American Banker back issues from May 2008:
For Security Bank, $40M Lifeline and An Adviser.
May 01, 2008; ... Sometimes it's all in the delivery. Security Bank Corp.'s problem loans soared in the first quarter, and its $24.2 million loss was four times worse than analysts expected. But along with those grim results, the Macon, Ga., company announced Tuesday that it has ...
In New Mobile Model, Carriers Welcome Many Bank Partners.
May 01, 2008; ... Recent developments in the mobile financial services space show that the business arrangements necessary to deliver banking capabilities to a phone are shifting to a model where carriers open their doors to multiple partnerships and multiple application types. Banks are eager to ...
Bair's New Idea: U.S. as Direct Lender.(Sheila Bair )
May 01, 2008; ... WASHINGTON -- Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Chairman Sheila Bair offered a new proposal Wednesday to let the Treasury Department lend directly to borrowers to save more than 1 million homes from foreclosure. Her plan, unveiled in a media campaign, caught many off-guard and ...
MPF Went From Asset To Albatross.(Mortgage Partnership Finance program )
May 01, 2008; ... WASHINGTON -- When the Federal Home Loan Bank of Chicago unveiled the Mortgage Partnership Finance program in 1997, it was meant to be the evolution of the Home Loan Bank System and give Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac a run for their money. That was then. Last week the ...
Lease Deals Resurfacing As Issue for Bottom Line.(Financial report)
May 01, 2008; ... Bank capital levels, already under pressure from ongoing credit problems, now may get further pain from an old and unrelated issue: leveraged leases. The thorny issue resurfaced when Wachovia Corp. said it would take an after-tax noncash charge of $800 million to $1 billion this ...
Citi Off 4% as Stock Offering Raises More than Predicted.(Citigroup Inc.)(Brief article)
May 01, 2008; ... Citigroup Inc.'s share price fell 4% Wednesday after the $2.2 trillion-asset company said it had raised $4.5 billion through a secondary stock offering. The amount exceeded the $3 billion that Citi had said a day earlier it expected to raise. The offering was priced at $25.27 ...
Dodd Card Bill Takes Hard Line, Faces Hard Fight.
May 01, 2008; ... WASHINGTON -- A day before federal regulators unveil a plan to curb credit card abuses, Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd said he would introduce legislation today that moves far beyond those reforms. But the Connecticut Democrat's hard-line approach reduces the ...
Executive Changes.(Florida Bank of Commerce)(Seattle Savings Bank )
May 01, 2008; ... NEW ENGLAND Camden National Corp. in Maine said Gregory A. Dufour will succeed Robert W. Daigle as its president and chief executive officer when Mr. Daigle retires at yearend. Mr. Daigle has been the $1.7 billion-asset companys president and CEO since 1999. Before ...
FirstFed ARMs Fuel 1Q Loss.(FirstFed Financial Corp. revenue report)(adjustable-rate mortgages)(Financial report)(Brief article)
May 01, 2008; ... FirstFed Financial Corp. in Santa Monica, Calif., said Wednesday that it had lost $69.8 million in the first quarter after taking a $150.3 million provision for losses on its option adjustable-rate mortgages. The $7 billion-asset company warned investors last week that ...
Silver State Loses $14.4M after Provision.(Silver State Bancorp revenue report)(Financial report)(Brief article)
May 01, 2008; ... Silver State Bancorp in Henderson, Nev., said Wednesday that it lost $14.4 million in the first quarter as a result of taking a $31 million provision for losses on residential construction and land development loans. In the first quarter of 2007, the $1.9 billion-asset Silver ...
Taylor Capital Loses on Provision, Hirings.(revenue report)(Financial report)(Brief article)
May 01, 2008; ... Taylor Capital Group Inc. said Wednesday that it lost $3.8 million, or 37 cents per share, in the first quarter due to a rise in its loan-loss provision and higher expenses for hiring at its Cole Taylor Bank subsidiary. It earned $5.3 million, or 48 cents per share, the year ...
