American Banker back issues from October 2007:
BCSB Offer Adds an Out For Buyers.
Oct 01, 2007; ... BCSB Bankcorp Inc. in Baltimore has pushed back the deadline for buying shares in its second-step conversion offering - and given current subscribers the chance to back out - after warning of worse-than-expected fiscal fourth-quarter results. The $645 million-asset BCSB, which ...
Dodd, Paulson Discuss GSE Reform.(Chris Dodd, Henry Paulson, government-sponsored enterprises)(Brief article)
Oct 01, 2007; ... Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd called Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson on Thursday to discuss regulatory reform of the government-sponsored enterprises, according to a source familiar with the matter. The call was in response to a letter sent by Mr. Paulson Sept ....
A.G. Edwards-Wachovia Deal Gets OK.(Brief article)
Oct 01, 2007; ... A.G. Edwards Inc. shareholders approved the St. Louis brokerage firm's deal, set to close today, to be sold to Wachovia Corp. for $6.6 billion. The $720 billion-asset Wachovia, of Charlotte, announced the deal in May. The combined brokerage firm is to be ...
Study Warns of Card Regulation Impact.(Brief article)
Oct 01, 2007; ... A study commissioned by the American Bankers Association and slated for release today says tighter regulation of credit card fees and interest rates would have negative consequences for most consumers. Several lawmakers have signaled their intent to look at ways to regulate card ...
Fulton to Combine Two Banks.(Resource Bank merges with Fulton Bank)(Brief article)
Oct 01, 2007; ... Two of Fulton Financial Corp.'s banking units have announced they plan to merge. R. Scott Smith Jr., the chairman, chief executive officer, and president of the $15 billion-asset company in Lancaster, Pa., said in a press release Thursday that its Resource Bank in Virginia Beach ...
Shareholder Privatization Vote.(Monarch Community Bancorp Inc. )(Brief article)
Oct 01, 2007; ... Monarch Community Bancorp Inc. in Coldwater, Mich., said Friday that shareholders would vote Oct. 9 on its plan to go private and delist its shares, which currently trade on the Nasdaq exchange. If shareholders vote for the plan Monarch's shares would start trading on the OTC ...
Microlender Makes Deal with Experian.(Grameen America Inc. and Experian Information Solutions Inc. )(Brief article)
Oct 01, 2007; ... Grameen America Inc., a for-profit microlending start-up in New York, has arranged to report the payment history on its loans to the Costa Mesa, Calif., credit bureau Experian Information Solutions Inc. The deal was announced Friday. Modeled after Grameen Bank of ...
Clinton Preparing Mortgage Legislation.(Hillary Rodham Clinton)(Legislation)
Oct 01, 2007; ... WASHINGTON -- Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, a front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination, is expected to introduce a mortgage reform bill soon that would tighten underwriting standards, enhance broker regulation, and set aside more than $2 billion for foreclosure prevention, ...
Bright Spots Will Be Few, Far Between In 3Q Reports.(banking industry)(Financial report)
Oct 01, 2007; ... Banking executives may be relieved to have closed the books on a particularly nasty third quarter, but still ahead of them is the unpleasant task of explaining the results to investors. There was not much to cheer about in a quarter when the housing market and mortgage ...
Correction.(Correction notice)
Oct 01, 2007 ... In the Sept. 25 paper, a story on page 11, "Delegation Makes Freddie Program Closer to Fannie's," understated the amount of loans Centerline Capital has sold to Freddie Mac through the Targeted Affordable Housing Seller/Servicing program. The total is $285 million, including a $37.5 ...
Downey Divides Top Jobs, Names Another President.(Downey Financial Corp., Frederic R. McGill)
Oct 01, 2007; ... The revolving door in the executive suite was in action again last week as Downey Financial Corp. named its third president in less than four years. The Newport Beach, Calif., thrift company said that it was splitting the roles of president and chief executive officer, and it ...
