Elizabeth Duke, formerly an officer at a Virginia-based community bank, was sworn in as a member of the Federal Reserve’s Board of Governors this morning. According to the Federal Reserve, Duke will take part in the Board’s closed-door deliberations later today, where members are expected to vote to hold key interest rates at their current levels.
Read More »Bair Discusses Health of Banking Industry and Mortgage Crisis
Over the weekend, Sheila Bair, Chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), sat down with Judy Woodruff of Bloomberg Television to talk about the outlook of the United States banking industry and the impact the nation’s mortgage crisis has had on it.
Read More »UPDATE: Garrett Introduces Equal Treatment for Covered Bonds Act
Rep. Scott Garrett introduced H.R. 6659, the Equal Treatment for Covered Bonds Act, last week on Capitol Hill. According to Garrett, the legislation is aimed to help facilitate a robust covered bonds market in the United States and add liquidity and certainty to the nation’s housing market.
Read More »First Priority Closed, Bringing Number of Failed Banks to Eight
First Priority Bank, based in Bradenton, Florida, was closed on Friday by the Florida Office of Financial Regulation, making it the eighth U.S. bank to collapse this year. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation announced that it has sold First Priority’s $227 million in insured deposits to SunTrust Bank of Atlanta, Georgia.
Read More »AmeriDream Calls on Supporters to Push for DPA Allowance
Under the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 (H.R. 3221), seller-funded down payment assistance (DPA), both direct or through a third party, is prohibited, effective October 1. AmeriDream Inc.‘s president Ann Ashburn issued a statement last week calling for supporters of DPA to press Congress and the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to regulate – not eliminate – down payment assistance.
Read More »IndyMac Federal Bank Not Affected by Bankruptcy Filing Of IndyMac Bancorp
On Friday, IndyMac Bancorp, the former holding company of IndyMac Bank, filed for bankruptcy protection under the U.S. Bankruptcy Code (Title 11, Chapter 7 U.S.C). Shortly after, IndyMac Federal Bank, FSB issued a statement saying that this action has no effect on its operations.
Read More »Maine Taking Steps to Counter Growing Foreclosures with Prevention Workshop
Even as the Federal Reserve enacts new overarching rules to curb the rising number of foreclosures, a growing number of states are themselves taking steps to tackle the problem. Several states have passed, or are currently considering, their own legislation, and some might argue they are tightening the reins even more than the Fed.
Read More »GMAC Reports Significant Losses in Real Estate Finance Business for Q2
GMAC Financial Services released its 2008 second quarter financial results yesterday, and it reported significant losses within its real estate finance business, Residential Capital, LLC (ResCap). ResCap recorded a net loss of $1.
Read More »First American Releases Preliminary Second Quarter Earnings
The First American Corporation announced its preliminary financial results for the second quarter yesterday. The company reported total revenues for the quarter ended June 30, 2008 to be $1.7 billion, a decrease of 20 percent from the second quarter of 2007.
Read More »FASB Delays Implementation of FAS 140 Amendments
The Financial Accounting Standards Board announced on Wednesday that it has pushed back the deadline that banks and financial institutions will have to implement the amendments outlined in FAS 140 by one year.
Read More »