As banks repay their TARP loans, the moment may mark the beginning of harder times for the financial services industry. Wednesday, U.S. Bancorp and financial holding company BB&T both agreed to pay back their loans. U.S. Bancorp agreed to pay back $6.6 billion in loans, asking Treasury for permission to buy back a 10-year warrant for its common stock issued to the government as part of...
Financial Services Industry Archive
June 2009
CNBC commentator Jim Cramer got on his high-horse today about the insurers, Hartford Financial Services Group and Lincoln National, which took federal bailout money known as TARP. Cramer has a point, although, as BNET colleague Daniel Harrison points out, he does tend to go over the top. These two insurers aren’t part of the banking crisis that led to the huge bailouts last year,...
In an industry under fire for lousy management practices, dodgy accounting, and doing deals which don’t make long-term financial sense, BlackRock’s potential acquisition of Barclays Global Investors stands out as having gained the market mob’s approval. Thursday, mutual fund leader BlackRock announced that it was in talks to buy BGI in a deal which would value the indexing...
Japan’s two leading “megabanks” are sketching out their borders in the country’s fledgling securities industry. In the past 12 months, Japan’s financial climate has become increasingly aggressive as the country’s once banal commercial banks have turned their attention towards acquiring U.S. assets on the cheap and consolidating their securities’...
Signs are emerging that optimism in the financial services sector may be misplaced, or at least, premature. It’s no secret that banks have been eschewing government aid. But, in the tradition of these giant money machines, they seem to be doing so again at the expense of their long-term security — all for the sake of quarterly earnings results. Take for example, the approval by the...
The financial landscape is full of plenty of polarizing figures which radical views delivered in egocentric nuggets. Nevertheless, ex-hedge fund manager, CNBC host and Thestreet.com founder Jim Cramer is in a league of his own. Such is the raw emotion that Jim Cramer elicits in so many, The Motley Fool’s Rick Munarriz recently suggested an amusing experiment: The next time you find...
If you thought you could escape the global financial crisis by crossing to the great beyond, think again. The $6.4 billion life-settlement industry -– where firms purchase life insurance policies for a lump sum and then collect when the policyholder dies — has been thrown into turmoil over the past several months. Earlier this month, one of the largest U.S. life settlement firms, J.G....
Of all the banks embroiled in the Troubled Asset Relief Program, Citigroup has to be the one that’s taken the brunt of the bad-mouthing. Even as investors have bid up shares in beleaguered rivals such as Bank of America and Wells Fargo, no one wants to admit that Citi might just go on to live another decade. While shares in most major financial services companies have soared lately,...
It seems that no one can agree on the issue of letting the big U.S. banks off the government hook. As the Treasury Department prepares to allow 10 banks to pay back Troubled Asset Relief Program funds as early as later today, some are arguing that the government stress tests ought to be carried out all over again. Of the 19 largest U.S. banks tested in May, 10 were told that they needed to...
The crisis surrounding small financial institutions is getting further underway, even as more of the largest U.S. lenders are aiming to pay back TARP funds by the end of the year. The latest victim of that trend is Advanta, which ceased honoring recent charges last week, leaving many business owners scrambling to plug a financial gap caused by the abrupt shutdown. Over 1 million firms are...
- 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
- Inside Small Business Lending: Short Q&A With An Industry Chief Executive
- More Homeowners Face Mortgage Woes
- If Consumer Prices Are Down, Why Are Car Insurance Rates Up?
- 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.