Visit our Filed page for categories. To browse by specific topic, see our Inside page. For a list of companies covered on this site, visit our Companies page.
Wintrust Financial Corp. posted lower-than-expected profits in the second quarter, partly because the $13.7 billion-asset bank holding company had to set aside more money for loan losses due to a fraud in its premium financing unit.
For the second quarter, net income was $13 million, or 25 cents a share, compared with $6.5 million, or 6 cents a share, in the same period a year ago. Get the full story »
FirstMerit Bank, which over the past year has entered the Chicago market through three acquisitions, said it is continuing to keep its eyes open for deals, but that its main focus right now is integrating its operations. Get the full story »
Shares of MB Financial fell 6.9 percent in mid-day trading, after the Chicago-based bank reported a threefold rise in the money it set aside for bad loans and warned that the economy will remain weak and volatile well into 2011 and possibly into 2012.
MB Chief Executive Mitch Feiger noted during an earnings conference call with analysts that the new federal financial reform bill is “relatively benign,” particularly for banks with assets of less than $15 billion. But he said the bank is a “little worried” about a provision that would lengthen an already “painfully slow” foreclosure process in Cook County. Currently, it can take 18 months to 24 months from the time that a bank initiates a foreclosure until the time it takes possession of the property. Get the full story »
Federal bank regulators have agreed to give the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. unlimited authority to investigate banks, clarifying the agency’s power that was in question during the financial crisis.
The FDIC’s board on Monday approved the agreement between the insurance agency and regulators at the Federal Reserve and Treasury Department. It clearly spells out the FDIC’s authority to make special examinations of banks. It was approved 5-0. Get the full story »
Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Alexi Giannoulias lost about $2.7 million last year in the collapse of his family’s Broadway Bank, according to tax returns his campaign released Friday.
From Crain’s Chicago Business | ShoreBank reportedly still could receive TARP funds, though Congress ended the bank bailout program to help pay for financial reform. Banks that applied before June 25 would still be eligible, according to an unnamed administration official.
A government watchdog has detected key deficiencies in the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.’s internal controls that led to errors in the agency’s 2009 draft financial statements for its deposit insurance fund.
The errors, which involve the FDIC’s estimates of the loss-share transactions it has used to resolve bank failures, have been corrected. Get the full story »
From WREX TV | Harris Bank, which took over Amcore Bank on April 23, 2010, announced plans to close 18 former Amcore branches and eliminate jobs as part of its buyout reorganization.
From Fox Business News | Senior executives at major Wall Street banks say they doubt that community lender ShoreBank, despite its ties to the Obama White House, will be able to survive a government takeover and eventual liquidation that a bailout was designed to prevent. Just a few weeks ago, the officials thought they had contributed enough money to bail out the bank.
U.S. regulators revised down the estimated cost of cleaning up the hundreds of bank failures Tuesday, saying the industry is seeing better earnings and a greater ability to raise capital. The staff of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp said it now believes bank failures will cost the industry-backed insurance fund $60 billion between 2010 and 2014. Previously, the FDIC had estimated a cost of $60 billion over 2010 to 2013.
The bailout of Chicago-based ShoreBank has hit a serious snag as the Federal Reserve and Treasury drag their feet on whether to provide funding to the ailing South Side lender, sources close to the situation say.
Last month ShoreBank lined up commitments from private sources, including Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, General Electric and Chase, for a capital infusion of about $135 million. That private money was to have made ShoreBank eligible for about $75 million in government funds from the Treasury’s Troubled Asset Relief Program. The bank has needed to raise about $200 million to stave off possible seizure. Get the full story »
Reuters | Oil giant BP Plc is considering a corporate debt
offering of $5 billion to $10 billion as early as next week, CNBC
reported Thursday.
BP is discussing the offering with five banks, including Goldman Sachs
and Morgan Stanley, CNBC reported. A spokesman for Goldman Sachs
declined comment. Morgan Stanley and BP did not have immediate comment.
By Becky Yerak | Bridgeview Bancorp Inc., which in December 2008 became one of the first privately-held banks in the Chicago area to receive a capital infusion from the U.S. Treasury Department’s Troubled Asset Relief Program, missed its dividend payment in the latest quarter.
Associated Press | The Federal Reserve has launched a new program that allows banks to set up the equivalent of certificates of deposit at the Fed. In an operation conducted Tuesday, the Fed says banks will be paid 0.27 percent in interest on 14-day “term deposits” set up at the central bank.
