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NEWS ABOUT: bank failure

Bankers Blamed for Mess Get Rich Cleaning It Up

(Newser) - The irony is, well, rich. Former executives of Countrywide Financial—the bank whose risky loans to homeowners have become synonymous with the subprime mess—are now making a mint helping the government fix things, the New York Times reports. A dozen former Countrywide executives, including President Stanford L. Kurland, have... More »

Banks That Fail 'Stress Test' Have 6 Months to Fix

(Newser) - The federal government has begun its so-called "stress tests" of the nation's big banks, reports the Los Angeles Times. The tests will run through April, and the banks will have to prove they can withstand a worsening economy—even if unemployment rises above 10% and home prices decline 22%.... More »

Dodd Backs Nationalizing Banks; White House Doesn't

Banking chair weighs short-term moves

(Newser) - Chris Dodd says the US may have to nationalize the most troubled banks for “a short time” to save the financial system, Bloomberg reports. The chairman of the Senate Banking Committee joined Ben Bernanke and Alan Greenspan in calling for serious consideration of nationalizing flailing institutions such as Bank... More »

Nationalize Some Banks: Greenspan

Ex-Fed head abandons free-market purism, wants temporary move

(Newser) - Alan Greenspan, once famed for his light touch, now says the US may have to temporarily nationalize some banks. The former Fed chairman said in an interview with the Financial Times that some institutions need government ownership to restore liquidity and help shore up the larger financial system. "In... More »

Iceland to Appoint First Openly Gay Woman as PM

Ex-flight attendant to lead until May elections

(AP) - Iceland is set to appoint the world's first openly gay woman as prime minister: a former flight attendant who rose through the political ranks to become a cabinet minister. Johanna Sigurdardottir, the 66-year-old social affairs minister, is the pick of the Social Democratic Alliance Party to lead an interim government.... More »

Wreck of IndyMac Sold for $13.9B

Soros, Dell among the players in FDIC's damaged-goods sale

(Newser) - A team of high-profile investors has bought the remains of failed bank IndyMac from the FDIC for $13.9 billion, the Wall Street Journal reports. The investors, including George Soros and computer tycoon Michael Dell, have agreed to share the losses from IndyMac's portfolio of troubled mortgages in a deal... More »

Sloppy Lehman Bankruptcy Killed Billions in Value

Speedy process leaves creditors hanging

(Newser) - Had Lehman Brothers been more careful in its bankruptcy filing, it could have held on to as much as $75 billion that was destroyed in the process, the firm’s head restructuring agents say. A better-planned filing would have allowed the sale of some assets outside of court proceedings and... More »

How Iceland Went From Codfish to Meltdown

Country built a huge financial bubble based on a vulnerable currency

(Newser) - How did a chilly nation of cod fishermen play a key role in the world's crumbling financial markets? Seeking to avoid the boom-and-bust of fish catch, Iceland started by privatizing banks in the mid-1990s. It built a colossal banking system on a puny currency and attracted international deposits with high... More »

Feds OK Massive $20B Citigroup Bailout

Taxpayers will also back $300 billion in shaky debt

(Newser) - The US will bail out Citigroup with $20 billion in fresh capital and a guarantee to mop up $306 billion in toxic assets, the Wall Street Journal reports. The deal, announced late last night, marks a turning point in the financial crisis: In addition to injecting nearly $300 billion into... More »

We Should Offer Banks a Choice on Exec Pay

Either let US set limits, or make firms set aside cash: economist

(Newser) - Regardless of who wins today’s election, one issue from this campaign will continue to burn hot with investors, Andrew Ross Sorkin writes in the New York Times. Both candidates have blamed executive pay for the financial collapse, as execs are rewarded for risk-taking while rarely penalized for failure. But... More »

'Circle of Pain' Snags Emerging Markets, Too

Krugman: Russia et al. not immune after all to crisis' vicious cycle

(Newser) - Only a few weeks ago, it seemed the main fronts of the financial crisis were the Western banking system and mortgage market. But now the crisis has spread to emerging markets like Russia and Brazil. As Paul Krugman writes in the New York Times, the mantra of “decoupling”—... More »

American Capitalism Is Dead. The Culprit? America

(Newser) - As Wall Street banks collapse like a house of cards, American capitalism isn’t just failing in practice; the very idea of unregulated, free-functioning markets has received a serious blow, writes Anthony Faiola in the Washington Post. Once the symbols of American economic might, there's a real possibility that many... More »

The Crisis Dwarfs $700B

A US-centric band aid can't quell global markets as confidence plunges

(Newser) - As the financial crisis continues to grow, the $700 billion bailout passed by Congress last week may be too little too late, the Washington Post reports. The plan may not begin relieving banks of toxic assets for another month, and, meanwhile, the crisis has gone global, making $700 billion seem... More »

Depression, No—but That Lesson Is Vital

As credit outlook deteriorates, most important word is 'trust'

(Newser) - Constant references to the Great Depression aren’t alarmist, but the analogy isn't perfect, either, writes David Leonhardt in the New York Times. "The basic mechanics of how the economy might fall into a severe recession look quite similar to those that caused the Depression," he explains. "... More »

'Nihilist' House GOP Doomed US to Recession

American leadership is 'scarcer than credit,' writes Brooks

(Newser) - When FDR became president, writes David Brooks, his first priority was to give Americans faith in their leadership, to show that someone was running the show. Now that the US is facing the greatest financial crisis since the Depression, today's political leaders "have failed utterly and catastrophically to project... More »

Blogger Busted for Bad Bank Rumor

Hong Kong post urged customers to take their money and run

(Newser) - As worldwide worries mount about the US financial crisis, a Hong Kong blogger has been arrested after allegedly posting internet rumors that a local bank was in trouble, AP reports. He urged depositors to withdraw their funds, police said. He was arrested for computer use with criminal or dishonest intent.... More »

Rumors Spark Wild Run on Asian Bank

Panicked thousands rush to grab savings from Bank of East Asia

(Newser) - Rumors that the Bank of East Asia was in trouble spread like wildfire through Hong Kong yesterday, causing a panicked mob to descend on the bank as thousands withdrew their life savings, the Financial Times reports. Police moved in to keep order as crowds demanded their money. BEA's tycoon chairman... More »

After Meltdown, 'Safe Will Be the New Sexy': Cramer

'Good, clean, old-fashioned banking' is coming back in US markets

(Newser) - A new era has arrived on Wall Street, with the big investment firms falling, James Cramer writes in New York, and traditional banks with large deposit bases looking like the smartest option all along. “We’ll see a more chaste culture emerge from all of this, on Wall Street,... More »

Feds Search for WaMu Buyer

Falling share price stokes worries of a bank run

(Newser) - Washington Mutual, America's largest savings and loan, may be the next big financial institution to fail, the New York Post reports. Fearing a run on the struggling bank, federal regulators placed calls yesterday gauging interest in a WaMu buyout to Wells Fargo, JP Morgan Chase, HSBC, and others, but no... More »

Feds Seize 2 Failed Banks

Western banks sold to Mutual of Omaha

(Newser) - The housing bust and credit crunch have toppled two more banks, Reuters reports. Federal regulators have taken over First National Bank of Nevada and California's First Heritage Bank and sold them to Mutual Bank of Omaha. The undercapitalized institutions were the sixth and seventh to go under in the US... More »

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