“Colonial BancGroup Shut Down By Feds In Biggest US Bank Failure This ... - Huffingtonpost.com” plus 4 more

Colonial BancGroup Shut Down By Feds In Biggest US Bank Failure This ... - Huffingtonpost.com
Moonwalking to the bank - Columbus Dispatch
BB&T now state's fourth largest bank - Everything Alabama Blog
Union Bank of India inks MoU with ONICRA - Top News India
Fujitsu Deploys Fully-Functional Smartphones for JA Bank Hyogo - Consumer Electronics Net

Colonial BancGroup Shut Down By Feds In Biggest US Bank Failure This ... - Huffingtonpost.com

Posted: 15 Aug 2009 07:02 AM PDT

MARCY GORDON, AP Business Writer Marcy Gordon, Ap Business Writer

WASHINGTON - Real estate lender Colonial BancGroup Inc. has been shut down by federal officials in the biggest U.S. bank failure this year.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., which was appointed receiver of the Montgomery, Ala.-based Colonial and its about $25 billion in assets, said the failed bank's 346 branches in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Nevada and Texas will reopen at the normal times starting on Saturday as offices of Winston-Salem, N.C.-based BB&T.

The FDIC has approved the sale of Colonial's $20 billion in deposits and about $22 billion of its assets to BB&T Corp.

Regulators also closed four other banks: Community Bank of Arizona, based in Phoenix; Union Bank, based in Gilbert, Ariz.; Community Bank of Nevada, based in Las Vegas; and Dwelling House Savings and Loan Association, located in Pittsburgh.

The closures boosted to 77 the number of federally insured banks that have failed in 2009.

The agency established a temporary government bank for Community Bank of Nevada to give depositors about 30 days to open accounts at other financial institutions. The failed bank had assets of $1.52 billion and deposits of $1.38 billion as of June 30.

Community Bank of Arizona had assets of $158.5 million and deposits of $143.8 million as of June 30, while Union Bank had assets of $124 million and deposits of $112 million as of June 12. The FDIC said that MidFirst Bank, based in Oklahoma City, has agreed to assume all the deposits and $125.5 million of the assets of Community Bank of Arizona, as well as about $24 million of the deposits and $11 million of the assets of Union Bank. The FDIC will retain the rest for eventual sale.

Dwelling House had $13.4 million in assets and $13.8 million in deposits as of March 31. PNC Bank, part of Pittsburgh-based PNC Financial Services Group Inc., has agreed to assume all of Dwelling House's deposits and about $3 million of its assets; the FDIC will retain the rest for eventual sale.

The failure of Colonial is expected to cost the deposit insurance fund an estimated $2.8 billion and that of Community Bank of Nevada, $781.5 million; Union Bank, $61 million; Community Bank of Arizona, $25.5 million; and Dwelling House, $6.8 million.

The 77 bank failures nationwide this year compare with 25 last year and three in 2007.

As the economy has soured -- with unemployment rising, home prices tumbling and loan defaults soaring -- bank failures have cascaded and sapped billions out of the deposit insurance fund. It now stands at its lowest level since 1993, $13 billion as of the first quarter.

While losses on home mortgages may be leveling off, delinquencies on commercial real estate loans remain a hot spot of potential trouble, FDIC officials say. If the recession deepens, defaults on the high-risk loans could spike. Many regional banks hold large numbers of them.

The number of banks on the FDIC's list of problem institutions leaped to 305 in the first quarter -- the highest number since 1994 during the savings and loan crisis -- from 252 in the fourth quarter. The FDIC expects U.S. bank failures to cost the insurance fund around $70 billion through 2013.

The May closing of struggling Florida thrift BankUnited FSB is expected to cost the insurance fund $4.9 billion, the second-largest hit since the financial crisis began. The costliest was the July 2008 seizure of big California lender IndyMac Bank, on which the insurance fund is estimated to have lost $10.7 billion.

The largest U.S. bank failure ever also came last year: Seattle-based thrift Washington Mutual Inc. fell in September, with about $307 billion in assets. It was acquired by JPMorgan Chase & Co. for $1.9 billion in a deal brokered by the FDIC.

