bank

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Risk Aversion Keeps Loans Shrinking

Trend suggests economy has a long way to go

(Newser) - Lending is still on the downswing, the Wall Street Journal finds, as an analysis of 15 banks' total loans on offer in the second quarter shows another 2.8% decline. What's worse, more than half of April and May’s loan volume was tied to refinanced mortgages and renewed credit...

Feds, Swiss Call Timeout in US Tax Evasion Case

(Newser) - Aiming to avoid an ugly international dispute, the US government, Switzerland, and a Swiss bank are seeking to delay a hearing over private bank accounts, the Wall Street Journal reports. The respite would give government officials and UBS until August to strike a deal over data on some 52,000...

'Hot Money' Prompts Small Bank Collapses

Deposits from brokers, used to ignite growth, fueled risky loans

(Newser) - A boom-time reliance on something known as "hot money" to boost growth has left many of America's small and regional banks with their fingers badly burnt, the New York Times reports. Brokers provided billions in deposits to ambitious banks seeking to grow fast, but the high interest rates needed...

Inouye Pulled Strings to Get Hawaii Bank Bailout Cash
Inouye Pulled Strings to Get Hawaii Bank Bailout Cash
investigation
Jul 1, 2009 8:18 AM CDT

Inouye Pulled Strings to Get Hawaii Bank Bailout Cash

Inouye owned shares in institution

(Newser) - A Hawaii bank got a federal bailout weeks after Sen. Daniel Inouye’s office called federal officials to check on the bank’s funding application, ProPublica and the Washington Post report. The bailout money was intended to support healthy banks, but the FDIC had decided Central Pacific Financial didn’t...

Goldman Readies Record Bonuses

Recession doesn't curb bank's bounty

(Newser) - A wildly successful first half is pointing to the best year ever for Goldman Sachs, and that means record staff bonuses in the midst of the recession, the Guardian reports. Revenues have soared at the bank, which now has little competition; it promised in April that half of its nearly...

Bailed-Out Bank Execs Fly Corporate Jets to Resorts

Citi, BoA, Morgan Stanley CEOs jetted off after cash infusions

(Newser) - Executives at bailed-out banks are still using company jets to fly to vacation homes and resorts, the Wall Street Journal reports. The newspaper reviewed FAA records to find that banks receiving federal aid have flown top execs to locales such as the Caribbean, Aspen, and Europe. Case in point: Less...

Report Seeks More Bank Stress Tests

First round may have underestimated unemployment

(Newser) - The US should run a second round of bank stress tests if it turns out the government was overly optimistic about the economy in the first round, says a report to be presented to Congress today. The Congressional Oversight Panel, which monitors the bailout, applauded the tests thus far, but...

Bank Pays Workers to Take 5-Year Vacation

Employees should go pursue 'personal projects,' bosses say

(Newser) - Spain's second-largest bank is taking the creative route to cost-cutting—offering its workers 5 years' paid vacation. Staff at BBVA who want to take time off to focus on "personal or professional projects" can receive 30% salary plus benefits, in addition to a guaranteed job when they return. The...

Citigroup Halts Payouts to Former Execs

Promised severance packages curtailed to avoid public anger

(Newser) - Citigroup has told several of its top former executives that it will not pay out millions in promised severance pay, reports the Wall Street Journal. The bank has already forked out more than half of the $100 million it had pledged to five or so senior employees, but it is...

Flush Mafia Invests Big in Recession Italy

It's buying up struggling companies

(Newser) - As banks spurn borrowers, Italian mafiosi are lending out their cash stockpiles to profit from the global recession, Bloomberg reports. Long invested in cash-intensive businesses like food distribution, the mafia is using its liquidity to take control of other legitimate businesses—and as a bonus, the three main mob outfits...

'Accidental Millionaires' May Have Fled NZ for China

Had asked for $6K overdraft; got $6M instead

(Newser) - A New Zealand couple on the lam after they became accidental millionaires may be in China, and an investigator has been dispatched to look for the fugitives, the Rotorua Review reports. Interpol is also on the case. Of the $3.6 million originally transferred into a gas station's account because...

Banks Raised $56B Since Tests: Geithner

Stress assessments boost confidence, have helped markets heal

(Newser) - Government stress tests boosted confidence in the nation’s biggest banks and helped them raise $56 billion in needed capital, Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner told Congress today. His remarks were met by bipartisan skepticism, with members noting that smaller institutions still face severe challenges, the Wall Street Journal reports. “...

BofA Raises $13.5B With Share Sale
BofA Raises $13.5B
With Share Sale
May 20, 2009 4:55 AM CDT

BofA Raises $13.5B With Share Sale

Bank takes big stride towards meeting 'stress test' condition

(Newser) - Bank of America has sold shares to fill $13.5 billion of the $34 billion capital hole the Fed's "stress test" uncovered in the bank's balance sheet, Marketwatch reports. The bank—taking advantage of a 40% jump in its share price over the last month—issued 1.25 billion...

Banks Use Worker Life Insurance to Pay Exec Bonuses

Dead employees keep on giving

(Newser) - Former employees of the big banks often end up handing the bosses a final reward when the workers die, the Wall Street Journal reports. The banks have taken out life insurance policies on hundreds of thousands of workers, and the tax-free death benefits are used to finance executive compensation and...

Branson's Next Launch: Virgin Internet Bank

Exploiting the public's discontent with banks, Virgin could bid for Northern Rock

(Newser) - Capitalizing on public disgust with Britain’s big banks, Richard Branson plans to launch an Internet bank through subsidiary Virgin Money that will take deposits and offer mortgages, the Guardian reports. Branson is talking to investors and some US banks about financial backing and could set in motion more ambitious...

Guatemalan Jailed for Tweeting Dissent

(Newser) - Guatemalan authorities have arrested an IT worker who urged others on Twitter to withdraw their money from a state-run bank at the center of a murder controversy, the Guardian reports. “First concrete action should be (to) remove cash from Banrural and bankrupt the bank of the corrupt,” read...

Some Bank Bosses Face Axe: FDIC Chief

After feds' stress tests comes 'evaluation process,' Bair says

(Newser) - An “evaluation process” following banks’ stress tests will lead to the sacking of some execs, Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. chair Sheila Bair tells Bloomberg. “Management needs to be evaluated,” she noted. “Have they been doing a good job? Are there people who can do a better...

Stocks Hit Sales Record in Recovery Harbinger

(Newser) - May has already been the busiest month ever in new share offers from publicly traded companies, the Wall Street Journal reports. The $54.9 billion in sales this year put the market at a level of activity not seen since 2000. “It’s an indication that the healing process...

Bernanke: Risks Remain Despite Stress Tests

But Fed chief is encouraged by bank response

(Newser) - Big banks' response to "stress tests" has been encouraging but they will need to watch out for risks not covered by the tests, Ben Bernanke warned regulators yesterday. The Fed chief—signaling that investment giants like Goldman Sachs can expect tighter scrutiny—said banks should self-test for potentially disastrous...

Bank Wrangling Softened Stress Test Results

Fed massaged some figures to portray banks as healthy

(Newser) - Some major banks managed to cajole the government into using more optimistic figures in its "stress test" results, insiders tell the Washington Post.  Banks like Citigroup—eager to show they were healthy and didn't need more help from the government—were given credit for pending moves to raise...

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