American Banker back issues from February 2009:
Discover, Amex Launched on Divergent Acceptance Plans.(Cards)(Discover Financial Services Inc. and NYSE Alternext US L.L.C.)
Feb 02, 2009; ... Byline: Kate Fitzgerald, Cards&Payments Now that Discover Financial Services and American Express Co. have begun working with third-party merchant acquirers, stark differences are emerging between the two card companies' strategies for expanding acceptance. Analysts ...
Payday Lender's Board Adds Ex-Lobbyist.(Cards)(Brief article)
Feb 02, 2009; ... Byline: Maria Aspan The payday lender Advance America Cash Advance Centers Inc. has appointed Tony S. Colletti, a veteran lawyer and lobbyist, to its board of directors. Advance America in Spartanburg, S.C., announced the appointment Friday. Mr. Colletti is a former ...
S.F. Cabbies' Pay Goes on Prepaid Card.(Cards)(San Francisco Yellow Cab Cooperative )(Brief article)
Feb 02, 2009 ... Byline: CardLine The San Francisco Yellow Cab Cooperative has begun paying some drivers by loading funds into prepaid smartOne Visa Pay Card accounts. First National Bank of Omaha's merchant solutions unit helped Yellow Cab develop the program, which it plans to ...
Gauge Absent for ISO, Acquirer Attrition.(Cards)(independent sales organizations)(Brief article)
Feb 02, 2009 ... Byline: CardLine No standard exists for measuring attrition among independent sales organizations and acquirers, making it difficult to discuss merchant-attrition rates industrywide, according to Michelle Wagner, the vice president of global marketing at Elavon Inc. ...
PE Shores Up Flagstar, Buffers U.S. Tarp Stake.(Community Banking)(Flagstar Bancorp Inc.)
Feb 02, 2009; ... Byline: Robert Barba The story of Flagstar Bancorp Inc. just keeps getting curiouser. The same day that the $14.2 billion-asset thrift company got more than $500 million in capital from a private-equity firm and the government, it posted a $200 million quarterly loss ...
Can Even Fed Oversight Alter Investment Banking Giants?(Washington)
Feb 02, 2009; ... Byline: Steven Sloan WASHINGTON - As Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Morgan Stanley settle into their new status as financial holding companies, questions are growing over their true intentions. The transition is only four months old, but some critics have already ...
PEOPLE.(Washington)
Feb 02, 2009 ... Anyone for a B-20? Government leaders use the G-20 to sort out all kinds of nasty world problems, and HSBC Group Chairman Stephen Green figures business executives could do the same with a Business 20, or B-20. Floating his idea at the World Economic Forum in Davos, ...
Backstop's Erosion Met With Calm.(Mortgages)(Federal National Mortgage Association)
Feb 02, 2009; ... Byline: Harry Terris Once, it might have shocked the markets to hear that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac may well need more than the $200 billion the government pledged to backstop them. After all, the government-sponsored enterprises' debt costs soared in the fall, in ...
GSEs Extend Mortatoriums on Evictions.(Mortgages)(Federal National Mortgage Association)(government-sponsored enterprise)(Brief article)
Feb 02, 2009; ... Byline: Kate Berry Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac said Friday that they would suspend the eviction of owner-occupants and renters from properties going into foreclosure for another month, until Feb. 28. Fannie's policy allows tenants and former owner-occupants with ...
City to Accept Web Payments.(Technology)(OK.gov)(Brief article)
Feb 02, 2009; ... Byline: Steve Bills The city of Harrah, Okla., announced Friday that residents and businesses can now pay bills, fees, and fines using the municipal Web site. "We are very optimistic that adding online credit card payments to our Web site will prove to be a ...
NCR Hires Global Sales Chief.(Technology)(NCR Corp.)(Peter Leav)(Brief article)
Feb 02, 2009; ... Byline: Steve Bills NCR Corp. has announced the hiring of Peter Leav to be its senior vice president of global sales. Mr. Leav, who is to report to Bill Nuti, NCR's chairman and chief executive, joined the Dayton, Ohio, automated teller machine maker from Motorola ...
