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‘A Better Way to Fix the Banks’
Posted on February 28th, 2009 No commentsU.S. banks may currently hold as much as $2 trillion of impaired assets. “Given the likely depth and duration of the recession, the losses on them could eventually exceed $1 trillion — on top of the $500 billion in losses already realized. Whatever the precise tally, the final reckoning is certain to be larger than many U.S. banks can absorb out of common equity and from their earnings,” writes The McKinsey Quarterly.
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Action Taken Against Minn. Banks
Posted on February 27th, 2009 No commentsTwo more Minnesota community banks, Horizon Bank of Pine City and Paragon Bank of Wells, were ordered by federal regulators to clean up their lending practices and stop making risky loans. In all, five of the state’s community banks have received cease-and-desist orders since last September, the Minneapolis Star-Tribune reported.
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AnchorBank’s Future Uncertain
Posted on February 26th, 2009 No commentsAnchorBank’s future is “a question on the minds of customers, employees, shareholders and national observers as Madison’s largest financial institution continues to struggle,” writes Mike Ivey in The Capital Times. “It’s unfortunate when bad things happen to good people, and I really believe the folks at Anchor are good people,” says Terry Burrington, president of Financial Marketing Corp. of Palmyra. “But who could have predicted the bottom falling out of the economy?”
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Survey: Lenders Expect Increase
Posted on February 24th, 2009 No commentsSlightly more than half of commercial real estate lenders expect loan production to go up this year, according to a survey by real estate services company Jones Lang LaSalle Inc. Respondents included life insurance companies, dealers of commercial mortgage-backed securities, private lenders, commercial banks and government agencies, according to the Business Journal of Milwaukee.
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Company Fined Over Brokerage Fees
Posted on February 24th, 2009 No commentsThe Financial Industry Regulatory Authority has fined Milwaukee-based Robert W. Baird & Co. $500,000 for supervisory violations relating to its fee-based brokerage business. FINRA also ordered Baird to return $434,510 in fees, plus interest, to 154 customers, according to the Small Business Times.
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Web Site Focuses on Stimulus Plan
Posted on February 24th, 2009 No commentsU.S. Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wis.) recently unveiled a web site dedicated to informing Wisconsin communities, residents and businesses about the details of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The web site, http://feingold.senate.gov/recovery, includes information on how Wisconsin will benefit from the bill, the Small Business Times reported.
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Group Calls for TARP Transparency
Posted on February 24th, 2009 No commentsWarning that “gaps in transparency and accountability” contributed to the current economic crisis, the Center for Political Accountability has called on 19 financial companies – including Milwaukee-based Marshall & Ilsley Corp. – that received more than $1 billion under the U.S. Treasury Department’s Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) to disclose and require board oversight of their political spending with corporate funds. Read the Small Business Times article.
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Park Bank OK’d for TARP Funds
Posted on February 24th, 2009 No commentsPark Bank of Madison has been approved for the sale of about $20 million in preferred stock to the U.S. Treasury Department through the Capital Purchase Program. The bank will use the money to support three local development projects, according to the Wisconsin State Journal.
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Layoffs Are Imminent
Posted on February 23rd, 2009 No commentsWhile layoffs at the big banks are grabbing national headlines, community banks and credit unions are beginning to reach the same conclusion that they need to cut staff to remain profitable. But “cutting 20 percent of the workforce at a smaller institution can mean firing five key people the institution simply cannot afford to lose.” Read more at GonzoBanker.com.
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M&I Rating Downgraded
Posted on February 23rd, 2009 No commentsMoody’s Investors Service has lowered its financial-strength rating ratings on Marshall & Ilsley Corp. and its subsidiaries to C+ from B, and dropped the company’s rating for senior debt from A3 to A1. At the same time, share prices rose nearly 5 percent, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported.