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The Obama administration invited banking executives Tuesday to offer advice on changing the government’s role in the mortgage market. Their response: stay big.
While the executives disagreed on the exact level of support needed, the group overwhelmingly advocated the government should maintain a large role propping up the nearly $11 trillion market.
The Federal Reserve said Monday that bank lending standards eased somewhat over the last three months while demand for business and consumer loans was largely unchanged.
In its quarterly Senior Loan Officer Survey, taken in July, the Fed found that tight lending conditions, which some economists have linked to the weak economic recovery, were starting to ease. Get the full story »
Barclays Bank Plc has agreed to pay nearly $300 million to settle criminal charges that it violated U.S. sanctions in dealings with Cuba, Iran, Libya, Sudan and Myanmar, according to U.S. court documents filed Monday.
The London-based bank was charged with violating the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and the Trading with the Enemy Act in its dealings that involved $500 million from 1995 until September 2006, according to the documents. Get the full story »
HSBC is in focus after the Telegraph reported on renewed speculation that the bank is preparing a $15 billion bid for Chicago-based Northern Trust. Sources said the UK bank asked Goldman Sachs to advise it on a possible $65-a-share offer.
Northern Trust Chief Investment Officer Bob Browne said in an interview with Steve Forbes that he’s still investing in high-yield bonds and anchoring investments with gold.
He said he’s surprised by people who have very strongly-held views about the direction of the market at this point in time. “We’re decisively neutral,” he said. “We think it can go either way and we’re placing a lot of value on liquidity and flexibility.”
U.S. regulators on Friday closed Palos Bank and Trust Company in Illinois, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp said, marking the 110th U.S. bank failure so far this year and the 14th in Illinois.
The FDIC said Palos Bank and Trust Company had $493.4 million in assets. First Midwest Bank of Itasca, Illinois, will assume the deposits of the failed institution. Get the full story »
CME Group Inc., the world’s largest futures market, was downgraded by Goldman Sachs Group because of slowing volume and longer-than-anticipated effects of financial reform.
Jeffrey Gonsiewski fancied himself sort of a modern-day Robin Hood at a time when consumers were becoming increasingly delinquent on their bank loans.
The former vice president at First Security Trust & Savings Bank — an Elmwood Park-based lender that’s part of the Wirtz family conglomerate — pleaded guilty on Wednesday to one count of federal bank fraud.
Jeffrey Gonsiewski, who was charged last month, admitted that he changed the terms of at least 100 loans for more than 50 customers to make it appear that their payments were current when in fact they were overdue. Get the full story »
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. has told ShoreBank that it has begun the process in which it ultimately seeks bidders for the undercapitalized bank, according to a report Tuesday afternoon from Fox Business.
Brian Berg, a ShoreBank spokesman, would neither confirm nor deny the report that the bank’s days as an independent institution are numbered. The bank continues to try to look at options to raise capital to stave off seizure by regulators. Get the full story »
Capital One and Bank of America are the most up-front about the interest rates, fees and rewards on their credit cards, according to a new study by credit card research Web site Cardhub.com.
Sure, most card applications spell out all the terms in the fine print, but most consumers lack the patience to read the tiny disclosures.
Capital One and Bank of America ranked highest among 10 issuers in clarity on their applications, with scores of 96.4 percent and 95 percent, respectively. Get the full story »
Federal Reserve policymakers are pondering ways to jump-start the economic recovery. The trick: making sure whatever they do or say doesn’t rattle Wall Street.
U.S. stocks closed higher Monday as investors anticipated reassuring words or action Tuesday by Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke and his colleagues on the Federal Open Market Committee. Asian shares were mixed in early trade Tuesday.
Citigroup Inc. expects to issue $3 billion to $6 billion more in long-term debt this year than it previously estimated.
In a regulatory filing, the bank said it now expects to sell approximately $18 billion to $21 billion in long-term debt this year ”to maintain and solidify its structural liquidity” and to extend the length of time it has to pay down debt supporting its businesses. Get the full story »
U.S. regulators closed Ravenswood Bank of Chicago, bringing the 2010 total of failed banks to 109.
The Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation closed the bank, which had $269.5 million in total deposits, $211 million in loans and two branches. Northbrook Bank and Trust Co., based in Northbrook, Ill., and a unit of Wintrust Financial Corp., agreed to acquire $190 million of assets and $120 million of deposits, according to Wintrust and the FDIC.
The FDIC said the failure is expected to cost the agency’s deposit-insurance fund about $68.1 million.
The independent examiner appointed to review claims and assets in Washington Mutual’s bankruptcy case is seeking subpoena power.
The examiner made the request Friday in filing his proposed work plan in Delaware bankruptcy court. A hearing on his plan will be held Tuesday. Get the full story »
Hedge funds posted small gains in July but lagged the broader market because many managers played it safe after market tumult in May and June took a bite out of their portfolios, according to data released Friday.
The average hedge fund gained 1.9 percent in July after losing 1.35 percent in June and falling 3.01 percent in May, consultants at Hennessee Group found. Get the full story »