TSYS Taps 2 (Finance, China).(Technology)(Total System Services Inc.)(Jim Cosgrove and David Duncan)(Brief article)
Feb 02, 2009; ... Byline: Steve Bills Total System Services Inc. has announced the appointments of Jim Cosgrove as treasurer and group executive of finance and David Duncan as group executive for China and Southeast Asia. Mr. Cosgrove joined TSYS as assistant treasurer in August 2005 ...
Checks Seen on the Rise For Midsize-Biz B-to-B.(Technology)(iStream Financial Services Inc.)(business to business )
Feb 02, 2009; ... Byline: Daniel Wolfe iStream Financial Services Inc. says the economic slump seems to be driving more companies to demand checks from their customers for payment. The Brookfield, Wis., company cites the rising value of the items it processes as evidence of this ...
More Monitoring of Tarp's Uses Urged.(Market Monitor)(Department of the Treasury. Troubled Asset Relief Program)(Report)(Brief article)
Feb 02, 2009; ... Byline: Cheyenne Hopkins The Treasury Department should do more to monitor its Troubled Asset Relief Program, according to a Government Accountability Office report Friday. "While GAO does not question the need for swift responses in the current economic environment, ...
Discover's 'Interest' In Fed ABS Subsidy.(Market Monitor)(asset backed securities)(Brief article)
Feb 02, 2009; ... Byline: Harry Terris Discover Financial Services said a forthcoming Federal Reserve Board program designed to revive issuance of asset-backed securitizations is "of very high interest" to it. At a conference in New York last week, Roy Guthrie, the company's chief ...
Higher MBS Supply May Trip Rate Effort.(Market Monitor)(mortgage backed securities)(Report)(Brief article)
Feb 02, 2009; ... Byline: Harry Terris The Federal Reserve Board may be running into a natural barrier to its ability to bring down mortgage rates, according to analysts at UBS AG. In a note to clients that was sent last week, the analysts wrote that lower rates induce borrowers to ...
Money-Laundering Order for Ill. Bank.(Market Monitor)(Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.)(West Suburban Bank)(Brief article)
Feb 02, 2009; ... Byline: Cheyenne Hopkins The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and Illinois state regulators announced that they have given the $1.9 billion-asset West Suburban Bank an enforcement order concerning anti-money-laundering violations. The Dec. 2 cease-and-desist order ...
L.A.'s Nara Reports A Deficit of $9.9M.(Market Monitor)(Nara Bancorporation Inc.)(Brief article)
Feb 02, 2009; ... Byline: Bonnie McGeer Nara Bancorp Inc. in Los Angeles said Friday that it swung to a $9.9 million loss in the fourth quarter as it aggressively recognized loan losses. It had earned $8.3 million a year earlier. The $2.7 billion-asset company said it hiked ...
Payouts: What Goes Down Won't Go Back Up Quickly.(National/Global)
Feb 02, 2009; ... Byline: Paul Davis When it comes to dividends, struggling banking companies are operating under the law of gravity, and they likely will be for quite some time. In the last 12 months roughly a third of the largest recipients of funds under the Treasury Department's ...
AIG Promotes Kelly To Vice Chairman.(Wealth Management)(American International Group Inc.)(Brief article)
Feb 02, 2009; ... Byline: Matt Ackermann American International Group Inc. promoted Anastasia D. Kelly to vice chairman. Ms. Kelly, who has worked for the New York insurance company since 2006, is an executive vice president, general counsel, and senior regulatory and compliance ...
Schwab to Cut Up to 600 More Jobs in 1Q.(Wealth Management)(Charles Schwab Corp.)(Brief article)
Feb 02, 2009; ... Byline: Matt Ackermann Charles Schwab Corp. said it plans to cut 500 to 600 jobs this quarter in its effort to contain costs. Walter Bettinger, the San Francisco brokerage company's chief executive officer, said in a press release last week that it will "with almost ...
U.K. Waiting Period For Payment Policies.(Cards)(Brief article)
Feb 03, 2009 ... Byline: CardLine U.K. antitrust regulators are planning to impose a seven-day waiting period on the sale of payment protection insurance to credit card, mortgage, and other customers worried about their ability to pay back their loans. Businesses that offer the ...
Geithner Rescue Plan Details Expected as Disagreements Persist.(Market Monitor)(Timothy Geithner )
Feb 03, 2009; ... Byline: Cheyenne Hopkins WASHINGTON - Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner is expected to outline the administration's financial rescue plans in a speech early next week, but sources said several issues remain unresolved. The secretary's speech is designed to offer the ...
State Officials Fault Modification Report.(Market Monitor)(Brief article)
Feb 03, 2009; ... Byline: Joe Adler Fifteen state officials blasted a federal report that said loan modifications had led to increased redefaults. The members of the State Foreclosure Prevention Working Group said Monday that the report, issued by the Office of the Comptroller of the ...
2 Firms Seeking Capital May Need to Find Buyers.(National/Global)(CORUS Bankshares Inc.)(Capital Corp of the West)
Feb 03, 2009; ... Byline: Katie Kuehner-Hebert Facing exposure to bad residential construction loans and increased regulatory pressure to raise capital, Corus Bankshares Inc. and Capital Corp of the West are running out of options, analysts said. Both companies reported substantial ...
Why Some Say Cramdowns Good for Banks.(Mortgages)
Feb 03, 2009; ... Byline: Kate Berry Much of the banking industry continues to resist mortgage bankruptcy reform, but some observers are arguing that bankers would actually see a benefit if the legislation passed. Legislation letting bankruptcy judges rewrite mortgage terms would give ...
Industry Backs Bill Giving FDIC More Power; Borrowing to grow, $250K insurance lid would be permanent borrowing to grow.(Washington)
Feb 03, 2009; ... Byline: Rob Blackwell and Joe Adler WASHINGTON - The financial services industry is backing a bill to permanently raise the deposit insurance limit to $250,000 per account, though it would deplete the Deposit Insurance Fund reserves by about 10 basis points and trigger higher ...
Credit Standards Tighten, Borrower Demand Weakens.(Washington)(Survey)
Feb 03, 2009; ... Byline: Steven Sloan WASHINGTON - Though the government has allocated almost $400 billion to attempt to resuscitate bank lending, a survey released Monday by the Federal Reserve Board made clear that bankers are tightening credit standards across the board. The ...
FirstFed Posts Loss Spike on Provision.(Mortgages)(FirstFed Financial Corp.)(Financial report)(Brief article)
Feb 03, 2009 ... Byline: National Mortgage News FirstFed Financial Corp. of Los Angeles said Monday that its fourth-quarter loss more than quadrupled from the third quarter, to $244.8 million, or $17.91 a share, mainly because of its $220 million provision for loan losses. The ...
Little Interest in Lehman Unit on Block.(Mortgages)(Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. selling alternative-A servicing division )(Brief article)
Feb 03, 2009 ... Byline: National Mortgage News Lehman Brothers, which filed for bankruptcy protection in the fall, has been shopping around its alternative-A servicing division in recent months but has found no takers. At one point the unit, Aurora Loan Services of Colorado, had $120 ...
ARM Sales Plunged in '08, Freddie Says.(Mortgages)(adjustable rate mortgages)(Brief article)
Feb 03, 2009 ... Byline: National Mortgage News Adjustable-rate mortgage lending fell sharply last year as the initial payment savings disappeared, according to a survey conducted by Freddie Mac. "Starting rates for conforming one-year ARMs averaged 1.76 percentage points above their ...
Smart Phone Mobile Tools Seen as Client Magnets.(Technology)
Feb 03, 2009; ... Byline: Daniel Wolfe Banks and aggregators say that mobile financial services, and especially tools that run on smart phones, are not just a way to improve customers' access to their accounts but also are a lure for new customers. Bank of America Corp. offers a ...