Exec Sees Changes Helping Janus Capital Bounce Back.(dialogue with Jim Goff )(Interview)
May 01, 2008; ... Jim Goff is a portfolio manager and research director at Janus Capital Group Inc., where he has worked for the past 20 years. The firm had been marred by sinking returns and the fund trading scandal in the past decade, but by taking safer bets and using a far more structured ...
Mixed Reaction to Citi's Fund Aid Plan.(Citigroup Inc.)
May 01, 2008; ... Observers are split about Citigroup Inc.s decision to help investors with losses they incurred by investing in certain Smith Barney funds. Jeffery Harte, a Sandler ONeill & Partners LP analyst, said the fact that Citi is supporting its customers is a positive. Smith ...
MetLife Adds Social Security Calculator.(Metropolitan Life Insurance Co.)(Brief article)
May 01, 2008; ... A new service from MetLife Inc. helps people approaching retirement decide when to begin taking Social Security benefits. The MetLife Social Security Decision Tool is the first online tool to combine life expectancy tables with a Social Security benefits calculation for ...
Pipeline.(stock offering of Citigroup Inc)(Citigroup Inc. suffering a net loss of about $2.1 billion in the first quarter)(Deutsche Bank AG suffering a net loss of $220 million in the first quarter)(Financial report)
May 01, 2008 ... Subprime, And Beyond For those who have lost track, here is a roundup of the past weeks turmoil in the mortgage and credit markets. Citigroup Inc. priced $4.5 billion of common stock, or $1.5 billion more than it originally planned. The offering was made just a week ...
Corus Cuts Back On Condo Lending And Halts Payout.(CORUS Bankshares Inc.)
May 01, 2008; ... Corus Bankshares Inc., which specializes in condominium construction loans, has eliminated its dividend in a move to preserve capital as it posted results for another quarter marked by heavy credit provisions. The $9.1 billion-asset Chicago banking company reported after the ...
1Q Earnings: Small Business Woes Continue to Affect Advanta.(Advanta Corp.)(Financial report)
May 01, 2008; ... Following reports of deterioration in the small-business loan portfolios of several large banking companies, Advanta Corp., which specializes in issuing credit cards to small businesses, posted a 68.4% drop in its card-related income, to $6.7 million. The Spring House, Pa., ...
Diebold Cites Regional Growth.(Diebold Inc.)(Brief article)
May 01, 2008; ... Diebold Inc. said that strong growth in Asia and South America helped offset weak demand for automated teller machines in North America in the first quarter. In an estimated earnings report issued Wednesday, the North Canton, Ohio, company said revenue increased 8.1% from a year ...
Alta Vista Orders NCR ATMs.(Alta Vista Credit Union instalingl NCR Corps. automated teller machines)(Brief article)
May 01, 2008; ... Alta Vista Credit Union of San Bernardino, Calif., has agreed to install NCR Corp. automated teller machines with imaging technology. The Dayton, Ohio, ATM company said Tuesday that Alta Vista has ordered 30 Self-Serv machines, which let consumers deposit checks and cash without ...
Hypercom Names Interim CFO.(Hypercom Corp. promoting Robert M. Vreeland to interim chief financial officer)(Brief article)
May 01, 2008; ... The Phoenix point of sale terminal company Hypercom Corp. said Wednesday it has promoted Robert M. Vreeland to interim chief financial officer. Mr. Vreeland has been with Hypercom for 11 years, most recently as vice president for finance and financial planning and analysis in ...
i2Telecom to Use Encryption System For Money Transfer.(i2Telecom International Inc. licensing data encryption patent from a Michigan banker )
May 01, 2008; ... i2Telecom International Inc. has licensed a data encryption patent from a Michigan banker to enable international money transfers for its fledgling service offering low-cost Internet phone calls through mobile devices. Paul Arena, the Atlanta company's chairman and chief ...
