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Wis. Court Approves Ambac Settlement
Posted on May 25th, 2010 No commentsA Lafayette County, Wis., circuit court judge approved a deal in which 14 of the world’s largest banks will receive $2.6 billion in cash and $2 billion in debt as part of the restructuring of Ambac Assurance Corp. Ambac, a spinoff of MGIC Investment Corp. and an insurer of municipal bonds and bonds backed by subprime loans, owes the banks a total of $12.9 billion. Read the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel article.
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Banker Williams to Lead Milwaukee Museum
Posted on May 24th, 2010 No commentsThe Milwaukee Public Museum Board unanimously chose Jay B. Williams, chairman of PrivateBank-Milwaukee, to lead the museum beginning July 1. Williams may be a non-traditional choice for the role, but has had a 37-year career in banking, with deep community links to a wide range of organizations. Read more in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and the Business Journal of Milwaukee.
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Opinion: Feingold Right to Oppose Reform Bill
Posted on May 23rd, 2010 No commentsWisconsin’s U.S. Sen. Russ Feingold was right to vote against the financial reform bill in Congress, writes Capital Times editor John Nichols. “Feingold wanted real reform. And the American people should recognize that they are not getting it in the legislation the Senate passed,” he wrote in an opinion piece.
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Wis. Bankers Teach Children About Saving
Posted on May 23rd, 2010 No commentsNational Exchange Bank & Trust participated in the 14th Annual Teach Children to Save Day on April 27. Bank volunteers provided classroom presentations throughout East Central Wisconsin at several area elementary schools and reached hundreds of children. Read the Sheboygan Press article.
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Foreclosure Activists to Meet with German Bank
Posted on May 22nd, 2010 No commentsMembers of the citizen group Common Ground planned to go to Frankfurt, Germany, to speak at the Deutsche Bank shareholders meeting about the foreclosed properties the bank owns or holds in trust in southeastern Wisconsin and elsewhere. The organization has asked the banks to commit to invest money in revitalizing areas that have fallen into disrepair because of the foreclosure crisis, the Milwaukee State Journal reported.
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Coulee Bank Assumes Minn. Bank Assets
Posted on May 21st, 2010 No commentsCoulee Bank in La Crosse has taken over the deposits and assets of Pinehurst Bank, a $58 million bank in St. Paul, Minn., that opened six years ago. The Minnesota Department of Commerce closed the bank, making it the 73rd bank to fail in the United States this year. Read the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel article.
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Wisconsin Bank Performance Improving
Posted on May 21st, 2010 No commentsFifteen percent, or 42 of the 280 Wisconsin financial institutions insured by the FDIC reported net losses for the quarter that ended March 31. A third of Wisconsin banks and thrifts did not show a profit in the fourth quarter of 2009. Read more in the Wisconsin State Journal and the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
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Economist: Jobs Just ‘Stimulus Sugar High’
Posted on May 21st, 2010 No commentsWisconsin added over 16,000 jobs last month – the largest one-month increase since 1996. But Wells Fargo Bank economist Brian Jacobson of Milwaukee calls it a “stimulus sugar high,” since most of those non-permanent jobs were created with federal stimulus money, WTAQ reported.
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PNC Sells $500M in Debt Securities
Posted on May 21st, 2010 No commentsPNC Financial Services Group Inc.’s subsidiary PNC Funding Corp. completed the sale of $500 million in debt securities through a public offering. PNC said it will use the money for general corporate purposes, the Business Journal of Milwaukee reported.
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Chase Rolls Out New Mobile Banking Features
Posted on May 21st, 2010 No commentsJPMorgan Chase & Co. has rolled out two free mobile banking features to help customers manage their accounts. Customers can receive a low-balance alert via text message and transfer funds by sending a text-message reply, the Business Journal of Milwaukee reported.