Citi Seeking Buyer for Manhattan Site.(Citigroup Inc.'s Travelers complex)(Brief article)
Oct 01, 2007; ... Citigroup Inc. is putting its Travelers complex in lower Manhattan on the block. The $2.2 trillion-asset New York company hopes to make a sale-leaseback deal so it can remain in the property at 388 and 390 Greenwich St., which houses its global markets business. ...
Introducing the NEW AmericanBanker.com.
Oct 01, 2007 ... To our readers: American Banker is proud to announce the upgrade of our online service at AmericanBanker.com. Knowing full well that we must earn our readers' attention all day and every day, we embarked on this project with high goals in mind. Its ...
OTS: NetBank Shutdown Is 'Isolated': Collapsed EverBank talks lead to biggest failure since 1993.
Oct 01, 2007 ... WASHINGTON -- The Office of Thrift Supervision announced Friday that it had closed NetBank and appointed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. as the receiver for the $2.5 billion-asset Alpharetta, Ga., thrift. The failure was the FDIC's biggest since the end of the savings and ...
Washington People.
Oct 01, 2007; ... Sorting Out the Jobs As the American Bankers Association and America's Community Bankers head toward final approval of their merger plan, the top executives from each trade group, Ed Yingling and Diane Casey-Landry, are beginning to determine how the post-merger management team ...
Global Payments Reports Solid 1Q, Raises Guidance.(first quarter)
Oct 01, 2007; ... Strong gains in its U.S. merchant processing business helped boost earnings at Global Payments Inc. The Atlanta processor said net income for its fiscal 2008 first quarter rose 13% from a year earlier, to $43.6 million. Revenue rose 19%, to $311 million, and earnings ...
BB&T Buying a Ga. Insurance Agency.(BB&T Insurance Services Inc., Sidney O. Smith Inc.)(Brief article)
Oct 01, 2007; ... BB&T Insurance Services of Raleigh has a deal to acquire Sidney O. Smith Inc., a Gainesville, Ga., insurance agency. Sidney O. Smith provides commercial and personal property/casualty coverage to 17,000 clients and has offices in Gainesville and Alpharetta, Ga. The acquisition ...
Hancock to Offer Withdrawal Rider.(John Hancock Annuities, withdrawal benefit rider)(Brief article)
Oct 01, 2007; ... John Hancock Annuities, a Boston unit of Toronto's Manulife Financial Corp., plans to start offering a new optional guaranteed withdrawal benefit rider today. The Principal Returns rider, meant to complement Hancock's lifetime withdrawal benefits, provides an 8% withdrawal rate ...
AIG Acquires the Rest of 21st Century.(American International Group Inc., 21st Century Insurance Group)(Brief article)
Oct 01, 2007; ... American International Group Inc. has acquired the 39.3% stake of 21st Century Insurance Group that it did not previously own. The New York company announced the deal's completion last week but did not say how much it paid ...
Northern Trust Arm Promotes 2 Execs.(Susan Mallory and Salim Janmohamed)(Brief article)
Oct 01, 2007; ... Northern Trust Corp. promoted Susan Mallory to president of southern California and Nevada for its personal financial services unit. Ms. Mallory, 53, was the president of the Chicago company's San Diego region. She will move to the Los Angeles area and will be in charge of ...
Survey: Automatic Plan Enrollments Up.(401k plans)(Brief article)
Oct 01, 2007; ... Two-thirds of employers are using automatic enrollment in their 401(k) plans or plan to start using it in the next 18 months, according to a survey conducted by Wells Fargo & Co.'s employee benefits consulting group in Minneapolis. The survey, conducted from early April through ...
Five Biggest Banks Seen Gaining Mortgage Share.(Citigroup Inc., JPMorgan Chase & Co., Bank of America Corp., Wachovia Corp., and Wells Fargo & Co.)