Metavante Reports a Revenue Boost.(Metavante Corp.)(Financial report)(Brief article)
May 01, 2008; ... Strong growth in transaction processing and core banking volume helped drive up first-quarter revenue for Metavante Technologies Inc. The Milwaukee company reported Tuesday that its revenue had climbed 10% from the same quarter last year, to $424.6 million. It also reported net ...
Calif. Bank CEO Sees 'Early Signs' Economy on Rise.(J. Michael Shepherd the president and CEO of Bank of the West )
May 01, 2008; ... Bank of the West's chief executive said he sees "early signs" of a housing turnaround and expects continued growth in a range of other business lines, including commercial lending and agriculture. J. Michael Shepherd, the president and CEO of the $62 billion-asset San Francisco ...
Central Pacific Posts Profit Drop.(Central Pacific Financial Corp.)(Financial report)(Brief article)
May 01, 2008; ... Plagued by bad residential construction loans in California, Central Pacific Financial Corp. in Honolulu said Wednesday that its first-quarter profit dropped more than 90% from a year earlier, to $1.7 million. The loan-loss provision rose 22% from the fourth quarter and more ...
State Street Names Operating Chief.(State Street Corp. promoting Jay Hooley to president and chief operating officer)(Brief article)
May 01, 2008; ... State Street Corp. promoted Jay Hooley to president and chief operating officer. Mr. Hooley, 51, is a vice chairman and the head of State Streets global investment servicing, trading, and research businesses. The president and chief operating officer positions have ...
Survey Finds Most Satisfied with Bank.(survey on customer relations of banking industry)(Survey)(Brief article)
May 01, 2008; ... A survey released Wednesday and sponsored by the American Society for Quality, a Milwaukee nonprofit, found that U.S. financial institutions are scoring well in customer service, even though more than a quarter of participants reported an account problem in the past year. The ...
Rate Cut Brings Bank Stocks Down.(impact of reduction in discount rates on banking stocks)(Brief article)
May 01, 2008; ... Bank stocks slid into negative territory after the Federal Open Market Committee trimmed interest rates Wednesday afternoon and indicated it may hold rates steady at future meetings. As expected, the committee cut both the federal funds rate and the discount rate by 25 basis ...
Lower Fiserv Target On B of A Discount.(contract for online bill payment between Fiserv Inc. and Bank of America Corp.)(Brief article)
May 01, 2008; ... Fiserv Inc. reduced its earnings outlook Wednesday after securing a contract extension with Bank of America Corp. for online bill payment. The Brookfield, Wis., financial technology company said it expects to report adjusted earnings of $3.28 to $3.40 a share this year from ...
Correction.(Correction notice)
May 01, 2008 ... In the April 24 paper, a story on page 7, "Provisioning in Two Markets Saps Boston Private Results," misstated James D. Dawson's title. He is the chief executive officer of Boston ...
Community Banks and Thrifts with Highest Return on Average Equity.(Statistical table)
May 01, 2008 ... In the fourth quarter of 2007. Dollars in thousands. <Pre>Return on avg. equityReturn onEfficiency4Q 2007 Year earlier Assets average assetsratio </Pre> 1 BankFirst Sioux Falls, S.D. 187.27% 30.64% $448,376 34.09% 13.22% ...
Cards, Plus: Regulators Also Tackle Overdrafts: Billing, rate-setting, allocation practices all would be limited.
May 02, 2008; ... WASHINGTON -- Bankers have spent months awaiting a proposal that would change the credit card business by eliminating activities such as double-cycle billing and instituting new rules on how payments could be applied. On Thursday they got what they were waiting for and more. ...
1Q Earnings: Spinoff's Rocky Start Puts Dent In Growth Plan.(Guaranty Financial Corp.)(Financial report)
May 02, 2008; ... AUSTIN -- One bad quarter can sure set a bank's growth plan back, particularly if it's the only quarter the bank has to show for itself. When Guaranty Financial Group Inc. of Austin was spun off from the timber concernTemple-Inland Inc. in December, Guaranty's executives talked ...
