Need to Know News
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Senate Banking Committee Approves Nominees
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The Senate Banking Committee recommended that the full Senate confirm Luis Aguilar, Troy A. Paredes, and Elisse Walter to serve on the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Committee also approved a number of other nominees, including Neel T. Kashkari, to be Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for International Affairs; Donald B. Marron, to be a member of the President’s Council of Economic Advisors; and Michael E. Fryzel, to be a member of the National Credit Union Administration Board.
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House Approves Bankruptcy Bill
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The House approved a bill to provide bankruptcy relief for Reservists and National Guard members. The National Guard and Reservists Debt Relief Act (H.R. 4044), sponsored by Reps. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) and Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.), would eliminate the means test for bankruptcy filings by disabled veterans who served for more than 90 days in Iraq or Afghanistan.
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Committee Supports Protection for Banks Serving MSBs
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The House Financial Services Committee approved a bill intended to encourage banks to provide services to money services businesses (MSBs). The bill would establish that a bank incurs no money-laundering liability from dealing with an MSB provided its MSB customer is properly registered with the authorities and self-certifies that it complies with the Bank Secrecy Act.
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FDIC Issues Guidance on Home Equity Lines
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FDIC issued guidance on steps that must be taken if they reduce or suspend existing home equity lines of credit. The agency said banks should work with borrowers to minimize the problems that might follow such changes in loan terms.
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Agencies Release Deposit Ratios
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The bank regulators have released the host state loan-to-deposit ratios that they use to determine compliance with the Riegle-Neal Interstate Banking and Branching Efficiency Act of 1994. The law forbids banks from acquiring interstate branches for the primary purpose of collecting deposits to lend elsewhere.
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FDIC Launches Public Relations Campaign
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The FDIC is celebrating its 75th anniversary with a public relations campaign. Chairman Sheila Bair says the purpose of the campaign is “to make sure Americans know their money is safe” even in the event of a bank failure.
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S Corporation Changes Urged
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The Independent Community Bankers Association of America endorsed expanding from 100 to 150 the number of shareholders a Subchapter S Corporation may have. At a hearing before the House Small Business Committee, the trade group also urged liberalizing the rules on eligible shareholders by including IRAs and nonresident aliens.
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A Closer Look — News Analysis
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American workers’ job prospects continued to dim in June, as the economy lost another 62,000 jobs while the unemployment rate remained at 5.5 percent, the U.S. Labor Department reported.
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The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) reminded banks of the consumer protection requirements they must meet if they decide to reduce or suspend home equity lines of credit in a Financial Institution Letter issued June 26 and released Tuesday.
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The vast majority of older American workers are facing retirement with little or no accumulated wealth because of plummeting home values, according to the findings of an economic think tank study.
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Community bankers may decide not to adopt the alternative risk-based Basel II capital adequacy rules because of their complexity and cost, said Independent Community Bankers of America (ICBA) senior regulatory counsel Chris Cole.
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Did You Know?
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Deposit Insurance Coverage
$2,500: Coverage when FDIC chartered in 1934
$5,000: Coverage in 1935
$10,000: Coverage in 1950
$15,000: Coverage in 1966
$20,000: Coverage in 1969
$40,000: Coverage in 1974
$100,000: Coverage in 1980
$250,000: Coverage in 2005 (for certain retirement accounts only) |
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Sheshunoff Blogs
 Kenneth A. Guenther, Former President of ICBA The window of opportunity to pass any legislation is rapidly closing. The Congress, of course, will take a week off for the July 4th recess, come back for less than a month, and then take its annual ...
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Thursday, June 19, was a day of unusually high drama in Washington ... and of high stakes for our economy and its troubled financial sector. Shortly after noon, the full U.S. Senate began debate and consideration of a comprehensive, carefully negotiated housing bill (H.R. 3221) that addresses the growing home foreclosure crisis and recasts the regulatory structure over the housing government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs). The House of Representatives has already passed parallel legislation. Community financial institutions have a major dog in this legislative fight, as will be spelled out later in this blog.
Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd (D-Connecticut) and the ranking minority member of the committee, Richard Shelby (R-Alabama), opened the debate and strongly urged passage of the legislation. Senator Shelby was strongly and eloquently supported by Senator Mel Martinez (R-Florida), a Senate Banking Committee member ...
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from Sheshunoff Management Services
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Despite dynamic economic changes in the third quarter of 2007, pricing for banks remained generally strong in the period, and the number of announced transactions, both quarterly and year-to-date, is consistent with last year. Bank pricing is experiencing some downward pressure, but came in above or approximately equal to year-to-date medians for three of five commonly reported metrics, including price to earnings of 24.1x, higher than the nine-month ratio of 23.9x. Price to book and price to tangible book were off from prior quarters on slightly lower equity levels, but year-to-date data is in line with the prior three years. The transactions announced to date were struck prior to the events of the third quarter.
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