Oct 01, 2007; ... The balance-sheet strength of the five largest U.S. banking companies should push their combined share of the retail mortgage business to nearly 50% by the end of 2008 as specialist companies falter in the face of tougher secondary market conditions, an analyst said. In the last ...
Wells, Countrywide Said Not Modifying.(Wells Fargo & Co., Countrywide Financial Corp.)(Brief article)
Oct 01, 2007; ... Wells Fargo & Co. and Countrywide Financial Corp. have "played a critical role in the rise of foreclosures," the National Training and Information Center, a Chicago community group, said last week. George Goehl, the center's executive director, said he has been in discussions ...
In Reverse Mortgages, a Spread Issue.
Oct 01, 2007; ... Investors are pressing the reverse mortgage industry to roll back this year's wave of price cuts, but several major lenders said they are sticking to reduced-rate products. In January, BNY Mortgage Co. became the first reverse mortgage lender in years to trim the spread it ...
Nationwide Calls Deal With Aberdeen Pivotal.(Nationwide Financial Services Inc.; Aberdeen Asset Management Inc.)
Oct 01, 2007; ... Nationwide Financial Services Inc. says the deal it expects to close today to sell its active asset management business is a big step in its bid to duplicate in asset management the success it has enjoyed in the variable annuity business. Aberdeen Asset Management Inc., a ...
Executive Changes.
Oct 01, 2007; ... NEW ENGLAND Webster Bank of Waterbury, Conn., has hired John R. Ciulla as regional president for Fairfield County, Conn., and Westchester County, N.Y., and promoted Robert D. Twomey to regional president for southeastern Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Mr. Ciulla ...
Reader Vendor in Photo Deal.(USA Technologies; Foto Fantasy Inc.)(Brief article)
Oct 01, 2007; ... The Malvern, Pa., payment technology vendor USA Technologies Inc. has installed its card readers in 1,000 self-serve photo booths operated by Foto Fantasy Inc. of Hudson, N.H. USA Technologies announced the agreement last week. The readers allow people to use contactless cards ...
Co-op, TNS in Network Pact.(Brief article)
Oct 01, 2007; ... The Reston, Va., communication services company TNS Inc. has agreed to manage the automated teller machine network and data network for Co-op Financial Services. Co-op, an Ontario, Calif., credit union service organization, offers ATM processing and operates a shared network ...
Citi, Expedia Eye Mass Market.(credit card; mileage point)
Oct 01, 2007; ... Citigroup Inc.'s new cobranded card with the online travel booking company Expedia Inc. targets consumers who are not loyal to any one airline or hotel brand and shop for bargains online. Holders of the Citi PremierPass/Expedia.com card, which was launched Friday, can get points ...
Imaging Growth Surprising Even Exchanges.
Oct 01, 2007; ... Two bank-owned groups are reporting surprisingly strong gains in image clearing as the industry continues to shifts away from paper checks. Viewpointe Archive Services LLC plans to announce today that it is clearing more than 95% of the images in its shared repository ...
Banking Committee Sets ILC Hearing.(senate; industrial loan company)(Brief article)
Oct 01, 2007; ... The Senate Banking Committee plans to hold a hearing Thursday to address the furor over industrial loan company bids by commercial firms such as Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Home Depot Inc., sources said Friday. In May, committee members Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, Tim Johnson, D-S.D., ...
Top 225 Banks.(Statistical table)
Oct 01, 2007 ... Top 50 Banks Index: 979.2 % Change Day -0.75 Week -1.77 Month 0.59 52-Week Div. Avg Volume $Change %Change Hi Lo Name P/E Yld (000) %Chg Last Dy Wk Dy Wk 35.46 26.45 AssociatedBanc-WI 12.8 4.2 579 -43 29.63 -0.22 ...