Doors Quick to Open for Some Cut by Wamu.(Washington Mutual Inc.)
May 02, 2008; ... As Washington Mutual Inc. completes the process of closing its stand-alone home loan centers and sheds 3,000 jobs in its mortgage business, some competitors are opportunistically picking up talent with an eye toward adding market share. Both JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Wells Fargo ...
Cuomo-GSE Deal May Get Fight in Court.(Bankers legal challenge to an appraisal agreement between New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo and the government-sponsored enterprises)
May 02, 2008; ... WASHINGTON -- Bankers and industry groups are laying the groundwork for a legal challenge to an appraisal agreement between New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo and the government-sponsored enterprises. In comment letters sent to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac this week - which ...
People.(Dave Pottruck chairman of Eos Airlines Inc.)(Capital One Financial Corp. hiring another former Bank of America Corp. executive to serve in an important capacity)(BancorpSouth Inc. reshuffling its board)
May 02, 2008; ... Grounded Dave Pottruck, the former chief executive at Charles Schwab Corp., is facing a new business challenge. Eos Airlines Inc., the all-business trans-Atlantic airline Mr. Pottruck now chairs, filed for bankruptcy protection Sunday. The Purchase, N.Y., company was ...
Wintrust Facing A Tough Sell in Premium Finance.(Wintrust Financial Corp.)
May 02, 2008; ... Wintrust Financial Corp. in Lake Forest, Ill., has weathered the real estate downturn in part by specializing in the business of financing insurance premiums, and now it wants to free up capital for more traditional lending by securitizing premium-finance loans on its books. ...
House Panel Backs Foreclosure Bill.(House Committee on Financial Services)
May 02, 2008; ... WASHINGTON -- After more than two days of debate the House Financial Services Committee approved a foreclosure prevention bill 46 to 21 on Thursday that was largely unchanged from the bill Chairman Barney Frank introduced two weeks ago. The bill is meant to calm the housing ...
Evergreen Puts Parent's Purchases to Work.(Evergreen Investment Management Co.)
May 02, 2008; ... Evergreen Investment Management Co. LLC is trying to expand by pulling together its disparate pieces, improving its ability to sell products, and moving into more foreign markets. Its parent, Wachovia Corp., has been growing in investment services for several years through a ...
Large Majority Fear Recession.(Sixty-eight percent of americans in a survey believed the United States was heading toward a recession)(Survey)(Brief article)
May 02, 2008; ... Sixty-eight percent of participants in a survey conducted in March said they believed the United States was heading toward a recession, and 53% were cutting their spending and paying down debt as a result. The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants said its survey ...
Northern Trust Signs Ledyard.(Brief article)
May 02, 2008; ... Northern Trust Corp. of Chicago announced an agreement to provide correspondent services for Ledyard National Bank of Hanover, N.H. Northern Trust will offer trust accounting and investment management services through TrustPortal, its online platform for financial institutions. ...
Viewpoint: Counterpoint - How Big Banks, Congress Helped Create the Mess.(Viewpoint essay)
May 02, 2008; ... As we traverse one of the worst modern American financial crises, we are again reminded of the follies of our present banking structure and the inequities showered on the many by a few. The current crisis is being driven entirely by the major financial institutions, primarily ...
Viewpoint: Bailouts Are Under Way, But Are They Needed?(Viewpoint essay)
May 02, 2008; ... Bailouts are already in progress, no matter the administration's claims to the contrary. The term auction facility is making discount window lending anonymous while lending grows. Recently the Federal Reserve raised its commitment to the Term Securities Lending Facility and ...
Viewpoint: On Retailing - Making Sure Your Line Is Worth the Wait.(Viewpoint essay)
May 02, 2008; ... There is a visual prompt that I often encourage branch managers to place behind their teller windows, new account desks, and drive-up windows. It is this: "Is your line worth waiting in?" I like to point out that we bankers can control some things in our business but only ...