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Moonwalking to the bank - Columbus Dispatch

Posted: 15 Aug 2009 04:46 AM PDT

LAS VEGAS -- Michael Jackson impersonator Frederick Henry had to go overseas to find steady work in recent years as the pop star's behavior got weirder and weirder. Many of his colleagues quit the business altogether.

But in the past few weeks, Henry's act at the Stratosphere in Las Vegas has become so hot the hotel-casino had to beef up security to keep fans from swarming him after the show.

"It's been crazy," Henry said. "But it's all in fun -- they're showing love."

The King of Pop's death has had an electrifying effect on business for those who make their living imitating Jackson in all his moonwalking, crotch-grabbing glory.

One club proprietor hopes to launch a permanent Jackson show by the star's birthday in late August, and booking agents have seen surges in applications from would-be impersonators and calls for their services.

In a town in which guys made up like Elvis will marry you or sing Viva Las Vegas at your private party, Royal Talent, a booking agency for impersonators, said its Michael Jackson act is the most requested.

Kenny Wizz, who has played the King of Pop since 1984, said: "It's a whole other ballgame. It's like wildfire now."

The Stratosphere recently revamped its billboard and magazine ads for its American Superstars show to feature only Jackson, even though the show includes five performers impersonating other music celebrities.

Henry became a full-time Jackson impersonator in 1995 and took the act overseas during Jackson's later years. Things were tough then in the United States as Jackson battled allegations of child molestation.

Everything changed when Jackson died June 25.

"Now is the time to shine again," Henry told fellow Jackson impersonators on a MySpace blog. "It's been a long time for some of us Michaels to survive."

They responded with pledges to step up their acts, practice harder and sing better out of respect for the star and his fans.

Impersonators aren't the only ones hoping to profit from the outpouring of fan interest after the singer's death. A probate judge has signed off on a movie deal, and Jackson's estate wants to put trading cards, calendars and other memorabilia on the market.

Some say Jackson's estate could be as lucrative as Elvis Presley's, which earned $55 million last year.

A recent show at Stratosphere went on with typical Vegas kitsch. A sweaty Elvis wearing gold and sequins serenaded a middle-aged audience member, and fans watched as a scantily clad Britney Spears impersonator tousled a man's hair. The tension peaked when the lights dropped and Billie Jean came on.

Out of a cloud of stage fog and spotlights, Michael Jackson materialized in a red jacket, white glove and thick eyeliner. Fans hooted as he did the moonwalk. They sang along on some of the choruses. They were enthralled when he descended from the stage and summoned a 10-year-old girl to dance with him as he sang in a soft falsetto.

Colleen, Fremont and Alex Courson of Dallas said they came to see both Jackson and Elvis and agreed both stars have Vegas staying power.

"Michael will be there just as long as Elvis," Colleen Courson said.

Lisa Bannock, 48, of Aurora, Colo., sat in the front row at the Stratosphere show and touched the Jackson look-alike's hand. "He was very good -- he knew all the moves," she said.

After the show, Henry posed for photos with fans, wearing a bandanna over his face just as the real Jackson did. Henry had taken off some of his chalky makeup and stripped away the medical tape that gives him a thin nose like Jackson's surgically altered one.

Fourteen years after getting his start as a "Mike," Henry said he never gets tired of performing as "the greatest entertainer that ever lived." He also has a "big, fat contract" at the Stratosphere.

"I love it. I love it!" he said. "Plus, the check's nice."

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BB&T now state's fourth largest bank - Everything Alabama Blog

Posted: 15 Aug 2009 03:20 AM PDT

"Colonial had a very storied history, but like always, people remember what happens in the last 12 months, and a lot of what they've done in this state is going to be diminished by how they've gone down."

Andreas Rauterkus, assistant finance professor, UAB

• BB&T of North Carolina acquires Colonial Bank, which was seized by Alabama regulators Montgomery's Colonial Bank was seized late Friday by state regulators and was acquired by BB&T Corp. of North Carolina in a spectacular collapse that marked the sixth-largest bank failure in U.S. history.

Winston-Salem, N.C.-based BB&T Corp. went from having one of the smallest presences in Alabama to one of the largest Friday when regulators approved a takeover of Colonial Bank.

North Carolina's oldest bank is not a complete newbie in Alabama, but its takeover of Colonial greatly increases its footprint in the state.

State and federal officials moved in on Colonial Friday and brought BB&T in to run the failed Montgomery-based bank.

