The government agency established to be the watchdog over the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) has been keeping busy.  The financial crisis of 2008 resulted in the disbursement of over $400 billion of TARP funds which requires government oversight. In order to prevent waste, fraud and abuse of taxpayer funded TARP disbursements, Congress created the Office of the Special Inspector [...]

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 contributed to the 2011 collapse of Bank [...]

The first bank closing of the year in New Jersey occurred today with the failure of Fort Lee Federal Savings Bank, Fort Lee, New Jersey.  The total number of bank failures in New Jersey has been very small since the beginning of the financial crisis in 2008.  New Jersey has accounted for only 5 of the 431 bank failures that have occurred nationwide since 2008. Fort Lee Federal [...]

Most shareholders understand that an investment in a public company entails risk – that’s what capitalism is all about.  Well managed companies with great products generally wind up enriching shareholders over time and no one begrudges the fact that executives of a successful enterprise are well paid. What a lot of shareholders don’t understand, however, is why [...]

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 FDIC released the list of enforcement actions taken in February 2012 against 53 banks.  In the previous month of January, the FDIC had issued 42 enforcement actions. The orders issued by the FDIC included 10 civil money penalties, 1 prompt corrective action, 13 consent orders, 1 order terminating deposit insurance and 19 orders terminating consent orders and desist orders.  [...]

Fidelity Bank of Dearborn, Michigan, was closed today by the Michigan Office of Financial and Insurance Regulation which appointed the FDIC as receiver. Fidelity Bank, owned by holding company parent Dearborn Bancorp, Inc. was established in 1994 and had a total of 15  branches.  According to the failed Bank’s website, Fidelity Bank is the only commercial bank headquartered [...]

Troubled Premier Bank of Wilmette, IL, was closed today by state regulators.  The FDIC, named as receiver, sold the failed bank to International Bank of Chicago, Chicago, IL, which will assume all deposits of failed Premier Bank. Premier’s two branches will reopen Saturday as branches of International Bank and all Premier depositors will automatically become depositors of [...]

Covenant Bank & Trust, Rock Spring, Georgia, in business since only 2006, was closed today by the Georgia Department of Banking and Finance.  The FDIC, appointed as receiver, sold the failed bank to Stearns Bank, N.A., St. Cloud, Minnesota, which will assume all deposits of failed Covenant Bank. Covenant Bank & Trust was established as a community bank in 2006 at a time [...]

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, many critics now [...]