Viewpoint: Revamping System Can Be Boon for Unbanked.(Community Reinvestment Act)(Viewpoint essay)
May 02, 2008; ... The Treasury Department's blueprint to overhaul the financial regulatory system is aimed largely at macro-level concerns like investment bank oversight and market stability. But what if the focus was on stimulating innovation around the profitable and responsible provision of ...
Heartland Obtains Discover Pact, Has A Merchant Focus.(Heartland Payment Systems Inc.)(Discover Financial Services Inc.)
May 02, 2008; ... The transaction processor Heartland Payment Systems Inc. announced Thursday that it has landed a contract to provide merchant acquiring services for the card company Discover Financial Services. Robert O. Carr, the chairman and chief executive officer of the Princeton, N.J., ...
PayPass Issuance, Acceptance Double.(Brief article)
May 02, 2008; ... Issuance of MasterCard Inc.s contactless PayPass devices doubled from a year earlier to 28 million last quarter, and the number of merchants that accept the devices more than doubled, to 109,000, the Purchase, N.Y., company said this week. The devices include both cards and ...
Profit Up 31% at Receivables Buyer.(Encore Capital Group)(Financial report)(Brief article)
May 02, 2008; ... Encore Capital Group, a San Diego buyer and manager of charged-off credit card and other consumer receivables, said Thursday that its first-quarter profit jumped 31% from a year earlier, to $7.5 million or 32 cents a share. The company said it reduced its interest expense by ...
B of A Cobrands Asiana Airline Card.(Bank of America Corp. introducing a cobranded rewards credit card with Asiana Airlines Inc)(Brief article)
May 02, 2008; ... Bank of America Corp. has introduced a cobranded rewards credit card with Asiana Airlines Inc. of Seoul that runs on the American Express Co. network. The card offers two miles per dollar of everyday purchases and access to members-only golf courses in Korea and throughout the ...
Homeownership: Finding the Right Balance.
May 02, 2008; ... In March, Richard F. Syron, Freddie Mac's chief executive, was sitting in the audience at an investor conference when someone asked how his government-sponsored enterprise could fulfill its mission of promoting home affordability without buying subprime securities, whose issuance had ...
Baby Boomer Home Sales Re-Emerge as Wild Card.
May 02, 2008; ... As the mortgage industry struggles with delinquencies, foreclosures, and double-digit declines in house prices, some economists are predicting a more dire long-term correction as members of the baby boom generation retire and sell their homes. Though economists have predicted ...
Case Study: Using E-Mail to Turn Leads into Closings.(mortgage broking firms)
May 02, 2008; ... A year and a half ago Phillip Baltazar, the founder, chairman, and chief executive of America Funding Inc., had a problem. His San Diego mortgage brokerage was spending more than $100,000 a month on leads from IAC/InterActiveCorp's LendingTree, but a relatively small percentage ...
The Tech Scene: Aggregation Sites Letting Users Compare Spending.
May 02, 2008; ... Online account aggregation sites are now offering tools that let people compare their own spending habits to those of others, a contrast to the traditional aggregation model in which Web sites help users track only their own income and spending patterns. Wesabe Inc. in San ...
Fiserv Jump Largely Fueled by CheckFree.(Fiserv Inc. reporting sharp earnings gains)(Financial report)(Brief article)
May 02, 2008; ... Fiserv Inc. reported sharp earnings gains, largely from its December acquisition of the bill-payment provider CheckFree Corp. The financial technology company said Wednesday that its first-quarter earnings nearly tripled from a year earlier, to $329 million. Revenue grew 39%, to ...
Wells Fargo Buys Flatiron To Beef Up in Insurance.(Wells Fargo & Co.)
May 02, 2008; ... Wells Fargo & Co. bought Flatiron Credit Co. Inc. on Thursday, a move the San Francisco banking company said will bolster its growing insurance division and let it enter the premium-finance business. The $595 billion-asset Wells bought the Denver company from Toronto-Dominion ...