Chicago FHLB Debt Put on Review.(National/Global)(Federal Home Loan Bank of Chicago)(Brief article)
Feb 03, 2009; ... Byline: Steven Sloan Moody's Investors Service placed the Federal Home Loan Bank of Chicago's subordinated debt on review Monday for a possible downgrade. Analysts have expressed concern that the Chicago bank might be unable to make interest payments if its ...
Fox-Pitt Report Deals Huntington a Blow.(National/Global)(Huntington Bancshares Inc.)(Brief article)
Feb 03, 2009; ... Byline: Katie Kuehner-Hebert Shares of Huntington Bancshares Inc. of Columbus, Ohio, took a pounding Monday. The $54 billion-asset company's stock fell 30%, to $2.02, mainly because of a report that analysts at Fox-Pitt Kelton Cochran Caronia Waller released Friday ....
Seeking Some Company In the Remittance Field.(Cards)
Feb 03, 2009; ... Byline: Maria Aspan Despite a global decline in remittance volume, some bankers in the field are hoping for more competition - from their own kind. "It's a key opportunity for the industry that some banks have not realized," Daniel Ayala, the senior vice president for ...
Stimulus to Loosen SBA Loan Market.(Community Banking)
Feb 03, 2009; ... Byline: Emily Flitter WASHINGTON - The massive stimulus package moving through Congress aims to unclog the market for Small Business Administration loans by providing financing to the broker-dealers that buy and securitize them. The version the House passed last week ...
Bill May Produce New Role for the Fed: Gauging Systemic Risk.(Community Banking)
Feb 03, 2009; ... Byline: Emily Flitter A single line in the stimulus package the House passed last week could put the Federal Reserve Board on the road to becoming a systemic risk regulator. A provision in the bill would create a lending facility through which broker-dealers can ...
Gemalto Teams Up with mChek India.(Technology)(Brief article)
Feb 03, 2009; ... Byline: Daniel Wolfe The smart cardprovider Gemalto NV of the Netherlands said Monday that it has struck a partnership with mChek India Payment Systems Pvt. Ltd. to improve security on Gemalto's SIM cards used for mobile financial services in Asia. The companies have ...
Heartland: Share Plan Predated Breach.(Technology)
Feb 03, 2009 ... Byline: CardLine Heartland Payment Systems Inc. said its chairman and chief executive, Robert O. Carr, had no knowledge of the processor's security breach when he sold shares in the company last fall. The financial Web site SeekingAlpha.com questioned the timing of ...
CyberSource Posts Profit Increase.(Technology)(Financial report)(Brief article)
Feb 03, 2009 ... Byline: CardLine CyberSource Corp. saidits fourth-quarter net income rose 733% from a year earlier, to $10 million. The Mountain View, Calif., online payment and risk management companysaid its revenue rose 37.2%, to $62.3 million. It said merchants are increasingly ...
Tex. Rep Taking Markets And Promotion in Stride.(Wealth Management)(Melanie Weischwill)(Occupation overview)
Feb 03, 2009; ... Byline: Howard Stock, Bank Investment Consultant Melanie Weischwill, a small-bank investment program manager and the top bank representative for ING Group NV's Primevest Financial Services, is anything but the victim of her success. Despite tough markets, she has ...
SEI's New Institutional Sales Set Mark.(Wealth Management)(SEI Investments Co.)(Financial report)(Brief article)
Feb 03, 2009 ... Byline: Matt Ackermann SEI Investments, an Oaks, Pa., investment firm, announced Monday that new institutional sales grew 2.9% last year, to $7.2 billion. The new sales, which came from 35 new clients, were the highest ever for SEI. The growth was driven by strong ...
Gain Capital Adds Independent Director.(Wealth Management)(Gain Capital Holdings Inc)(Susanne D. Lyons)(Brief article)
Feb 03, 2009; ... Byline: Matt Ackermann Gain Capital Holdings Inc., a global provider of online foreign exchange trading services, announced the appointment Monday of Susanne D. Lyons to its board of directors. Ms. Lyons was an executive vice president and chief marketing officer at ...
