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Citi to Replace Cards Following Breach
Posted on February 20th, 2009 No commentsCitigroup Inc. has started sending replacement credit cards to its customers, apparently in response to a massive security breach at a payment processing company, according to a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel news brief. Heartland Payments Systems Inc. revealed Jan. 20 that its system used to process Visa, MasterCard, American Express and Discover Card transactions was breached late last year. The Princeton, N.J., company said the breach did not involve merchant data, cardholders’ Social Security numbers, unencrypted personal identification numbers, addresses or telephone numbers.
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Obama Mortgage Plan Detailed
Posted on February 18th, 2009 No commentsUnder a new plan announced by President Obama’s administration, as many as 5 million homeowners with loans owned or guaranteed by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac may be able refinance their mortgages through those institutions. An additional 3 million to 4 million homeowners will be able to avoid foreclosure through a new $75 billion Homeowner Stability Initiative. Read more in The Business Journal of Milwaukee.
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U.S. Bank CEO Rips TARP
Posted on February 17th, 2009 No commentsSpeaking to an audience of 300 business people in Minneapolis, U.S. Bancorp Chief Executive Richard Davis said the U.S. Treasury’s Troubled Asset Relief Program was well intended but has turned out to be “lousy,” the St. Paul Pioneer Press reported. U.S. Bancorp received $6.6 billion. Read the article.
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Turnaround Practice Launched
Posted on February 17th, 2009 No commentsAnderson Roethle Inc., a Milwaukee-based mergers and acquisitions and valuations firm, has launched a consulting practice based on crisis and turnaround consulting. The new division was launched both because of current economic conditions and requests from contacts in the financial services sector, said company President Stanley Johnson in the Small Business Times.
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Online Banking Usage Up
Posted on February 17th, 2009 No commentsU.S. consumers are paying more attention to their finances and using online banking services more frequently during the current global financial crisis, according to a newly commissioned study conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of Fiserv, a Brookfield-based provider of information technology services to the financial industry. Read the Small Business Times article.
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More Banks Halt Foreclosures
Posted on February 17th, 2009 No commentsPNC Financial Services Group Inc., the parent of National City Bank, has placed a moratorium on new and pending mortgage foreclosures on mortgage loans owned and serviced by PNC and National City Mortgage. PNC joins large banks such as Wells Fargo, Chase and Bank of America, which also recently announced moratoriums on mortgage loans, The Business Journal of Milwaukee reported.
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CEOs Oppose Stimulus Plan
Posted on February 16th, 2009 No commentsThe Nicolet National Bank Business Pulse survey of 160 CEOs, conducted between Jan. 27 and Feb. 3, found that 57 percent were opposed to the government’s economic stimulus plan, 23 percent favored it and 20 percent weren’t sure. Opposition to the plan was highest – about 83 percent – among those who said they were very familiar with the plan, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
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Milwaukee CUs Not Merging
Posted on February 13th, 2009 No commentsCiting the economic climate, the Milwaukee area’s third- and fourth-largest credit unions – Guardian Credit Union and Prime Financial Credit Union – have called off their merger, The Business Journal of Milwaukee reported.
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Card Issuers Examine Accounts
Posted on February 12th, 2009 No commentsSome financial institutions in Wisconsin are reissuing credit and debit cards or internally monitoring card accounts following a security breach disclosed Jan. 20 by Heartland Payment Systems of Princeton, N.J. Heartland processes million transactions a month for Visa, Mastercard, American Express and about 100 Express and Discover cards used at 250,000 merchants nationwide. Read the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel article.
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Home Prices Fall 3.7% in 2008
Posted on February 12th, 2009 No commentsHome prices in Wisconsin fell 3.7 percent last year, compared to a 9.5 percent decline nationally, according to the Wisconsin Realtors Association. However, the volume of home sales in the state fell 19.1 percent in 2008, worse than the national decline of 13.1 percent, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported.