Bankrupt Banker

Europe financiers still fear euro zone contagion: poll | Reuters

Europe financiers still fear euro zone contagion: poll | Reuters

Europe financiers still fear euro zone contagion: poll | Reuters : "rescue package for Ireland would not be enough to prevent contagion...

Lottery firm Camelot has record sales for the half-year

BBC News - Lottery firm Camelot has record sales for the half-year : "National Lottery operator Camelot saw a record £2.72bn spent on i...

Ireland: AIB crisis shows UK must help bailout to save its own banks | Business | The Guardian

<a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/nov/18/irish-bailout-banking-crisis-dominoes">Ireland: AIB crisis shows UK must help bailout to save its own banks | Business | The Guardian</a>: "€10bn (£8.5bn) has been withdrawn from Bank of Ireland and €600m from Irish Life in recent months. Bank analysts say the outflow of deposits reflects anxiety that even an Irish government guarantee is not enough to reassure customers and explains why the government is being pushed into accepting a bailout to restore confidence in the system. With £140bn of loans linking the former Celtic Tiger's banks to their still-recovering British counterparts, the lack of confidence in Ireland's system is why some analysts believe the British chancellor, George Osborne, is ready to use taxpayers' money to bail out Ireland. The Irish crisis has flared up despite action taken by Dublin since the collapse of Lehman Brothers in September 2008 to bolster the banking system. After controversially guaranteeing savings, the government took stakes in the major players: full control of Anglo Irish Bank, 36% of Bank of Ireland and soon to be 90% of AIB. It also created a so-called bad bank, the National Asset Management Agency, to cushion the losses of the banks' disastrous lending spree to property developers."

Ireland: AIB crisis shows UK must help bailout to save its own banks | Business | The Guardian

Ireland: AIB crisis shows UK must help bailout to save its own banks | Business | The Guardian : "€10bn (£8.5bn) has been withdrawn fro...

Irish Bailout May Unleash Vigilantes on Portugal: Euro Credit - BusinessWeek

<a href="http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-11-19/irish-bailout-may-unleash-vigilantes-on-portugal-euro-credit.html">Irish Bailout May Unleash Vigilantes on Portugal: Euro Credit - BusinessWeek</a>: "resolution of the Irish debt crisis may shift the burden of speculation to Portugal. While officials such as European Central Bank Vice President Vitor Constancio predict a bailout of Ireland will reduce financial pressures in the euro region, analysts from Citigroup Inc. and Nomura International Plc say any relief would be short-lived as investors turn their focus to the next-weakest peripheral nation. The markets indicate that country is Portugal with 10-year bond yields of 6.88 percent, compared with 8.26 percent in Ireland and 11.62 percent in Greece, which received rescue funds in May from the European Union and International Monetary Fund. Portuguese Finance Minister Fernando Teixeira dos Santos said Nov. 15 that while “there is a risk of contagion,” that doesn’t mean the country will seek financial aid. “Portugal isn’t in the situation that it is now because of Ireland,” said Steven Mansell, director of interest-rate strategy at Citigroup Global Markets Ltd. in London. “If Ireland reaches an agreement to tap the European Financial Stability Facility or some other mechanism to support its banking sector, I don’t think that will alleviate the pressure on Portugal.”"

Irish Bailout May Unleash Vigilantes on Portugal: Euro Credit - BusinessWeek

Irish Bailout May Unleash Vigilantes on Portugal: Euro Credit - BusinessWeek : "resolution of the Irish debt crisis may shift the burde...