Top Thrift.(List)
Oct 01, 2007 ... MidWestern Banks 52-Week Div. Avg Volume $Change %Change Hi Lo Name P/E Yld (000) %Chg Last Dy Wk Dy Wk 19.15 11.53 BNCCorp-ND 12.4 0.0 1 -70 17.26 0.00 0.00 0.0 0.0 14.47 12.07 CamcoFin-OH 19.1 4.5 4 -71 13.39 ...
Top Financial Services Companies.(Statistical table)
Oct 01, 2007 ... Specialty Finance Companies Government Sponsored Enterprises Index: 1851.3 % Change Day -1.82 Week -2.74 Month -5.77 52-Week Div. Avg Volume $Change %Change Hi Lo Name P/E Yld (000) %Chg Last Dy Wk Dy Wk 70.57 ...
Top 25 Thrifts.(Statistical table)
Oct 01, 2007 ... Top 25 Thrifts Index: 862.7 % Change Day -0.67 Week -2.34 Month -0.61 52-Week Div. Avg Volume $Change %Change Hi Lo Name P/E Yld (000) %Chg Last Dy Wk Dy Wk 29.99 21.21 AnchorBanCorp-WI 15.3 2.7 63 -36 27.00 -0.59 ...
Analyst Consensus Rankings.(top banks)(Statistical table)
Oct 01, 2007 ... Top 50 Banks Change '07 Forecast '08 Forecast Price/ Price/ Score 1-Wk 4-Wk Name EPS %Chg EPS %Chg Price 07 EPS 08 EPS 2.0 -0.1 -0.1 WellsFargo-CA 2.74 10 3.02 10 36.02 13.1 11.9 2.0 0.0 -0.1 WachoviaCorp-NC 4.86 4 ...
B of A Pledges $95B in LaSalle Markets.(Bank of America Corp.)
Oct 02, 2007; ... Bank of America Corp. pledged $95 billion of community development funding for the low- and moderate-income communities in markets served by LaSalle Bank Corp. of Chicago, though an area coalition said the pledge fell short of its expectations. The $1.5 trillion-asset Charlotte ...
Willow Cuts Profit Posted for Fiscal '07.(Willow Financial Bancorp Inc.)(Financial report)(Brief article)
Oct 02, 2007; ... Willow Financial Bancorp Inc. in Wayne, Pa., said Monday that it cut previously reported earnings for its 2007 fiscal year by 10%, to $8.4 million, after discovering material weaknesses in its internal controls. The parent of the $1.55 billion-asset Willow Financial Bank ...
JPM Unit in Deal with Fla. Agency.(Brown & Brown Inc. acquires JP Morgan Insurance Agency Inc. subsidiary of JPMorgan Chase & Co.)(Brief article)
Oct 02, 2007; ... Brown & Brown Inc., a Daytona Beach, Fla., insurance agency and brokerage firm, said Monday that it has agreed to buy the property and casualty insurance brokerage business of JPMorgan Chase & Co.'s JP Morgan Insurance Agency Inc. unit. The price of the deal was not disclosed. ...
Lewis on Subprime: B of A 'Not Immune'.(Kenneth D. Lewis from Bank of America Corp.)
Oct 02, 2007; ... Bank of America Corp.'s chairman, president, and chief executive said Monday that the company is "not immune" to the fallout in subprime mortgages, though he said that he feels "very good" about its risk management practices. Kenneth D. Lewis did not quantify B of A's exposure ...
Changing the Flow.
Oct 02, 2007 ... Nonbanks are gaining a larger share of the payments market. Has increased regulation of banks opened the door for more competitors? ...
Citi to Issue Shell Cobranded Product.(Citigroup Inc. and Shell Oil Products )(Brief article)
Oct 02, 2007; ... Citigroup Inc.'s card services unit agreed to issue a cobranded card for Shell Oil Products U.S. that will offer 5% rebates for all purchases for the first 60 days to cardholders who sign up this year. After the promotional period, holders of the Shell Platinum MasterCard will ...