LETTER TO THE EDITOR: CUs Have Exemption for a Reason.(Viewpoints)
Feb 04, 2009 ... Byline: Fred R. Becker To the Editor: You'd think after receiving hundreds of billions of dollars in taxpayer bailout funds, bankers would be bit shy about slamming their credit union friends on the tax-exemption issue. As Sen. Bernie Sanders,I-Vt., has remarked, ...
Direct Mailings Dropped in '08.(Cards)(Brief article)
Feb 04, 2009 ... Byline: CardLine Credit card issuers sent fewer pieces of direct mail to U.S. consumers last year, according to a report from Synovate, the New York market research unit of Aegis Group PLC. The number of offers dropped 27% from 2007, to 3.8 billion, according to ...
Advance Provider Expands.(Cards)(Advance Capital LLC)(Brief article)
Feb 04, 2009 ... Byline: CardLine Professional Merchant Advance Capital LLC, which provides merchants with cash advances based on card transactions, is now offering advances based on check volume. The Hauppauge, N.Y., company said last week that it is working ...
LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Make Encryption a Higher Priority.(Viewpoints)
Feb 04, 2009 ... Byline: Bill Conner To the Editor: Heartland Payment Systems announced last month one of the largest data breaches on record ["Post-Breach Goal: Wider Encryption" Jan. 29, page 1]. Hackers implemented malware to gain access to Heartland's systems and escaped with 100 ...
Corrections.(Market Monitor)
Feb 04, 2009 ... In the Feb. 3 paper, a brief item on page 2, "Fox-Pitt Report Deals Huntington a Blow," understated Huntington Bancshares' tangible common equity ratio, as calculated by Fox-Pitt Kelton Cochran Caronia Waller analysts. It was ...
Fed First as Hill Tackles Reg Reform In 2 Parts.(Washington)
Feb 04, 2009; ... Byline: Stacy Kaper WASHINGTON - House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank said Tuesday that he plans to split reform of financial services regulation into two parts, focusing first on handing systemic risk authority to the Federal Reserve Board. The ...
Ohio Thrift Meets Agency Capital Goals.(Community Banking)(Home Savings and Loan Co.)
Feb 04, 2009; ... Byline: Robert Barba The $2.7 billion-asset Home Savings and Loan Co. in Youngstown, Ohio - deemed by regulators a troubled institution in August - has succeeded in boosting capital as required by cease-and-desist orders. United Community Financial Corp., its parent ...
Genworth Wholesale Expansion.(Mortgages)(Genworth Financial Home Equity Access Inc. )(Brief article)
Feb 04, 2009 ... Byline: National Mortgage News Genworth Financial Home Equity Access Inc. of Richmond, Va., a reverse mortgage lender once known as Liberty Reverse Mortgage Inc., is expanding its wholesale lending operations. The Genworth Financial Inc. unit cited the increased ...
Midwest's New CEO Puts Focus on Organic Growth.(Community Banking)(Midwest Banc Holdings Inc's Jay Fritz)
Feb 04, 2009; ... Byline: Robert Barba Midwest Banc Holdings Inc., which just a few months ago said it was on the prowl to buy ailing banks, is now concentrating on staying in the black. "Over the next six months, my focus is on eking out as much profit as possible," said Jay Fritz, ...
Release Fees Aid 2nd-Lien Sales.(Mortgages)
Feb 04, 2009; ... Byline: Paul Muolo, National Mortgage News Given the decimated housing market, one might think it would be nearly impossible to sell a delinquent second mortgage, but investors are still bidding on pools of them, hoping to profit on so-called release fees. These are ...
Debit Decline Could Crimp Visa, MasterCard Results.(Cards)
Feb 04, 2009; ... Byline: Maria Aspan The slowdown in consumer spending is depressing the growth of debit purchase volume, once an earnings stronghold for Visa Inc. and MasterCard Inc. The two companies, which are scheduled to report quarterly results this week, have already suffered ...
Treasury Capital Goes to 42 More Banks.(Market Monitor)(Brief article)
Feb 04, 2009; ... Byline: Cheyenne Hopkins The Treasury Department announced Tuesday that it had recently made an additional $1.15 billion of infusions for 42 banks through its Capital Purchase Program. The agency has so far made $195.33 billion in capital injections for 359 ...