Bailout talks start in crisis-hit Ireland

<a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iD5XoMMmt3si6EEq4m3EVRmGOT1g?docId=CNG.019256bfe6ccb3a315e27f0faf7bcd07.191">AFP: Bailout talks start in crisis-hit Ireland</a>: "International financial experts and Irish officials began tough negotiations on Friday on a possible bailout for a debt-ridden economy at the heart of fears about the future of the eurozone. Reports said the talks would focus on shoring up the crisis-hit banks and, in an indication that a deal was edging closer, the euro rose against the dollar. The mission from the European Union, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund will subject Ireland's books to forensic analysis, looking at the reasons for the collapse of the one-time 'Celtic Tiger' economy. The Irish press focused on fears that a bailout that would lead to a loss of sovereignty for this country of 4.5 million people. The Irish Daily Mail said it was about to be 'humiliated', while the Irish Times said the nation's destiny was no longer in its own hands as the EU pushed one of the smaller members of the 16-country eurozone to accept support. The 'potentially enormous decisions' to be taken in the days ahead would have effects that will be 'felt far into the future', the newspaper said. Prime Minister Brian Cowen's government is determined that any deal will not require compromise on Ireland's long-cherished 12.5-percent rate of corporation tax, which has helped it to encourage companies to re-locate to the republic."

Bailout talks start in crisis-hit Ireland

AFP: Bailout talks start in crisis-hit Ireland : "International financial experts and Irish officials began tough negotiations on Frida...

GM's Bailout Is a Financial Disaster

<a href="http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2010/11/18/gms-bailout-financial-disaster/">FoxNews.com - GM's Bailout Is a Financial Disaster</a>: "Only the government would consider it a success to buy stock at $43.84 a share and sell it at $33. -- But President Obama and those who supported his bailout of General Motors and Chrysler are claiming just that today. First, the alternative to the government bailout wasn't to 'give up' as Obama claimed on Thursday at his press conference. Bankruptcy didn't mean that all jobs were going to be lost. It didn't mean that all the factories producing cars would be closed. Yet, the president made that claim in his announcement again today and he continually misstates what would have happened in a normal bankruptcy. Courts don't just close down bankrupt companies. In fact, that rarely occurs. Any part of a company that can continue operating profitably continues to do so. Some are pointing out that just a year and a half ago GM stock was trading at just $1 a share and claim that today's closing price of $34.19 is proof of the bailout's success. It simply doesn't account for the over $50 billion in direct bailout funds and the tens of billions of dollars in other breaks President Obama gave the company and its unions."

GM's Bailout Is a Financial Disaster

FoxNews.com - GM's Bailout Is a Financial Disaster : "Only the government would consider it a success to buy stock at $43.84 a shar...

Ireland's Cowen losing support amid financial crisis

<a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/11/18/AR2010111806372.html">Ireland's Cowen losing support amid financial crisis</a>: "Ireland, whose economic woes are riling global markets, may be facing the prospect of yet another problem: a political crisis. Prime Minister Brian Cowen's rapidly draining support at home comes as Ireland is closing in on a multibillion-euro bailout with the International Monetary Fund and the European Union. Amid signs that its hard-hit banks are losing deposits and may need a fresh lifeline that the cash-strapped government cannot afford, Irish officials began rescue talks in Dublin on Thursday with an emergency team of IMF, E.U. and European Central Bank negotiators. At the same time, Cowen is sustaining blistering attacks from the opposition, as well as from some of his own backers, who are charging him with mishandling the crisis and misleading the nation about pending international aid. Observers said it was uncertain whether his governing coalition, with the slimmest of majorities in parliament, could muster enough support to win a key vote on new austerity measures over the next two weeks. Its failure, analysts say, could bring down the government and complicate any bailout deal."

Ireland's Cowen losing support amid financial crisis

Ireland's Cowen losing support amid financial crisis : "Ireland, whose economic woes are riling global markets, may be facing the p...

Creditors accept deal for fraction of $490m owed by Craig Gore | News.com.au

$Creditors accept deal for fraction of $490m owed by Craig Gore | News.com.au$ Creditors accept deal for fraction of $490m owed by Craig Gore | News.com.au

Creditors accept deal for fraction of $490m owed by Craig Gore | News.com.au : "FALLEN Gold Coast businessman Craig Gore has avoided an...

: Massachusetts Fines UBS $100,000 In Hedge-Fund Hotel Case - WSJ.com

UPDATE: Massachusetts Fines UBS $100,000 In Hedge-Fund Hotel Case - WSJ.com : ")--Massachusetts fined UBS Securities LLC $100,000 to se...

decision may end up bankrupting Ireland.

In Irish Bank Crisis, a Texas-Style Solution Is Unlikely - NYTimes.com : "Texas may not look much like Ireland. But at different times,...

Irish Finance Minister Lenihan Admits Country's Banks Need Bailout

Irish Finance Minister Lenihan Admits Country's Banks Need Bailout : "Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan has all but admitted that ...

Florida Bank Hit With Rare Verdict in Securities-Fraud Trial - Law Blog - WSJ

<a href="http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2010/11/18/florida-bank-hith-with-rare-verdict-in-securities-fraud-trial/">Florida Bank Hit With Rare Verdict in Securities-Fraud Trial - Law Blog - WSJ</a>: "Miami jury issued a verdict in a securities-fraud suit against BankAtlantic Bancorp. The jury concluded that officers of the Florida bank misrepresented the risks that the bank faced with a 2007 real estate loan portfolio. The jury further found that some investors who bought stock in in 2007 overpaid by $2.41 per share, according to the winning plaintiffs’ lawyers at Labaton Sucharow. (The plaintiffs were also represented by the Barroway Topaz firm.) The ruling represents one of the first jury verdicts arising out of the financial crisis and, according to plaintiffs’ lawyers, underscores the potential risks faced by banks that issued mortgages and loans that are now underwater. In an interview, Labaton partner Mark Arisohn said the verdict could equal “millions” in damages, depending on how many shareholders come forward to claim their share of the winnings. “The verdict means that a federal jury was willing to hold a bank and its management liable for misrepresenting to shareholders the lending risk it was taking,” he said."

Florida Bank Hit With Rare Verdict in Securities-Fraud Trial - Law Blog - WSJ

Florida Bank Hit With Rare Verdict in Securities-Fraud Trial - Law Blog - WSJ : "Miami jury issued a verdict in a securities-fraud suit...

Irish banks' debt maturing in 2010/2011 | Reuters

<a href="http://uk.reuters.com/article/idUKTRE6AH48M20101118">Factbox - Irish banks' debt maturing in 2010/2011 | Reuters</a>: "Following are details on Irish banks' corporate bonds maturing in the remainder of this year and 2011. BANK OF IRELAND PLC: Debt whose original term is greater than one year maturing in 2011: 5 billion euros Around 100 million euros of debt is maturing before the end of 2010. ALLIED IRISH BANKS PLC: Term funding maturing in 2011: 4.5 billion euros Of which 2.5 billion euros in covered bonds. ANGLO IRISH BANK No data on the full year 2011 is available but the bank has around 3 billion euros maturing between now and June 2011. IRISH LIFE & PERMANENT PLC: Debt maturing 2011: less than 2 billion euros Has 1 billion euros in debt maturing in February. IRISH NATIONWIDE Debt maturing in 2011: 4 billion euros due in March and a further 0.6 billion in June. No further debt due to mature in 2010. EBS BUILDING SOCIETY"

Irish banks' debt maturing in 2010/2011 | Reuters

Factbox - Irish banks' debt maturing in 2010/2011 | Reuters : "Following are details on Irish banks' corporate bonds maturing i...

Germany and Switzerland have signed an agreemen

Germany and Switzerland have signed an agreement which will make it easier for Berlin to get information about - and tax revenue from - Germ...

Rebecca S. Parrett "She was living comfortably - making friends and going out dancing,"

Rebecca S. Parrett was convicted in a $2.8 billion fraud that led to the collapse of one of the nation's largest health-care financing companies, a debacle that forced a hospital in the District and hundreds of other health-care providers into bankruptcy. Then she disappeared. U.S. marshals and other agents tracked Parrett, 62, around the world, following leads in more than a dozen U.S. states and several foreign countries. But the trail ended Tuesday in a resort town on a lake in Mexico, where Mexican authorities arrested the former owner of Ohio-based National Century Financial Enterprises, the Justice Department announced Wednesday. "I've been doing this for 12 years, and this was the most detailed and far-reaching investigation I've ever been a part of,'' said Drew Shadwick, deputy U.S. marshal in Columbus, Ohio. "She was difficult to find, because she is intelligent, she was a woman of means and she had plenty of time to plan her escape." Parrett was immediately deported under Mexican immigration laws and was scheduled to appear Wednesday afternoon before a federal judge in Los Angeles. "Corporate executives found guilty for their fraudulent activity will not be allowed to escape justice by fleeing the United States," Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer said. A federal jury in Columbus convicted Parrett in 2008 of crimes that included conspiracy, securities fraud and wire fraud for her role in the collapse of National Century. The company, formerly based in Dublin, Ohio, was one of the largest health-care financiers in the nation until it filed for bankruptcy in November 2002. Parrett held numerous high-level positions at National Century and co-founded the company in 1991. She and nine others were convicted or pleaded guilty in a scheme to deceive investors and rating agencies about the company's financial health and how investors' money would be used. The firm's failure helped lead to the bankruptcy filings of about 275 health-care providers, including Greater Southeast Community Hospital in the District. Parrett, who once owned an art gallery, was arrested outside a doctor's office in Ajijic, Jalisco, Mexico, after an investigation that involved more than 10 federal and state agencies. "She was living comfortably - making friends and going out dancing," said Shadwick, who added that the full story of what Parrett did

Rebecca S. Parrett "She was living comfortably - making friends and going out dancing,"

Rebecca S. Parrett was convicted in a $2.8 billion fraud that led to the collapse of one of the nation's largest health-care financing c...

Apparently, we have run out of lethal injection drugs.

And now the U.S. standing among the world leaders in that business is under siege. Not only do we rank only fifth on Amnesty International's capital punishment league tables for the past year -- behind China, Iran, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia -- but today comes the news that the death penalty business that gives America so much of its swashbuckling charm has suffered yet another blow. Apparently, we have run out of lethal injection drugs. Worse, in the eyes of both those Americans for whom the term "made in America" still means anything as well as in the view of the members of this country's death penalty bar, we have been forced to actually import inferior foreign death penalty drugs in order to kill our homegrown, corn-fed American murderers and rapists. Tuesday, the state of Arizona acknowledged that it has been buying its sodium thiopental from Britain, but quickly moved to assure a concerned public that they were buying only the best quality poisons. The state's Chief Deputy Attorney General Tim Nelson said, "This drug came from a reputable place. There's all sorts of wild speculation that it came from a third-world country, and that's not accurate." So, breathe easy America… none of those not-quite-deadly-enough Third World drugs for us. (Well, at least most Americans can breathe easier. For those death row inmates in the 35 states that employ the death penalty, the concern is that use of second-rate chemicals will cause the condemned to suffocate if they are not fully knocked out by the out-sourced sodium thiopental as they would have otherwise been if first-rate American products were used. On this basis, a judge in Arizona blocked one execution already… and Kentucky has decided to hold off signing death warrants because its lone remaining dose of the drug passed its sell-by date at the beginning of this month.) I suppose the good news in this story is that there is still a belief -- among this country's leading executioners and lawyers -- that American quality still counts for something. No second best for the people we are putting to death. None of that willy-nilly use of firing squads or stoning or the hangman like you might get in many of the world's leading death penalty destinations. (Will there be a debate in Iraq about whether or not to use Iraqi-made rope to hang 74-year-old Tariq Aziz, the former foreign minister who was yesterday sentenced to death for his role in the administration of Saddam Hussein? Is this beginning of a new form of subtle protectionism in the important worldwide trade in things that will kill you?) Also, in the good news department, the one company in the U.S. that makes the drug (one of three different drugs necessary for a high-quality state-sponsored murder in the United States), Illinois-based Hospira (… in which the "Hos" stands for the tender hospital care you expect from a drug company… and the "spira" stands for the respiratory arrest that the drug will ensure its victims do not feel as it happens to them…) does plan to resume production as soon as they work out some raw materials sourcing problems, although they say new supplies won't be available until the beginning of next year. So, there are some good American jobs being protected. And in the meantime, we can comfort ourselves knowing that we are importing our replacement sodium thiopental from a first-rate, English-speaking, industrial power… albeit one that will commemorate in 4 years the 50th anniversary of its last legal execution, making it one of almost 100 countries in which the barbaric practice has also been made illegal and one of perhaps 130 in which states no longer arrogate onto themselves the right to put their own citizens to death thus leaving decisions of that sort to higher, better-qualified authorities.

Apparently, we have run out of lethal injection drugs.

And now the U.S. standing among the world leaders in that business is under siege. Not only do we rank only fifth on Amnesty International...

number of Americans aged 65 and older who file for bankruptcy has increased significantly over the past two decade

number of Americans aged 65 and older who file for bankruptcy has increased significantly over the past two decades, according to a study fr...

Banks need to show evidence they own and hold the mortgage on a home when asking judges to foreclose on a property

Banks need to show evidence they own and hold the mortgage on a home when asking judges to foreclose on a property, according to a ruling is...

Wells Fargo described the mistakes as technical and said it has no plans to halt the foreclosure process.

State attorneys general investigating foreclosure practices may begin meeting with lenders this week, less than a month after JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America suspended some home seizures. Tweet 4 people Tweeted this Yahoo! BuzzShareThis “We’ve had several conference calls with major lenders,’’ Colorado Attorney General John Suthers said, declining to specify which ones. “The banks want to sit down with the attorneys general. These meetings are being set up,’’ said Suthers. All 50 states on Oct. 13 disclosed a coordinated inquiry into whether banks and loan servicers used false documents and signatures to justify hundreds of thousands of foreclosures. The probe came after JPMorgan and Ally Financial’s GMAC mortgage unit said they would stop repossessions in 23 states where courts supervise home seizures and Bank of America froze foreclosures nationwide. At least 17 states are conducting separate investigations to determine whether state laws were broken. Each state has its own foreclosure laws, and the lender’s behavior may have differed from state to state, which makes reaching a global settlement difficult, said James Tierney, of Columbia Law School. “These companies are going to act quickly to correct this,’’ Suthers said. He said it’s too early to speculate how the probes will end. Yesterday, Wells Fargo admitted it made mistakes in paperwork for thousands of foreclosure cases and promised to fix them. The San Francisco bank plans to refile documents in 55,000 cases by mid-November; it said not all had errors. Wells Fargo described the mistakes as technical and said it has no plans to halt the foreclosure process. “We don’t believe that there are instances in which the foreclosures would not have occurred otherwise,’’ said Teri Schrettenbrunner, a spokeswoman. Wells Fargo & Co.’s chief executive, John Stumpf, has declined to join Bank of America, Ally, and other banks in suspending foreclosures. This month, Stumpf said the bank is “confident that our practices, procedures, and documentation’’ are accurate. The attorneys general won’t try to shut down all foreclosures, said Washington Attorney General Rob McKenna, but “foreclosures done improperly have to be corrected. It’s not permissible to violate state law to expedite a foreclosure.’’

Wells Fargo described the mistakes as technical and said it has no plans to halt the foreclosure process.

State attorneys general investigating foreclosure practices may begin meeting with lenders this week, less than a month after JPMorgan Chase...

Spanish officials acknowledged that the country's banks and companies are having difficulty finding credit

Spanish officials acknowledged that the country's banks and companies are having difficulty finding credit, underscoring the pressure Madrid faces to pursue deep structural changes to win back investor confidence. Investors are particularly concerned that Spain would be unable to supply its banks with more capital, if needed, without emergency aid from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund. Union members march in Bilbao on Saturday, calling for a general strike in the Basque region over Spain's new labor law. Spain has been scrambling in recent weeks to convince markets that it can repair both its ballooning deficit and its troubled banking sector. Spain's Socialist government plans on Wednesday to begin pushing through a controversial labor-market overhaul that seeks to address a problem that many economists say is at the heart of Europe's economic malaise: rigid labor markets that dissuade companies from investing. One big worry has been the increasing difficulty Spanish banks have faced borrowing from other banks in the so-called interbank lending market, an important source of funding that banks rely on for short-term liquidity needs. Spanish banks—including its savings banks, or cajas—have suffered massive losses amid a steep downturn in the country's real-estate market. Spanish officials have largely been quiet on the issue but on Monday Treasury Secretary Carlos Ocaña, speaking at an economics conference, said tightness of credit for Spain "is a problem." "Obviously we do need for the markets to loosen," he added.

Spanish officials acknowledged that the country's banks and companies are having difficulty finding credit

Spanish officials acknowledged that the country's banks and companies are having difficulty finding credit, underscoring the pressure Ma...