Although there were a multitude of factors involved in the banking collapse of 2008, many analysts believe that the repeal of Glass-Steagall was one of the major triggers. No less an authority than Sandy Weill, former Citigroup CEO, joined the chorus of voices last week in calling for the reinstatement of the Glass-Steagall Act. Would […]
Peregrine Financial CEO Confesses To 20 Year Undetected Fraud
July 14, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Russell Wasendorf, Sr., CEO of Peregrine Financial Group (aka PFG Best) admitted in a suicide note that he had embezzled millions of dollars from customers for the past 20 years. The reason the financial fraud was able to continue undetected for so long was due to a comedy of errors and omissions on the part […]
Regulators Maintain Perfect Record Of Incompetence – Massive Fraud At Peregrine Financial Goes Undetected
July 13, 2012 By Leave a Comment
What is the point of having numerous regulatory agencies if they can’t detect blatant fraud despite numerous red flag warnings? Banking regulators turned a blind eye to absurdly reckless lending policies until the entire financial system came close to collapse in 2008. Regulators managed to convince themselves that Bernard Madoff’s $50 billion Ponzi scheme was […]
Large Banks Simply Can’t Be Trusted – The Cultural Mindset Of Barclays and JP Morgan Management
July 3, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Continuing scandals in the banking industry are making it difficult to avoid the conclusion that the entire crony capitalism structure of banking has become endemically corrupt. Even as the too big to fail banks vehemently lobby against new regulations under the Dodd-Frank Act, recent scandals at Barclays Plc and JP Morgan make it clear that […]
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 […]
FDIC Issues 53 Enforcement Actions, Number of Problem Banks Remains Elevated
March 30, 2012 By 1 Comment
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 […]
Bank Of America, Hated By Many, Could Make Some People Rich In 2012
March 2, 2012 By Leave a Comment
During 2011, some of the smartest investment pros in the world bet heavily on Bank of America and lost big as the stock price collapsed. Concerns over the looming collapse of the European banking system sent U.S bank stocks into a tailspin as panicked investors sold. From a price of $15 in January 2011 the […]
FDIC Issues 42 Enforcement Actions Against Problem Banks In January
February 24, 2012 By Leave a Comment
The FDIC posted today the list of enforcement actions taken in January 2012 against problem banks. A total of 42 enforcements actions were taken in January compared to 57 in December. Enforcement actions for January included 13 consent orders, 11 civil money penalties, 5 prompt corrective actions and 7 orders to terminate consent orders and […]