“You have got be kidding.” That’s House Financial Services Committee communications director Steve Adamske’s blunt assessment of a story today by National Journal correspondent John Maggs on the Obama Administration’s financial reform plan (subscription required). In a statement, the congressional panel accuses Maggs of multiple errors and misrepresentations in the...
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Goldman Sachs’s employee compensation policy stipulates that “employees should think and act like long-term shareholders.” Which is why we can expect the investment bank’s workers to give themselves a nice, fat pay cut. After all, that’s what some of the company’s big shareholders seem to want, according to the WSJ, presumably in hopes of giving themselves a...
It was damn good theater. The Republican members of Congress’s Joint Finance Committee had U.S. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner on the carpet and were trying to pull the rug out from under him. They blamed him for the American International Group bailout, for giving away too much to AIG’s bank creditors after the bailout, for the state of the economy, for everything in fact but the...
With ultra-low-to-non-existent interest rates in the western world, banks are experiencing something of a borrowing ball. As a result, one European politician is becoming concerned about the reliance of financial institutions on cheap debt. “Emergency treatment and strong medicines are sometimes necessary. But, if their use is prolonged, they can lead to dependence and even addiction...
With Goldman Sachs (GS) and Warren Buffett sponsoring a $500 million loan package for small businesses in the wake of this year’s largest bankruptcy, that of small- and medium-sized business lender CIT Group, lending to the nation’s little organizations has never been a hotter topic than it is now. With this in mind, I spoke with Dan Drechsel, chief executive of Atlanta-based...
Growing numbers of Americans are falling behind on their home loans, a bad sign for the housing sector, banks and the broader U.S. economy. As of the end of September, a record 14.4 percent of people with mortgages were in foreclosure or at least one payment past due, according to a new survey by the Mortgage Bankers Association. Rising foreclosures hurts home prices, which in turn flips more...
The most recent Consumer Price Index makes a compelling case for the fact that state regulators may not be keeping up with car insurance rates, especially at a time when many Americans are least able to pay their bills. Earlier this week the U.S. Department of Labor released figures showing that while the CPI, which measures the cost of much of what we buy and use, declined by 0.2 percent...
If the giants of U.S finance are too big to fail, then many of its investors appear too dumb to succeed. The most striking thing in the WSJ piece this morning about hedge fund manager Ken Griffin’s struggles raising money for his Citadel Investment Group is the impression it gives of investors peeved at the firm’s audacity to lose money during the financial crisis (subscription...
Legislation that would let Congress dismantle financial companies deemed “too big to fail” cleared an important hurdle today when it was passed by the House Financial Services Committee. “I remember the dire situation we faced last fall, and we want to do everything we can to avoid such a situation in the future,” said Sen. Paul Kanjorski, D-Pa., sponsor of the measure, in a...
Billion-dollar scam artist Bernie Madoff wasn’t big on insurance. But when he did buy it, he was “smooth as silk,” says his insurance broker. In this tell-all era, everyone from former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin to lover-and-leaver of a vice presidential candidate’s daughter Levi Johnston is coming forward to bare his or her soul, so why not Bernie...
- As Income Mobility Falls, American Dream Fades
- Lawmakers Push Bill to Monitor Fed Lending Programs
- Eugene Fama Drinks His Own Brand of Kool-Aid
- Roubini Warns of New Financial Crisis
- Civil Rights Group Teams With Wells Fargo Despite Charges of Predatory Lending
- Ex-Wells Fargo Loan Officer Details Shady Practices
- Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase are too Late in Moving to Curb Overdraft Fees
- Losses From Bank Failures Expected to Reach $100 Million
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- As Income Mobility Falls, American Dream Fades
- Creative Destruction and the new Money Trust
- Geithner Deal With Wall Street Over AIG Swaps Cost Taxpayers $13 Billion
- Civil Rights Group Teams With Wells Fargo Despite Charges of Predatory Lending
- Financial Reform Effort in Danger of Splintering
- Senator Dodd Is Saving Lenders From Themselves
- Citigroup Hit With Huge Credit Loss
- Private Equity Firms About To Gear Up The Small Banking Sector
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The financial industry meltdown has been the worst since the great depression. BNET Financial provides daily industry trends and news coverage with insights for managers and executives about the major financial services companies in the banking and finance sector. In addition to detailed company profiles, we bring you industry analysis on new mergers, partnerships, financial products, rates, investments, capital, and a host of other critical factors of success in the finance business.