The move means BB&T goes from operating three branches in Alabama to 93 when the banks open back up on Monday.

The two banks have a larger overlap in Florida and Georgia. The move means BB&T will now have operations in Texas and Nevada where Colonial had operated but BB&T did not. BB&T also operates in eight other states and Washington, D.C.

The lack of a large overlap between the two banking companies could mean branches and jobs are saved as BB&T starts making decisions about which operations to continue.

Unlike the typical financial holding company structure of most banks, BB&T operates its banks as community bank subsidiaries, complete with regional presidents who oversee clusters of banks and make local decisions.

Tony Plath, banking professor at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, does his banking at BB&T. His school also educates members of the bank's management team.

"They became adept at buying small institutions and consolidating them into a single culture, a single sales platform and a single infrastructure," he said.

The bank moves in and cuts redundancies and inefficiencies of the small institutions and introduces a better product line, Plath said.

Plath said BB&T is a conservative lender that focuses on small and medium size business -- attributes that have served it well as the financial crisis tightened.

But the humble, "don't get too big for your britches" mindset has long been a part of BB&T, Plath said.

Alpheus Branch, the son of a Halifax farmer, started the bank in 1872 along with Thomas Jefferson Hadley, who was organizing the first public school system around Wilson, N.C., after the Civil War.

The Branch and Hadley Bank's business mostly assisted farmers and small businesses in rebuilding after the war. Branch bought Hadley's interest for $81,000 in 1887 and changed the name to Branch and Company Bankers.

In 1889, Branch, his father-in-law Gen. Joshua Barnes, Hadley, J.F. Bruton, R.L. Thompson and Walter Brodie secured a charter from the North Carolina Legislature to operate the Wilson Banking and Trust Co., which later became Branch Banking and Co.

In 1900, Branch and Company Bankers, was sold to Branch Banking and Company, holder of the state charter and in 1913, the charter was amended to change the name to Branch Banking and Trust Company, or BB&T today.

A 'meritocracy'
Plath said the bank has made its name both on the way it operates and with its expansion strategy.

Plath called BB&T a "meritocracy" with lots of emphasis on hard work and discipline. He said the personality of the bank was driven by chief executive Kelly King and former executives Henry Williams and John Allison, who is now chairman.

"They're not an elegant or sophisticated or snobbish bank," Plath said. "They're down to earth, with an emphasis on ethics, honesty and team building."

BB&T did reluctantly accept $3.1 billion in Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) money from the feds, but paid it back at the first opportunity.

Allison was spotlighted in an Aug. 2, New York Times story that centered on his devotion to Ayn Rand, the author of the anti-government tome "Atlas Shrugged" that is experiencing a resurgence in sales.

In the Times story, Allison called TARP a "rip-off" and the government's latest round of involvement in corporate America "a nightmare for anyone who supports individual rights."

Plath said Allison, King and Williams were the architects of BB&T's modern expansion strategy.

Since 1989, the company has purchased 60 community banks and thrifts, more than 85 insurance companies and more than 35 financial services companies.

It is the largest bank in West Virginia and the second largest in Virginia and North Carolina in terms of market share. It is also the third largest in South Carolina and the fourth largest in Kentucky.

With Colonial's operations, BB&T will become the fourth largest bank in Alabama. The takeover will also improve its current ranking from 11th to fifth in Florida and it will remain the fourth largest in Georgia.

"We're gaining solid market shares in great markets in Alabama, Florida and Georgia," King said in a prepared statement Friday.

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Union Bank of India inks MoU with ONICRA - Top News India

Posted: 15 Aug 2009 03:49 AM PDT

Union Bank of India, one of the largest Public Sector Banks, has entered into an MOU with ONICRA Credit Rating Agency of India Ltd.

By signing the pact with ONICRA, Union Bank of India is anticipating expansion of its MSME customer base and at the same time it aims in bringing the awareness among its customers about the credit rating.

ONICRA is a specialized Credit Rating Agency, which offers spectrum of services to MSMEs exclusively. The company has network of 150 inter-connected offices covering over 400 locations and is actively involved in creating awareness about rating among MSMEs.

The company's services include MSME Performance and Credit Rating, Associate Rating, Employee Background Screening, Customer Profiling & Rating etc.