Japan is looking less and less like its former self by the day. In fact, the country appears as if it is deliberately switching strategies for handling its economy, which is the world’s second largest, in recent months. While the domestic currency, the yen, has been on the climb vs. the dollar, Japanese Finance Minister Kaoru Yosano said today that his government would not intervene to...
Financial Services Industry Archive
May 2009
This morning’s announcement by embattled American International Group (AIG) CEO Ed Liddy that he’s leaving his $1 a year job is no surprise to those who’ve seen him get mauled by Congress. His likely successor, Paula Rosput Reynolds, shouldn’t be a big surprise either. AIG’s board, which will have more than half new fresh faces by the time the decision is made in...
In times of market strength, it’s often noted what gross delusions of grandeur we suffer from as everyone chases the next “hot” tip, looking everywhere for any arbitrary sign of further growth. When an economy hits that point, it’s usually time to get out and go away. What’s less well observed — but equally true — is that in times of economic crisis...
Management changeovers are testing situations at the best of times. But in the middle of a full-blown financial crisis, they can have wider repercussions than just ruffling the feathers of those vying for the top jobs. A recent survey of commercial banking customers shows that the largest two banks, Bank of America and Citigroup, took the biggest hits in ratings when it comes to delivering...
Private equity firms are dying to get in on the action of turning around failing banks, if only the Federal Reserve would let them. They may soon get the chance. A group of private-equity firms, including Carlyle Group and Blackstone Group, have submitted a bid to buy troubled Florida lender BankUnited Financial, according to Marketwatch, which cites an anonymous source close to the action....
With big banks applying to repay TARP funds early, liquidity returning to the financial sector, and previously endangered institutions such as Bank of America on the way to raising nearly half the requisite $34 billion in stress-test qualifying funds, things are looking rosier in the financial industry in general. At least on a national level, they are. In reality, the U.S. banking industry is...
Hong Kong’s main index the Hang Seng Index entered a “year-to-date” bull market Tuesday morning, propelled by a surge in banking shares. While most major indexes have technically entered a bull market in recent weeks, the Hang Seng is the only major index in the world which is now in one for 2009. The traditional definition of bull and bear markets in the U.S. is an upswing...
Just when it looked as if the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) had lent a helping hand to America’s big banks, the regulatory group seems to have slowed down on producing the punch. Earlier today, FASB ruled that Citigroup and JP Morgan Chase will be required starting next year to add billions of dollars of assets and liabilities to their balance sheets. Among the liabilities...
Insurance companies, including American International Group (AIG), spent nearly $36 million in recent years on political contributions to members of Congress, according to the Consumer Watchdog and the Center for Responsive Politics. Also among the big givers were Hartford Financial and Lincoln Financial, two companies that are in line to get billions in TARP funds from the U.S. Treasury....
Are the first signs of leaves sprouting from the money trees of the big banks, or is the soil still not fertile enough? That’s the hottest debate in the financial sector right now, where investors are wondering if the worst is over and, more specifically, if an economic recovery is underway now. Dubbed the “green shoots” debate, there are compelling arguments on both sides....
- Ailing AIG Gets Good News: Benmosche to Stay
- Banks Failing at Fastest Rate Since S&L Crisis
- Sun Life Doing Robust Business in Variable Annuities
- Zions Bancorporation: Shareholder Confidence Runs High, But The Worst Is Not Over Yet
- Will Sun Life President Boscia Pay a Call on His Former Company?
- Midsize Banks Have Worst Credit
- Is Manulife Stock 'Depressed?' Ask the Lady in the Bikini
- AIG: Help Wanted, But Will Anyone Apply?
- State Farm Is Warming Up to Florida
- Underrated: S&P, Moody's, Fitch ... and PIMCO
- Geithner's Not Going
- Barney Frank Aide Blasts Media Report Alleging Lack of Progress on Financial Reform
- Goldman Sachs, Shareholders Just Can't Get Along
- Geithner: Guilty Until Proven Innocent in AIG Debacle
- ECB President Cautions Interest Rate Hike, But Banks Are Ill-Prepared
- 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
- Ex-Wells Fargo Loan Officer Details Shady Practices
- 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
- State Farm CEO Rust: Effective But Not Greedy
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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
- Senator Dodd Is Saving Lenders From Themselves
- Citigroup Hit With Huge Credit Loss
- FDIC Chief Sheila Bair to Treasury Brat Geithner: Nyah!
- 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.