Jan. 11 at 11:39 a.m.
Filed under:
Banking,
Retail
By Becky Yerak
Twenty-three Kmart stores in Illinois and three other markets are testing financial centers where shoppers can cash checks, pay bills, place money orders and transfer money.
“We’re looking at how to better utilize the real estate in our stores and to better serve our customers,” Kmart spokeswoman Shannelle Armstrong said.
Kmart’s pilot financial centers are staffed by company employees, she said. But Armstrong declined to comment on whether a bigger rollout is planned, or what the retailer has learned so far from its test. Get the full story »
By Becky Yerak
Urban Partnership Bank, the successor to failed ShoreBank, said Levoi Brown, 33, formerly an asset management director with General Electric Real Estate, has joined the South Side bank as the new director of commercial real estate.
Brown will be responsible for Urban’s commercial and multi-family real estate portfolio in Chicago, Cleveland, and Detroit. He reports to Urban Chief Executive William Farrow. Get the full story »
By Reuters
U.S. Trust, a private banking unit of Bank of America, continued last year’s hiring spree on Monday as it added five financial advisers in Chicago and Texas.
The New York-based unit added Lisa Adelstein as a private client adviser in Chicago as well as Jay Bartley and Elizabeth Elgie as advisers in Fort Worth, Texas. U.S. Trust also added adviser Jason Garcia in Dallas and Michael Rogala in Houston. Get the full story »
Jan. 10 at 1:38 p.m.
Filed under:
Banking
By Becky Yerak
Franklin Resources Inc., parent of Franklin Templeton Investments, is in talks to boost its stake in First Chicago Bancorp, which owns $1.08 billion-asset First Chicago Bank & Trust, to 19 percent, according to documents filed with the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco. Get the full story »
Jan. 7 at 12:43 p.m.
Filed under:
Banking,
Litigation,
Real estate
By Reuters
In a ruling that may affect foreclosures nationwide, Massachusetts’ highest court voided the seizure of two homes by Wells Fargo & Co. and US Bancorp after the banks failed to show they held the mortgages at the time they foreclosed.
Bank shares fell, dragging down the broader U.S. stock market, after the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts on Friday issued its decision, which upheld a lower court ruling. Get the full story »
Jan. 7 at 10:19 a.m.
Filed under:
Banking
By Reuters
Chicago-based Northern Trust Corp. has hired one of London’s most experienced operations professionals at a time of increasing focus by trading firms on their post-trade costs. Get the full story »
Jan. 4 at 5:37 p.m.
Filed under:
Banking
By Reuters
U.S. banking regulators have authorized lawsuits against 109 bank officials so far as they seek to recover at least $2.5 billion in losses connected to recent bank failures.
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp said on Tuesday the suits target bank directors and officers for “either gross or simple negligence.” It is seeking to recoup money for its deposit insurance fund, which backs customer accounts. Get the full story »
Jan. 4 at 11:14 a.m.
Filed under:
Bank failures,
Banking,
Bankruptcy
By Becky Yerak
In this photo from 2002, a Blockbuster sits across from the Corus Bank building at the intersection of Irving Park, Damen and Lincoln Ave. in Chicago's North Center neighborhood. (Handout)
The Chicago area was home to three of the nation’s 20 biggest bankruptcies in 2010, a roundup by BankruptcyData.com shows.
Measured by assets owned before filing for bankruptcy, Chicago-based Corus Bankshares Inc., owner of failed Corus Bank, ranked second, with $8.35 billion in pre-petition assets.
Ranked sixth was Rockford-based Amcore Financial Inc., with $3.8 billion in pre-petition assets. Get the full story »
Jan. 4 at 9:16 a.m.
Filed under:
Banking
By Becky Yerak
Chicago-based Northern Trust said Tuesday it has formalized a practice that provides financial services to the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community.
Over the years, Northern has supported various LGBT initiatives, including the building campaign for the Center on Halsted, a LGBT community center. It is a national sponsor of Lambda Legal, a national group focused on legal issues for LGBT people. Northern also began offering domestic partnership benefits to workers more than 13 years ago.
John McGowan has been named Northern’s national practice leader. He previously served as a senior relationship manager in Northern Trust’s wealth management group, which specializes on ultra high-net worth families and their family offices. Get the full story »
Jan. 3 at 1:28 p.m.
Filed under:
Banking,
Investing
From Bloomberg News | Chris Boas, Brad Kurtzman and Carl Mayer, senior executives at the investment banking unit of Chicago-based Citadel LLC, have left the firm. Get the full story>>
Jan. 3 at 11:15 a.m.
Filed under:
Banking,
Jobs/employment,
Layoffs
By Becky Yerak
Urban Partnership Bank, the successor to failed ShoreBank, is telling customers that on March 17 it will close its branches at 4659 S. Cottage Grove in the Kenwood neighborhood of Chicago and at 3401 S. King Drive in the Bronzeville area of the city.
“With current market conditions making expansion less expensive and real estate more available, we have decided to explore new retail branch locations to better serve our customers,” Urban Partnership said in a letter to customers obtained by the Chicago Tribune.
Urban Partnership said in the letter that it’s “actively seeking new locations” in Chicago and in Cleveland, where it is also closing a branch, “that will be accessible with the latest technologies” and more convenient. Get the full story »
Jan. 3 at 10:09 a.m.
Filed under:
Banking,
Real estate,
Updated
By Reuters
Bank of America said it agreed to pay Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac $2.8 billion to settle claims that it sold the mortgage finance companies bad home loans.
Bank of America shares climbed 4.5 percent in early trading Monday. Analysts said many investors had worried the bank would have to buy back billions of dollars of home loans it sold to investors at the height of the housing boom.
“This takes away a nice headline risk” for Bank of America, said Alan Villalon, a senior bank analyst at Chicago-based Nuveen Investments. Get the full story »
Dec. 30, 2010 at 6:10 a.m.
Filed under:
Banking
By Associated Press
The Vatican on Thursday created a financial watchdog agency and issued new laws to try to comply with international rules to fight money laundering and terrorist financing.
The decrees, which go into effect April 1, were passed as Vatican’s own bank remains implicated in a money-laundering investigation that resulted in $31 million being seized and its top two officials placed under investigation.
Dec. 29, 2010 at 11:21 a.m.
Filed under:
Banking
By Becky Yerak
(Heather Stone/Chicago Tribune)
Chase, Chicago’s biggest bank in terms of branches and deposit market share, is making it more expensive to stop payment on a check, do wire transfers and use a foreign ATM, among other things.
Chase is also telling its checking and savings customers that starting on Feb. 5, it’ll hike several other fees.
The bank recently instituted a minimum direct deposit threshold to maintain free checking if customers don’t meet certain other criteria. Get the full story »
Dec. 28, 2010 at 5:55 p.m.
Filed under:
Banking
By Becky Yerak
Chase, Chicago’s biggest bank, is telling customers who were charged no monthly service fees at Washington Mutual that they could face a $12 monthly service fee unless their accounts meet one of four conditions.
It’s one of several changes that Chase and other banks are making to their basic checking accounts in light of a federal crackdown on the types and amounts of fees that lenders can charge, including a dramatic reduction in fees that merchants pay banks when customers make purchases with their debit cards.
As previously reported, Chase recently disclosed that beginning Feb. 8, its “Chase Checking” customers will need at least one direct deposit of $500 a month for Chase to waive its $6 monthly service fee, or make at least five debit card purchases during the transaction period. Currently, a direct deposit of any amount qualifies. Get the full story »