Dollar Opens 200th Location in Britain.(Dollar Financial Corp)(Brief article)
Oct 02, 2007; ... Dollar Financial Corp., a Berwyn, Pa., payday lender, said Monday it had opened its 200th store in the United Kingdom and its 39th in London. In the fiscal year that ended June 30, Dollar generated $97.4 million of revenue, or 24% of its total, in the United Kingdom. ...
MRU Holdings Posts First Quarterly Profit.(MRU Holdings Inc.)(Brief article)
Oct 02, 2007; ... MRU Holdings Inc., the student lender that uses the My Rich Uncle brand, reported its first quarterly profit and said its full-year volume of federal and private loan originations rose nearly 300%, to $154.4 million. In its fiscal fourth quarter, which ended June 30, MRU earned ...
Judge Blocks Suit Over Taxi Readers.(Judge Richard M. Berman on using global positioning systems and card readers for taxis)(Brief article)
Oct 02, 2007; ... A federal judge denied a request by a cab drivers' union to order an injunction against a New York City requirement that all taxis be equipped with global positioning systems and card readers. Judge Richard M. Berman of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New ...
Citi Warning A Window on Deteriorating Consumer?
Oct 02, 2007; ... Citigroup Inc.'s disclosure Monday of significantly increased credit costs within its consumer business last quarter, part of a four-pronged earnings warning, has some analysts reconsidering their views on the state of the consumer. "This quarter, we continued to see higher ...
Looking Back To Landlines On Bill-Pay.(Etelcharge.com Inc.)
Oct 02, 2007; ... A payment start-up is hoping to entice the unbanked to shop online by dusting off an idea that has been tried several times in the past with varying degrees of success: charging purchases to a phone bill. Etelcharge.com Inc.'s service, which went live last week, is aimed at ...
Some See Cyclical Turn In Demise Of NetBank.
Oct 02, 2007; ... Last week's closing of the $2.5 billion-asset NetBank marked the end to a remarkable run for the banking industry. In more than three years regulators had found little work resolving failed institutions, closing just one between June 2004 and Friday. Many institutions had severe ...
Tex. Bank Finds Reinvention a Tough Sell.(Franklin Bank Corp. of Houston, Texas)
Oct 02, 2007; ... Franklin Bank Corp. in Houston is at a crossroads. In the second quarter the $5.5 billion-asset savings bank holding company accomplished two major goals it had set when it went public in 2003: reducing the single-family mortgages on its books to 50% of its overall portfolio and ...
Wealth Management Media Scan: What Consumer Financial Publications Wrote About This Week.
Oct 02, 2007 ... Building Buildup Investors are seeing lots of opportunities in infrastructure, according to Fortune, as Congress and state and local governments allocate billions of dollars for the repair, renovation, and construction of bridges, roads, mass transit systems, and power grids. ...
Fannie, Goldman Seen Bidding for C-Bass Unit.(Fannie Mae and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. to buy C-Bass LLC shares)
Oct 02, 2007; ... C-Bass LLC, a troubled New York subprime mortgage investor jointly owned by two insurers, is expected to sell its crown jewel, Litton Loan Servicing LP, this month, and numerous industry sources have identified Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Fannie Mae as potential buyers. Litton, ...
Bank Stock Rally Follows Warnings from Citi, UBS.(UBS AG and Citigroup Inc.)
Oct 02, 2007; ... Bank stocks surged Monday as investors apparently found comfort in the details that Citigroup Inc. and UBS AG provided about the market-related losses they expect to report for the third quarter. The KBW Bank Index gained 2.2%. It moved in tandem with shares of Citi, dipping in ...
Wamu Backs ClarityFor Brokered Loans.(Washington Mutual Inc.)(Brief article)
Oct 02, 2007; ... As lenders face rising pressure to increase their transparency and disclosures, Washington Mutual Inc. said Monday that it was introducing measures aimed to clarify the costs and terms of loans acquired through the Seattle thrift company's broker network. Wamu said its new ...