Wainwright Profit Up; U.S. Capital Lent.(Market Monitor)(Wainwright Bank and Trust Co.)(Brief article)
Feb 04, 2009; ... Byline: Marissa Fajt Though its credit quality weakened, Wainwright Bank and Trust Co. in Boston said Tuesday that its fourth-quarter earnings improved 5% from a year earlier, to $1.2 million. Earnings per share went up a penny, to 15 cents. The $1.1 billion-asset ...
2 Pa. Mutuals Disclose a Merger Deal.(Market Monitor)(Northwest Bancorporation Inc.)(Keystone State Savings Bank )(Brief article)
Feb 04, 2009; ... Byline: Bonnie McGeer Northwest Bancorp Inc. in Warren, Pa., announced a deal to buy a small mutual thrift. The $7 billion-asset company said it intends to absorb the $26 million-asset Keystone State Savings Bank in Sharpsburg, Pa. Northwest has a mutual ...
Generating Fresh Capital From Inside.(Market Monitor)
Feb 04, 2009; ... Byline: Paul Davis With a compelling need for capital and the usual open-market routes to it in gridlock, a growing number of firms are turning to insiders for fresh funds. At least five banking companies have arranged securities sales to insiders or affiliated ...
Amex Takes a Stake in EMVCo.(Cards)(American Express Co.)
Feb 04, 2009; ... Byline: Steve Bills American Express Co. hopes to gain a larger role in shaping the direction of international card payments by taking a25% ownership position in the global standards body EMVCo LLC. The New York card company and the London organization announced ...
Fraud, Weak Performance Hampering Hedge Funds.(Wealth Management)
Feb 04, 2009; ... Byline: Steve Garmhausen Not long ago, clients of Hawthorne, the multifamily office unit of PNC Financial Services Group Inc., were demanding more hedge fund choices. Thathas all changedsince Dec. 11, when the financier Bernard Madoff was charged with perpetrating a ...
Accuity Buys U.K. Routing Registrar.(Technology)(CB.Net)
Feb 04, 2009; ... Byline: Will Wade The payment data provider Accuity, the longtime registrar of U.S. banks' routing numbers, has acquired CB.Net, a London company that provides a similar service to European banks. Hugh Jones, Accuity's president, said that consolidating the routing ...
4Q EARNINGS: PNC Details Lending Issues At Nat City, Plans Job Cuts.(National/Global)(PNC Financial Services Group Inc.)(National City Corp.)(Financial report)
Feb 04, 2009; ... Byline: Matthew Monks As the last big banking company to report results this earnings season, PNC Financial Services Group Inc.'s red ink was a fitting postscript. PNC, one of several in the industry that acquired ailing businesses at the end of last year, gave ...
SECURITY WATCH.(Technology)(case against Federal National Mortgage Association's Rajendrasinh Babubha Makwana)(investigation of Facebook Inc.)(Richard T. Howell Jr's case against Citigroup Inc.)
Feb 04, 2009; ... Byline: Daniel Wolfe Fannie Attack An engineer who once worked as a consultant for Fannie Mae has been accused of spending his final hours of employment setting an electronic time bomb that would have wiped out the governmentsponsored enterprise's systems had it not ...
VIEWPOINT: Secondary Market Can Help Revive SBA Loan Field.(Viewpoint essay)
Feb 04, 2009; ... Byline: Scott Taylor There are two new government programs in the queue that aim to revive the frozen secondary market for loans guaranteed by the Small Business Administration. The Term Asset-Backed SecuritiesLoan Facility would accept SBA pools as collateral ...
Citigroup Outlines Tarp Spending Plans.(Washington)(Brief article)
Feb 04, 2009; ... Byline: Emily Flitter Citigroup Inc. released an outline Tuesday of its plans to spend the $45 billion it has received from the Treasury Department's Troubled Asset Relief Program. The banking company described its intentions to spend $36.5 billion on mortgages, ...