Although top management at the big banks is doing just fine, things are going to get a lot tougher for the average bank employee. In an interview with Bloomberg TV, Meredith Whitney says the banking industry will slash 50,000 employees from the payrolls due to declining margins and increased regulations. “I think the industry goes […]
Banks Planning Massive Job Cuts – Old Business Models No Longer Work
July 31, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Georgia Trust Bank Fails – Feds Sell Bank To Community & Southern Bank
July 20, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Georgia continues to lead the nation with bank failures as regulators closed two more failed banks in Georgia. The latest bank to fail in the State was the Georgia Trust Bank, Buford, GA. For the year a total of eight banks have failed in Georgia, making the State the capital of U.S. bank failures and […]
Fee Hungry Banks Charge “FDIC Fees” To Depositors
July 12, 2012 By Leave a Comment
It’s not easy being a banker. For example, how do you make up lost revenue from reduced loan demand? In the aftermath of the financial crisis of 2008, banks have been struggling to increase revenues as loan growth remains anemic. For the quarter ending March 31, 2012, total loan and lease balances of all FDIC […]
Higher Bank Profits Driven By Lower Loan Loss Provisions – Core Lending Business Declines
May 25, 2012 By 1 Comment
The earnings “recovery” in the banking industry continues to be driven by reduced loan loss provisions and higher fees rather than a fundamental improvement in the core lending business. The FDIC’s Quarterly Banking Profile for the first quarter of 2012 reports that aggregate quarterly profits of commercial banks and savings institutions increased for the 11th […]
Banks Amass $211 Trillion In Derivatives, JP Morgan Loses $2 Billion And Volcher Rule Debates Continue
May 11, 2012 By 1 Comment
The goal of the Volcker Rule, which became law under the Dodd-Frank Act was to restrict speculative trading activity in risky derivatives by the Too Big To Fail Banks. The ban on proprietary bank trading was proposed by former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker who believed that one of the primary causes of the 2008 […]
Billon Dollar Bank Failure Caused By “Massive Bank Fraud” At Bank of the Commonwealth
April 24, 2012 By 1 Comment
Four years after the start of the banking crisis, federal investigators are proving what many Americans have long suspected – the root cause of many banking failures was due to fraud. The Office of the Special Inspector General for The Troubled Asset Relief Program (SIGTARP) announced last week that a massive $41 million bank fraud […]
Exponential Increase In Lending Regulations Impede Bank Lending, Provide Lifetime Employment To Government Regulators
April 19, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Has the exponential increase in lending regulations since 2008 contributed to the worst economic decline since the Depression of the 1930’s? Government “solutions” to problems have a long history of failure. In addition, the unanticipated consequences of government “solutions” often result in a plethora of new problems worse than the original ones the government was […]
Bank Stress Tests Viewed As Fed Deception By Critics
March 19, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Every banker knows that public confidence in the banking industry is essential. With the banking industry approaching a near meltdown last year, the Federal Reserve decided to conduct a series of “stress tests” on the country’s largest banks in order to restore confidence in the banking system. After reviewing the results of the stress tests, […]
Fed Says Banks Can Withstand Financial Hurricane – Savers, Borrowers and Shareholders Not So Lucky
March 14, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Stress tests of the largest banks in the country against a financial hurricane of “extremely adverse” economic conditions shows that almost all of the largest banks in the country would be able to maintain adequate capital levels. The Federal Reserve said that 18 of the 19 banks stress tested would survive even if stock prices […]
Banking Industry Slowly Recovers – 813 Banks Remain On “Problem Bank List”
February 29, 2012 By 3 Comments
The FDIC’s Quarterly Banking Profile for the fourth quarter of 2011 shows a modest but steady recovery in the banking industry. Despite the fact that a majority of banks reported improved quarterly earnings, 813 institutions remain on the Problem Bank List, comprising 11% of all FDIC insured banks and savings associations. Highlights of the 2011 […]