion extra from the practice. Obviously... More of this article »
Can Guaranteed Bonuses in the Banking Industry Really be Stopped?
The public outcry over huge guaranteed bonuses independent of performance has pressured the Obama administration to attempt to do something about the practice, but the challenges are great if there will ever be any changes made there. Before... More of this article »
USAA Now Offers iPhone Check Depositing
Mobile banking is expected to really take off, and one of the leaders in that sector is a privately held company named United Services Automobile Association (USAA), which will launch an iPhone application which will allow users to... More of this article »
Wells Fargo Ramps Up Home Loan Modification Effort
Wells Fargo announced last week that is has modified more than 220,000 home loans over the first seven months of 2009. 20,219 of those loans are trial modifications being executed under the government’s Home Affordable Modification... More of this article »
Large US Banks Record Huge Profits for Second Quarter
Many US banks continue remain under pressure as the recession rolls on, but some of the larger banks reported strong second quarter earnings, although many banks still are fighting to survive, as the numerous bank closings this year... More of this article »
Banks Cutting Home Equity Credit Lines; 5 Tips To Deal With It
The fallout from the slumping real estate market has taken a new twist as thousands of U.S. homeowners have seen their home equity line of credit either cut or frozen by their bank without warning. The kicker is it’s all completely... More of this article »
Blood in the Streets: Three More Banks Fail Friday
Banks are continuing to drop like flies as another three regional banks failed on Friday, bring the total bank failures in 2009 to 72, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Florida has been hit hard with bank closures recently,... More of this article »
Arvest Bank to Acquire Harrington Bank
irwsaz2fnv Harrington Bank, which is based in Mission, Missouri, will be acquired by Arvest Bank, which is owned by relatives of the founder of Wal-Mart – Sam Walton. Arvest Bank has its home in Fayetteville, Arkansas. Arvest... More of this article »
Judge Forces SEC, Bank of America to Disclose Details of Agreement
Citing the serious nature of the charges and allegations made by the SEC about bonuses promised to employees of Merrill Lynch last year, Judge Jed S. Rakoff refused to sign off on the $33 million settlement reached by the SEC and Bank... More of this article »
Fannie Mae Posts $15.2 Billion Loss, Seeks $10.7 Billion In Gov’t Aid
Fannie Mae announced plans Thursday to access another $10.7 billion in government aid. The move follows a second quarter earnings report that showed the mortgage giant lost $15.2 billion during the period. Last year, the government... More of this article »
Daniel Sontag Leaving Bank of America
Chief Executive Officer at Bank of America Kenneth Lewis has been under pressure to shuffle leadership in the company, made several moves which could prove unwise, especially in the replacing of Daniel Sontag by Sallie Krawcheck. A... More of this article »
UBS AG Losses Add Up
UBS AG has reported a net loss of $1.32 billion for its most recent quarter, adding to concerns it may not be able to get back into the lucrative areas of investment banking and wealth management. When Oswald Grübel took over as CEO... More of this article »
China Top Priority for HSBC
HSBC Holding Plc has the largest network of branches of a foreign company and China, and they have no thought of slowing down as they look to add more branches and employees throughout 2010. “We certainly expect to continue with... More of this article »
U.S. Banks Barely Active In Home Loan Modification Program
A report released by the U.S. Treasury Department showed that the nation’s nine largest banks have not been very active in conducting loan modifications under the Obama Administration’s “Making Home Affordable Program.” The... More of this article »
Bank of America To Pay $33 Million Penalty Over Merrill Lynch Bonuses.
Bank of America announced Monday that it has agreed to pay a $33 million fine to settle charges brought on by the Securities and Exchange Commission. The complaint was in regard to its disclosure of Merrill Lynch bonuses paid to... More of this article »
Federal Agents Raid Florida Bank
In what appears to be a suspicious move by the office of Neil Barofsky, the special inspector general for the Troubled Asset Relief Program, federal agents swarmed two Florida banks Monday after a deal last week that didn’t work... More of this article »
Five More U.S. Banks Shut Down by Regulators
Along with First BankAmericano in Elizabeth, N.J, which American Banking News reported on over the weekend, four more banks were closed late on Friday to close out a rugged July for the industry, bringing the total bank closings for... More of this article »