Archive for the ‘Bank Real Estate’ Category
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
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
Bank, Credit Union Are First Failures of 2010
By ROBIN SIDEL WSJ
Regulators seized a small bank and a tiny credit union, the first two failures in a year that is expected to bring the collapse of many more financial institutions reeling from the economic downturn and other woes.
Posted in Bank Real Estate
Small Banks Say a Cure Hurts
By LESLIE SCISM And MAURICE TAMMAN WSJ
Regulators are requiring many small banks to set aside extra capital because of an unusual mortgage-bond shopping spree that began as housing-market trouble was brewing.
Posted in Bank Real Estate
Buyers Take a Pass on Some Failed Banks
By MATTHIAS RIEKER WSJ
People’s United Financial Inc. wanted to buy failed banks on the cheap. Instead, it struck a deal to buy a healthy equipment-leasing company.
Lending Declines as Bank Jitters Persist
By DAMIAN PALETTA WSJ
U.S. lenders saw loans fall by the largest amount since the government began tracking such data, suggesting that nervousness among banks continues to hamper economic recovery
Banks Hasten to Adopt New Loan Rules
By LINGLING WEI and PETER GRANT
Banks are moving quickly to restructure commercial mortgages under new U.S. guidelines that are more forgiving of battered property values and can help banks avoid bigger losses.
Looming Crisis: CMBS Defaults Pit Banks Against Each Other in Senior, Junior Fights
One of the most complex issues of the financial crisis is only now beginning to emerge: The zero-sum result in reconciling the interests of different classes of bondholders when loans underlying commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS) go into default.
Posted in Bank Real Estate
Appraisals, CRE Remain Focus of Examiners; New Guidelines Demand Strict Documentation
If you don’t have “robust appraisal practices” in place, start getting them ready. Regulators are finalizing new interagency guidelines to “reinforce the importance of sound appraisal practices,” a Fed official revealed last week. The guidelines, coupled with the recently-released commercial real estate loan workout policy, are another sign that examiners want banks to scrutinize their CRE exposure.
Banks Get New Rules on Property
By LINGLING WEI WSJ
Federal bank regulators issued guidelines allowing banks to keep loans on their books as “performing” even if the value of the underlying properties have fallen below the loan amount.