Implode-Explode Heavy Industries news feed

Imploded:United Commercial Bank, San Francisco, California

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 08:05:23 GMT

United Commercial Bank, San Francisco, California, becomes FDIC deadbeat number 120 of 2009 as the agency closed the zombie bank at an estimated cost of $1.4 billion o the Deposit Insurance Fund (DIF).Read our full coverage here.

Imploded: Gateway Bank of St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri,

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 08:03:33 GMT

Gateway Bank of St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri comes in at number 119 on the FDIC beat down parade of 2009. Read our full coverage here.

Imploded: Prosperan Bank, Oakdale, Minnesota

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 08:01:18 GMT

Prosperan Bank, Oakdale, Minnesota comes in at number 118 on the FDIC beat down parade of 2009. Read our full coverage here.

Imploded: Home Federal Savings Bank, Detroit, Michigan

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 23:43:58 GMT

Home Federal Savings Bank, Detroit, Michigan, becomes the FDIC’s 117th victim of 2009. Read our full coverage here.

Imploded: United Security Bank, Sparta, GA

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 23:26:31 GMT

United Security Bank, Sparta, GA became the 116th FDIC bank to Implode this year. Read our full coverage here.

PennyMac Falls After Surprise Loss on Slow Deployment of Assets

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 22:24:35 GMT

"PennyMac posted a net loss of $730,000, or 4 cents a share, for its initial two months of business ended Sept. 30, the Calabasas, California-based company said yesterday in a statement after the close of regular trading. Credit Suisse Group analyst Douglas Harter had forecast profit of 10 cents a share, according to a research note today."

THE INFLUENCE GAME: Business aided by jobless bill

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 21:58:13 GMT

" Emergency help for the jobless will be a huge windfall for Realtors, homebuilders, mortgage bankers and others, and that's no accident. Those industries have spent months and millions of dollars making the case for $20 billion in tax cuts for homebuyers and businesses to help create jobs and revive a sluggish housing market. Their lobbying campaign paid off Thursday when Congress voted to pass the tax breaks as part of a broader extension of unemployment benefits. President Barack Obama signed the bill into law Friday."

US split: Collapse of 'shattered union' to begin with Texas?

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 18:03:46 GMT

" Russian economist and academic Igor Panarin says that there is a strong possibility that the United States will break into six pieces by June 2010, which he says will be the result of a second economic crisis in late November. After Texas Governor Rick Perry mentioned the possibility of his state seceding from the union, Americans started to take Panarin's predictions much more seriously and now the video game 'Shattered Union' is being developed into a major Hollywood motion picture."

The wildly optimistic view of Treasury’s handling of the crisis

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 17:30:31 GMT

" The overall gist of the strategy was that Treasury wanted to identify the weak, give them time to grow stronger, and, in so doing, allow the panic phase to subside so that corrective action could be taken in a more normal economic environment. Wasn’t the plan wildly successful? Blogger Accrued Interest thinks so."

JPMorgan Said to Detect Kiener Scam That Stung Banks

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 17:27:09 GMT

" - JPMorgan Chase & Co. found an unsettling fact buried in the books of newly acquired Bear Stearns Cos. last year: The brokerage had loaned millions of dollars to a German money manager for bets on hedge funds no one had ever heard of."

Fannie - When Does The CHARADE Stop?

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 16:02:27 GMT

``This is an organization that is going to die on it's present course. Only extraordinary intervention has kept it from happening thus far, but that intervention has imposed a bone-crushing liability in the form of dividend payments - a liability that will only increase as the line is further drawn down.'' -- Also points out that the Fed's MBS buying is illegal.

Countrywide Ex-CEO Mozilo to Face SEC Charges in Court

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 15:36:49 GMT

" A federal judge ruled that former Countrywide CEO Angelo Mozilo must face allegations of securities fraud and insider trading in court, saying that the quality of loans that the mortgage lender was making would be of material interest to investors."

Banks Thwarting Feinberg Pay Model by Changing Bonus Formulas

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 15:32:31 GMT

" Global leaders and regulators trying to rein in banker pay are proposing everything from clamping down on guaranteed bonuses to recouping compensation from prior years if losses mount. Largely unaddressed is the topic that stirs the most public ire: How much money is too much?"

Lehman’s U.K. Administrator’s Can’t Distribute Assets

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 15:29:50 GMT

" PricewaterhouseCoopers, the administrators of Lehman Brothers International Europe, had sought to speed up the process of returning money to some creditors through the so- called scheme of arrangement. A London judge ruled in August that the court didn’t have jurisdiction to force dissenting creditors to accept the trust asset-distribution plan, and the administrators appealed."

Moynihan Said to Testify in House BofA-Merrill Probe

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 15:27:48 GMT

"Brian Moynihan, a contender to succeed Bank of America Corp. Chief Executive Officer Kenneth D. Lewis, agreed to testify before Congress about his role in the Merrill Lynch & Co. takeover, people familiar with the matter said."

RBS Posts Quarterly Loss on $5.5 Billion Provisions

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 15:25:25 GMT

" - Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc, Britain’s biggest government-controlled bank, had a third- quarter loss after 3.3 billion pounds ($5.5 billion) of provisions for bad loans and credit-market writedowns."

AIG Plunges as Sales Decline at Property-Casualty, Life Units

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 15:22:51 GMT

Third quarter property-casualty premiums dropped 13 percent, and life insurance sales plunged 16 percent, New York-based AIG said today in a statement. Net income of $455 million compares with a net loss of $24.5 billion a year earlier on fewer writedowns.
“Even with the profit, AIG’s still a sick company,” said Robert Haines, an analyst at CreditSights Inc. in New York. “The trends of the underlying business units are ultimately more important to the company than a positive quarterly figure.”

Nomura, Barclays Lure Bankers as Rivals Cut Jobs, Cap Bonuses

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 15:19:02 GMT

" Barclays Plc and Nomura Holdings Inc., which never ranked among the top 10 merger advisers worldwide in the past decade, are luring hundreds of bankers as competitors cut jobs and cap bonuses under government pressure."

Flu shots for Wall Street stirs ire in New York

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 15:15:36 GMT

New York City health officials scrambled to explain themselves on Thursday in the wake of media reports about bankers who got scarce H1N1 flu vaccines through their employers.
Members of Congress fired off letters demanding immediate explanations and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reminded state and city health officers of the need to make sure the most vulnerable people get shots first.

Unemployment in U.S. Jumps to 10.2%, Payrolls Fall

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 15:00:27 GMT

" The unemployment rate in the U.S. soared to a 26-year high of 10.2 percent in October and employers cut more jobs than forecast, underscoring why Federal Reserve policy makers say interest rates will remain near zero."