Credit Counsel Site Opened on Internet.(www.housinghelpnow.org)(Brief article)
Oct 02, 2007; ... The National Foudation for Credit Counseling said Monday that it had started a Web site, www.housinghelpnow.org, to help distressed borrowers get access to credit counselors and assess their risk of default and foreclosure. The Silver Spring, Md., nonprofit organization said ...
Highlights:Monday, October 1, 2007.(Table)
Oct 02, 2007 ... Percentage Changes Computed from the indexes reported one, five and 20 days previous, respectively Value Day Week Month American Banker <Pre> Bank Index: 2397.2 2.07 1.49 2.62 Thrift Index: 874.3 1.34 0.73 0.73 S&P 500 ...
SAP Testing System For Linking to Swift.(Brief article)
Oct 02, 2007; ... The Walldorf, Germany, software vendor SAP AG says an application it is developing to help companies link their automated banking systems with Swift could accelerate the adoption of electronic payments and reduce the cost of linking corporate financial systems with those of their banks. ...
Cardtronics' CU Deal Targets High-Function Vcom Viability.
Oct 02, 2007 ... Merchant automated teller machine deployer Cardtronics Inc. is now offering check-deposit-taking at its 7-Eleven Inc. Vcom kiosks through a deal with the credit union shared-branch network Financial Services Centers Cooperative Inc. Vcoms are souped-up ATMs that perform unusual ...
Oxley Rues Missed Chance on Subprime.(Michael Oxley)(Brief article)
Oct 02, 2007; ... San Diego -- Former Rep. Michael Oxley, R-Ohio, chairman of the House Financial Services Committee between 2001 and 2007, told a group of bankers Monday that he regrets not introducing legislation to tighten subprime mortgage lending requirements, which he said could have prevented the ...
Gambling Law Implementation Proposal.(Brief article)
Oct 02, 2007; ... The Federal Reserve Board and the Treasury Department issued a joint proposal Monday that would implement a law to require banks to block illegal Internet gambling payments. The banking industry had fought to prevent banks from being used as a policing mechanism, and House ...
Worries About Subprime Lending Are Overblown.
Oct 02, 2007; ... The financial markets have been in turmoil in recent months, in large part because of concerns about subprime mortgages. I am convinced that the problems are not nearly as severe as many fear, and that the biggest problem is fear itself. In times past most financial problems ...
PAY SLIP?
Oct 02, 2007 ... A growing concern among community bankers these days is what they perceive to be the banking industry's diminished role in the payment system. It is difficult to quantify if, and by how much, bankers' share of the market is shrinking, but they say the competition is coming from ...
Pitching an Alternative to Own-Your-Sites Model.(Sterling Bancshares Incorporated's office)
Oct 02, 2007; ... Sterling Bancshares Inc. in Houston has concluded it is sometimes better to rent than to own. The $4.4 billion-asset company has sold 14 branches and four multitenant office buildings in the last year to a real estate investment trust and now occupies the space as a tenant. ...
Fresno School Branch Courts Students' Parents.(County Bank of Merced branch at McLane High School)
Oct 02, 2007; ... Fresno County in California has one of the highest percentages of unbanked people in the country, but County Bank of Merced, at the urging of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., is looking to change that. In August, County Bank opened a branch at McLane High School in Fresno ...
Helping Customers Go Green.(Brief article)
Oct 02, 2007; ... HomeStreet Bank is hosting a series of free "Living Green" workshops focusing on how individuals and businesses can reduce their carbon footprints. The $2.6 billion-asset Seattle bank held two workshops in late September and has one more scheduled in October. Among the issues ...
Working Up a Sweat (Without Meeting with Supervisors).
Oct 02, 2007; ... Allied First Bank'spresident and chief executive, Kenneth Bertrand, has been playing basketball at local gyms three times a week for the past 20 years, but now when he wants to play he does not even have to leave the office. That's because Allied's new 18,000-square-foot retail ...