Treasury exceeds bailout limits — The federal government’s generous $6 billion investment in car financier GMAC has tipped the $350 billion limit in the bailout program by $4.4 billion. But who’s counting? GMAC suddenly has announced lots of zero percent financing deals to move vehicles made by troubled General Motors. [Source: The Washington Post] Congress might accelerate...
Financial Services Industry Archive
December 2008
History will remember 2008 as the year Steve Jobs revolutionized personal finance. Well, maybe not quite. But the iPhone is so darned cool that it really could define a whole new philosophy of personal financial management for the 20-something generation. Driven by economic hard times and a loss of confidence in banks, millennials are already turning to social networking sites like Mint,...
Starting July 1, 2010, banks and other issuers of credit cards will have their wings clipped a bit by new Federal Reserve rules designed to protect consumers from predatory practices, such as not giving customers bills in a timely way so late fees can be added on. But who will monitor who is tracking all of this? One group is BillShrink, a firm based in Redwood City, Calf. that tracks...
As if banks aren’t already facing a credibility crisis in the eyes of the public, now comes word that the first banks receiving public bailout funds are keeping mum about how they plan to use the cash. While banks have launched public relations campaigns to reassure customers and placate investors about their stability, they get cagey mighty fast when pressed for details. In a recent report,...
Merry Christmas, GMAC! — The financial arm of General Motors, GMAC Financial, got a big present Christmas Eve when the Federal Reserve allowed it to become a bank holding company. Doing so lets GMAC apply for the $700 billion bailout program and perhaps avoid bankruptcy. [Source: The Associated Press] AIG Dumps $16 Billion in CDSs – With help from the Federal Reserve, American...
Trading murky derivatives known as Credit Default Swaps got a little closer to transparency when the Securities & Exchange Commission took steps to allow a major stock exchange and a British-owned firm to act as a clearinghouse. The SEC has granted an exemption to let NYSE Euronext, owner of the New York Stock Exchange, and its partner LCH.Clearnet Group Ltd., to clear CDSs. Meanwhile, two...
In a bleak holiday season marked by employee layoffs, runaway foreclosures, and an ongoing bank crisis, some financial services firms are putting a humorous spin into their advertising. The idea may be to engage with frustrated consumers by giving them a chuckle, but such a lighthearted approach will more likely irritate and risk a backlash. Trying to put the “fun” back in mutual funds can...
Maurice (Hank) Greenberg is a billionaire and hardly a populist rabble rouser. But on a CNBC interview this morning he joined a lot of other voices in challenging the Federal bailout of banks and insurers engineered by Treasury Secretary Henry (also Hank) Paulson. Greenberg is the former chief executive of American International Group and still its largest private shareholder. So he’s...
Regulator let troubled bank backdate records — Darrell Dochow, top West Coast official of The Office of Thrift Supervision, has ben reassigned following accusations that he let IndyMac Bancorp backdate records. Doing so let the mortgage lender appear to be healthy just before it was seized by the government. [Source: The Wall Street Journal] Bailout bucks? None of your business —...
Although wounded by its inept bumbling of the Bernard Madoff affair, the SEC charged ahead last week with a plan to control a big chunk of the $123 billion equity-indexed annuities industry, cutting insurance regulators out of the picture and giving big companies like AXA-Equitable a new sheriff. The SEC couched its approval of Rule 151A on Dec. 17 as an effort to keep seniors from being...
- Ex-Citigroup Chief John Reed Admits Deregulating Banks was a Mistake
- How to Motivate Your Employees While Cutting Their Pay
- AIG's Earnings: The 'Benmosche Bloom' Is Off the Rose
- Eugene Fama Drinks His Own Brand of Kool-Aid
- Analyst Says Bank Losses are Moderating
- World Bank Warning About New Bubble is Overblown
- How Not to Solve the Too Big to Fail Problem
- Regulators Face Pressure To Act After CIT Bankruptcy
- U.K. to Break Up Royal Bank of Scotland, Lloyds
- CRE Prices Tick up for First Time Since '07
- Unsexy U.S. Bancorp Knocks Investors and Customers Dead
- FBOP Shuttered, as U.S. Bancorp Swoops in
- Buffett Sells More Moody's Stake As Credit Ratings Agencies Face Revenue Growth Challenges
- As Fourth Quarter Gets Underway, Real-Life Stress Tests Begin
- While CIT Group Announces More "Restructuring," Bankruptcy Still Unclear
- As Income Mobility Falls, American Dream Fades
- Lawmakers Push Bill to Monitor Fed Lending Programs
- Roubini Warns of New Financial Crisis
- Ex-Wells Fargo Loan Officer Details Shady Practices
- Bank Overdraft Fees on the Rise
- Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase are too Late in Moving to Curb Overdraft Fees
- Civil Rights Group Teams With Wells Fargo Despite Charges of Predatory Lending
- As Loans Sour, Pace of Bank Failures Likely to Rise
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- As Income Mobility Falls, American Dream Fades
- Creative Destruction and the new Money Trust
- Ron Paul Wants to Shine More Light on the Fed
- Civil Rights Group Teams With Wells Fargo Despite Charges of Predatory Lending
- Geithner Deal With Wall Street Over AIG Swaps Cost Taxpayers $13 Billion
- A House Divided: Fractured Financial Regulation Threatens Reform
- Financial Reform Effort in Danger of Splintering
- FDIC Chief Sheila Bair to Treasury Brat Geithner: Nyah!
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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.