Bank watch megathread

biz.yahoo.com...

Another Bank has gone under, making it 5 I believe in the last 2 weeks. If you hear any relevant news about banks. Please post it here. I just get an odd feeling there is a cascading effect going on. People I know have just given up on paying bills lately.

It is weird, I have been a member of Wamu for a while now, and even though I had some good record with them they never offered me credit until I started using another bank for most of my transactions...now when my account is the lowest, suddenly they want to give me a large credit line What gives??

Oops..this posted while I was drafting my thread. Anyway, I think it's a great idea to track them all in one place.

[edit on 1/8/2008 by kosmicjack]

I heard that the banks are gitting rid of paper checks. Does anybody know how or when they plan on implamating this?
I live in a smaller town in TN. where many people still use checke quite often, and the general attitude toward plastic is very bad.
I can imagin the caos that many businesses will incur.

Here are a few more pending bank implosions:


www.ft.com...

The banks receiving cease-and-desist orders in June were MetroPacific Bank in Irvine, California; Bank Haven in Haven, Kansas; Clarkston State Bank in Clarkston, Michigan; and Hastings State Bank in Hastings, Nebraska.

Non-performing loans in Clarkston State’s portfolio nearly doubled to 4.6 per cent between the close of 2007 and the end of the first quarter of 2008, according to first-quarter earnings report released in April.
Clarkston State’s chief executive, J. Grant Smith, said in a statement accompanying first quarter earnings that ”business conditions remain weak and commercial loan demand is anemic.”

The FDIC instructed the banks to reevaluate their allowances for potential losses. MetroPacific in California was also told to stop issuing credit “for speculative construction and land development purposes.”

The fifth bank – Columbus Bank and Trust in Columbus, Georgia – received a cease-and-desist order because its credit card program violated consumer protection laws.

FWIW, maybe this thread should be moved to the new Global Meltdown Forum.

Originally posted by only onus
I heard that the banks are gitting rid of paper checks. Does anybody know how or when they plan on implamating this?
I live in a smaller town in TN. where many people still use checke quite often, and the general attitude toward plastic is very bad.
I can imagin the caos that many businesses will incur.

As far as I know they are not..

Banks currently prefer checks to Debit because Debit fraud cost them big bucks to prevent and settle.. the only reason they even issue Debits are for consumer ease-of-use ..

Checks are a hassle.

The only reason banks don't like paper checks is people with no money "floating" checks, often bouncing them.

However now-a-days because of technology innovations, a merchant can scan the image of a check, void the paper and keep it for files, and send the Electronic Image of the Check to the banks..

It's processed real time, so no more "floating", it's imaged and signed, so lower fraud, laws require ID's to be presented with a Check, where as it's illegal to ask for a ID for a Debit (and credit, incase you did not know) making fraud higher, and now that merchants can image a check, they don't have to take them to the bank personally anymore.

So, no, checks are not going anywhere.. on the contrary, they are becoming more popular.

I recently read somewhere(I have no idea where) that the FDIC has a list of about 90 banks that are close to being insolvent. Again, I don't know that this is true but if it is could someone with a connection to the FED or the FDIC post that list?

I read that the list is suppose to be private but if my bank was on said list I would like to know so if anyone has the list PLEASE post it for us.

Vas

reply to post by Vasilis Azoth


Don't get your hopes up on that one. No one has the list, but what we have confirmed is IndyMac was not even on it. So the list is so inherently flawed, just keep an eye on your bank at the FDIC (press releases after the fact unfortunateley) but still, these are clues before the SHTF on your bank. Incomplete of course, but watch for trends.

I have a candidate for the next bank funeral. Downey Financial Corp (Tickersymbol DSL) out of Newport Beach California. This hit the wires tonight.

Downey also said that it's experienced "elevated" levels of deposit withdrawals after reporting a $218.9 million second-quarter net loss in late July.

The article goes on to say that inflows have increased since then, but if outlows pick up again they will have to raise capital or borrow money. (Almost word for word from source.)

Another bank I've been following that has a little more meat on it's bones (for now anyway) is First Fed Financial (FED) also from Cali. The WSJ has mentioned them in a negative way recently, and I"ve heard rumors (that I can't track down right now) that it's having problems with brokered deposits similar to what happened before Indy went down in flames.

