U.S. Bank Failures in 2010 Rise to 20
By DAMIAN PALETTA WSJ
WASHINGTON—Regulators shuttered four banks Friday, from Florida to California, as local banks continue to buckle across the country.
Twenty banks have toppled so far in 2010 and 185 have failed since January 2008, with regulators expecting to close dozens more by the end of this year. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. estimated the four failures Friday cost its deposit insurance fund more than $1 billion.
Big Problem for Small Banks: Trust-Preferreds
By ROBIN SIDEL WSJ
A popular financial instrument that helped fuel the lending boom at many small U.S. banks now is deepening their misery, increasing the possibility that some of the weakest banks could fail.
TARP Panel: Small Banks Are Facing Loan Woes
By CARRICK MOLLENKAMP And MAURICE TAMMAN WSJ
Nearly 3,000 small U.S. banks could be forced to dramatically curtail their lending because of losses on commercial real-estate loans, a congressional inquiry concluded.
Mortgage Bankers Association Sells Headquarters at Big Loss
By JAMES R. HAGERTY WSJ
Like millions of American households, the Mortgage Bankers Association found itself stuck with real estate whose market value has plunged far below the amount it owed its lenders.
But the trade group for mortgage lenders is refusing to say exactly how it extracted itself from that predicament.
Posted in Bank Real Estate
Six More Banks Shut By Federal Regulators
By MICHAEL R. CRITTENDEN WSJ
U.S. regulators closed at least six more banks on Friday, including two in Georgia, as the fallout from the financial crisis continued to be felt by smaller financial institutions across the country.
Banks See Ways Past Pay Limits
By DAVID ENRICH, SARA SCHAEFER MUñOZ and AARON LUCCHETTI WSJ
Despite their tough talk about clamping down on pay, banks and securities firms are using other financial perks to ease the toll on employees.
Posted in Banking News
Five Banks Fail; Year’s Total at 9
By DAN FITZPATRICK WSJ
Regulators seized five banks in Florida, Missouri, New Mexico, Oregon and Washington, lifting the total number of failures this year to nine as financial institutions struggle with loan defaults and a weak economy.
New Bank Rules Sink Stocks
WASHINGTON—President Barack Obama proposed new limits on the size and activities of the nation’s largest banks, pushing a more muscular approach toward regulation that yanked down bank stocks and raised the stakes in his campaign to show he’s tough on Wall Street.
Posted in Bank Real Estate
Proposal Set to Curb Bank Giants
By DAMIAN PALETTA and JONATHAN WEISMAN WSJ
WASHINGTON—President Barack Obama on Thursday is expected to propose new limits on the size and risk taken by the country’s biggest banks, marking the administration’s latest assault on Wall Street in what could mark a return, at least in spirit, to some of the curbs on finance put in place during the Great Depression, according to congressional sources and administration officials.
Posted in Banking News