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 [...]

According to the U.S. Department of the Treasury, the worst of the financial crisis is now behind us and the TARP bank bailout program has generated positive returns. In an article entitled “The U.S. Economy in Charts”, the Treasury Department notes that the economy is gradually getting stronger as evidenced by 10 straight quarters of growth.  Despite the persistence [...]

Any bank that can last for 102 years deserves special recognition for surviving business panics, stock market crashes, world wars and economic depressions.  The Central Bank of Georgia, Ellaville, GA, is in this category, having been established on September 16, 1910 and surviving until today when the Georgia Department of Banking and Finance closed the Bank. Central Bank of Georgia’s [...]

The $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) that was authorized in 2008 to bailout failing financial institutions is still in the process of being wound down.  The latest report from the Government Accounting Office (GAO) (which is required by law to report on TARP every 60 days) reveals that the U.S. Treasury is still keeping hundreds of problem banks on life support. Originally, [...]

Integra Bank, N.A., Evansville, Indiana, became the nation’s second largest banking failure of 2011 as regulators closed the insolvent bank. The FDIC, appointed as receiver, protected depositors by entering into a purchase and assumption agreement with Old National Bank, Evansville, Indiana, which will assume all deposits of the failed bank. All 52 branches of Integra Bank [...]

BankMeridian, N.A., Columbia, South Carolina, was closed today by state regulators who appointed the FDIC as receiver.  The FDIC sold the failed bank to SCBT, Orangeburg, South Carolina, which will assume all deposits of the failed bank. BankMeridian which had a total of 3 branches, opened for business in May 2006.  The Bank raised $31.5 million in capital which made it the largest [...]

Bank of Choice, Greeley, Colorado, was closed today by state regulators.  The FDIC, appointed as receiver, sold the failed bank to Bank Midwest, N.A., Kansas City, MO. Bank of Choice had 17 branches with $1.07 billion in assets and $924.9 million in deposits.  Depositors of the failed bank will automatically become depositors of Bank Midwest when the failed Bank reopens on Saturday.  [...]

One Georgia Bank of Atlanta, Georgia, a $186 million dollar asset bank, was closed today by the Georgia Department of Banking and Finance.  The FDIC, acting as receiver, sold the failed bank to Ameris Bank. One Georgia Bank has been effectively insolvent since late last year with a troubled asset ratio of 350% which is 23 times higher than the nation median.  A bank with a troubled [...]

Despite the public uproar over the bailout of the financial industry, the U.S. Treasury is no pushover when it comes to demanding stiff terms on its loans. The returns on some of the loans made to various banks and financial institutions would make a payday lender blush.  For example, when the U.S. completes  the sale of its remaining warrants of Citigroup, the Treasury expects [...]