Another on my soon to be deceased list is Bank United Financial Corp (BKUNA) a Florida based bank with much the same problems as the above two.

I really don't follow trouble on non-publicly traded banks because they typically aren't large enough to matter that much beyond thier local impact.

Well those are my 3 picks for puclicly traded, relatively large financials that I believe we'll be hearing more about one Friday evening soon.

(No curernt positions in any of these though if FED rallies to much more I'm going to buy some January or March 09 puts.)

[edit on 11-8-2008 by jefwane]

This one's a bit of a teaser - a generalized prediction, yet from a very credible source:

'...the worst is to come'," he said. "We're not just going to see mid-sized banks go under in the next few months," said Mr Rogoff, who held the IMF role between 2001 and 2004. "We're going to see a whopper, we're going to see a big one, one of the big investment banks or big banks."

Source: US bank "to fail within months"

Sounds more like a paranoid anxiety-laden ATS freak than a Harvard economics Professor. But it isn't...





[edit to add:]

Link to Breaking News thread 1 on this topic

Link to Breaking News thread 2 on this topic

[edit on 19/8/08 by pause4thought]

Another Bank Failure Friday. You all do realize the FDIC only announces these things after the markets close on Fridays right?

Today's winner is...........

The Columbian Bank and Trust Company, Topeka, KS

www.fdic.gov...

Define megathread. 10 posts in three weeks?

Sorry, off topic and petty but it is Friday after all.

reply to post by Phage


Beats having a new thread everytime one happens. Still a small fry this week though. Wake me up when its Washington Mutual, National City, or Downey Financial.

[edit on 22-8-2008 by jefwane]

Here's a list of Banks that have failed since 10/1/2000

www.fdic.gov...

We have 9 this year, with the largest being IndyMac. But look at the list, I am seeing something I don't understand. It shows the date of closing and with an update date. A lot of these going back to 2001 have updates posted as July 25, 2008. What changed?

Also, bear in mind this does not include failures that the FDIC found buyers for. There have ben bigger banks that did fail this year, it's just that in some cases the FDIC made deals with other banks to take them over, so the biggies aren't showing. these are only the ones that the FDIC had to get stuck with.

[edit on 8/23/2008 by Relentless]

reply to post by Phage

Define megathread. 10 posts in three weeks?

Holy cow! What do you expect? Two banks a day?

Think about it.

This weeks Friday Failure goes to.......

www.fdic.gov...

On August 29, 2008, Integrity Bank, Alpharetta, GA was closed by the Georgia Department of Banking and Finance and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) was named Receiver. No advance notice is given to the public when a financial institution is closed.

They are being turned over to Regions Bank, which is on some people's iffy list. Give the failures to another weak Bank to shore them up? Who knows?

Now, for those of you who might think ah, just another small fry, bear in mind the FDIC can't handle too many biggies right now, they do not have enough insurance to cover them. Bit by bit is all you're going to see, but it's strating to look like we might get one every Friday at this point.

Also, it's not out of the question for another to come over a long weekend, so keep your eyes open.

Well, looks like credit unions don't have to wait till Friday to be put in conservatorship.

From Market Watch

The California Department of Financial Institutions (DFI) today announced that it had taken control of Valley Credit Union and appointed the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) as conservator.

Seems to have 25,000 members and around $224million in assetts.

It would seem that maybe one should research the solvency of credit unions as much as banks.

Yes, perhaps we should change the name of the thread to the "Financial Insitution Watch List" at this point, though I do think most people would include their credit unions & savings and loans.etc. as Banks. Seems nothing is totally safe at this point. I even think we should be watching pension funds, etc.

Up to you guys but I can have it changed if you wish. Soup - being the OP should let me know how he/she feels about it.

[edit on 9/3/2008 by Relentless]

Tonights winner is---Silver State Bank, Henderson, Nevada.

From FDIC

Silver State Bank, Henderson, Nevada, was closed today by the Nevada Financial Institutions Division, and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) was named Receiver.

SNIP

The transaction is the least costly resolution option, and the FDIC estimates that the cost to its Deposit Insurance Fund is between $450 and $550 million.

Another smallish bank in a "Bubble State". However, it is another bank failure.

You forgot to mention McCain's son just recently stepped down from the board of that bank for "personal reasons"