The investor who once famously remarked that his best holding period for a stock is “forever” is unloading portions of his holding in a firm many believe to be a key culprit of the financial crisis. Friday, Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK.A) announced that it sold 2.9 percent of its $874 million position in Moody’s (NYSE: MCO), raising $28.7 million. That’s the second time...
Financial Services Industry Archive
October 2009
Friday marked a gloomy day for the U.S. financial services industry: as the nation’s largest small business lender got closer to filing for bankruptcy protection, nine banks were shuttered, bringing the total headcount this year to 115. While the Dow Jones Index plummeted more than 2 percent, many on Wall Street are now asking if the recovery in financial companies has come to a temporary...
Throughout the week, a burning question has been on the lips of investors, bankers and business owners alike: “Is CIT filing for Chapter 11?” Despite a flurry of announcements Friday, no one is that much wiser. CIT Group (NYSE: CIT) has been slowly nearing bankruptcy since August, when it arranged a last-minute deal with its bondholders to delay the repayment of billions of dollars...
Moves last month by several large financial institutions to ease overdraft fees hasn’t stopped the banking industry from trying to kill legislation that would regulate such services. American Bankers Association senior counsel Nessa Feddis went before the House Financial Services Committee this morning to say why the bill, H.R. 3904, would not only weaken banks, but also hurt consumers....
The ever readable Kevin Funnell at Bank Lawyer’s Blog puts his own inimitable stamp on the growing number of consumer complaints about bill collection services: While it’s always risky (although often fun) to make broad generalizations about any group, I think I’ll make one: too many debt collectors are scum, and the scum are tarring the segment of the business that tries to...
What major U.S. financial company is hemorrhaging cash, not too big to fail and is mainlining government money like a junkie copping a fix? If you guessed, AIG, that’s wrong, but I can offer partial credit. It’s GMAC. The sputtering auto financing company is in line for up to an additional $5.6 billion in federal funding. That would bring the government’s total investment in...
The National Urban League, founded nearly a century ago, is one of the country’s most respected civil rights organizations. Which is why its choice of participants at the group’s annual “equal opportunity day” awards banquet next month in New York is puzzling in the extreme. The organizer of, and a speaker at, the dinner is Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf. Wells, you may...
After a solid year in which its valuation more than doubled, private equity giant Blackstone Group has been taking a beating in recent weeks. Blackstone’s huge position in Hilton Hotels has saddled it with a chunk of hard-to-manage debt: so much so that some analysts expect the firm to fall short of its projected 15 cents a share in earnings in the third quarter. While those earnings...
Pay “czar” Ken Feinberg was on Capitol Hill this morning laying out his rationale for slashing executive compensation at seven TARP-funded companies (AIG, Bank of America, Chrysler, Chrysler Financial, Citigroup, GM and GMAC). Feinberg told a House panel that in developing his plan he considered, and rejected, pay proposals from six of the seven companies. Each of those was flawed,...
Third quarter earnings continue to sizzle for the earliest reporting insurers, but the news isn’t all optimistic. The mountain air seems to agree with Ace, which moved to Switzerland in 2008. Operating earnings were up 39 percent, topping $700 million. But pressed by analysts on its earnings conference call, a somewhat different picture emerged. CEO Evan Greenberg, son of the legendary...
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- 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
- Analyst: Banking Industry Risks "Implosion"
- The Many Faces of Michael Oxley
- 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.