B of A on Countrywide Debt Situation.(Bank of America Corp. )(Countrywide Financial Corp.)
May 02, 2008; ... Those who have been wondering what Bank of America Corp. would do about Countrywide Financial Corp.'s debt when it buys the mortgage lender got some clues from B of A on Thursday. In a regulatory filing Thursday, the $1.76 trillion-asset B of A said that about $59 billion of ...
Two B of A Units Settle SEC Charges.(Bank of America Corp.)(Securities and Exchange Commission)(Brief article)
May 02, 2008; ... Two investment product units of Bank of America Corp. will pay $9.8 million to settle charges they inadequately disclosed potential conflicts of interest to clients, the Securities and Exchange Commission said Thursday. The SEC had accused Banc of America Investment Services of ...
First Clover Leaf Buying Partners of Ill.(First Clover Leaf Financial Corp. planning to buy Partners Financial Holdings Inc)(Brief article)
May 02, 2008; ... First Clover Leaf Financial Corp. in Edwardsville, Ill., said Thursday that it plans to buy Partners Financial Holdings Inc. of Glen Carbon for $20.7 million in cash and stock. First Clover Leaf Bank has three full-service branches and $413 million in assets. Partners Bank has ...
PFF to Record Loss on $196M Provision.(PFF Bancorporation Inc.)(Financial report)(Brief article)
May 02, 2008; ... PFF Bancorp Inc. in Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., said late Wednesday that it expects to record a loss of about $159 million for its fiscal fourth quarter, which ended March 31, in part because of an estimated $196 million provision for losses on residential construction loans. A ...
Discount Window Borrowing Declines.(Federal Reserve Boards discount window )(Brief article)
May 02, 2008; ... Loans through the Federal Reserve Boards discount window dropped 7.1% during the past week, to $29.763 billion Wednesday, as commercial and investment banks decreased their borrowing. A week after setting a record, lending to commercial banks in the form of primary credit fell ...
Reserves Being Built; Will They Stand Up?
May 05, 2008; ... Despite the emergence of "reserve building" as the most overused rhetorical flourish of the first-quarter earnings season, a closer look at the numbers suggests that loss reserves at large banking companies are unlikely to offer sufficient protection against future deterioration. ...
Big in Colo., FirstBank Eyes Arizona.(FirstBank Holding Co.)
May 05, 2008; ... FirstBank Holding Co., the largest locally owned banking company in Colorado, is privately held and relatively low-profile. Now the Lakewood company is moving beyond its traditional retail banking business into commercial lending, both in Colorado and a new market: Phoenix. ...
N.Y. Fed Leader's Rising Profile (and Influence).
May 05, 2008; ... WASHINGTON -- When Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke took his seat at a senate banking committee hearing last month, dozens of photographers jumped to capture images of the world's most powerful economist. Three seats to his left at the witness table sat a younger ...
Appraisal Issues - Beyond Independence.(appraisals management by banks)
May 05, 2008; ... For bankers like Dean Hackemer, the president and chief executive of Access National Mortgage Corp., ensuring the accuracy of appraisals has become a bigger focus these days. His lender, a unit of the $621 million-asset Access National Corp. of Reston, Va., has begun asking "far ...
Citi, State Street Unloading Venture To Refocus Assets.(Citigroup Inc. divesting noncore assets by selling its stake in CitiStreet LLC)
May 05, 2008; ... Vikram Pandit has been busy divesting noncore assets to shore up Citigroup Inc.'s profits since becoming its chief executive in December, but a plan to shed its stake in CitiStreet LLC, a joint venture with State Street Corp., stems from actions taken long before he arrived. ...
South Financial to Issue Preferred, Cut Dividend.(Financial report)
May 05, 2008; ... South Financial Group Inc. said it is taking steps that should enable it to withstand credit problems in its Florida loan portfolio and quiet concerns about capital levels. The $13.7 billion-asset Greenville, S.C., company said Friday that it would issue about $250 million of ...