Thursday, August 27, 2009

Banks: Secret Bailouts or Bankruptcy? Depends...


Big Banks get your money in secret - making huge profits instead of going BK - while small, non-connected ones go under in droves and have their assets scooped up at a discount by "stronger" competitors
: American State-Financial Capitalism at its best(worst). Thanks Hamilton!

Federal Reserve Says Disclosing Loans Will Hurt Banks

"Aug. 27 (Bloomberg) -- The Federal Reserve argued yesterday that identifying the financial institutions that benefited from its emergency loans would harm the companies and render the central bank’s planned appeal of a court ruling moot.

The Fed’s board of governors asked Manhattan Chief U.S. District Judge Loretta Preska to delay enforcement of her Aug. 24 decision that the identities of borrowers in 11 lending programs must be made public by Aug. 31. The central bank wants Preska to stay her order until the U.S. Court of Appeals in New York can hear the case.

“The immediate release of these documents will destroy the board’s claims of exemption and right of appellate review,” the motion said. “The institutions whose names and information would be disclosed will also suffer irreparable harm.”"

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FDIC Problem Bank List Surges, Putting Fund at Risk

"Aug. 27 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. added 111 lenders to its list of “problem banks,” a jump that suggests rising bank failures may force the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. to deplete a reserve fund that shrank 40 percent this year.

A total of 416 banks with combined assets of $299.8 billion failed the FDIC’s grading system for asset quality, liquidity and earnings in the second quarter, the most since June 1994, the Washington-based FDIC said in a report today. Regulators didn’t identify companies deemed “problem” lenders."

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