Category: Banking and Finance
Banking and Finance
By Michael Schwartz
michael.schwartz@insidebiz.com
Like their banking counterparts, the nation's credit unions recorded a profit for the year after consecutive years of combined losses, according to the latest reports filed with the National Credit Union Administration.
The nation's 7,554 federally insured credit unions reported combined net income during 2009 of $1.2 billion, compared to the $914 million combined profit reported by federally insured banks.
By Michael Schwartz
michael.schwartz@insidebiz.com
If you combine the 2009 annual earnings of local banks in the same manner the FDIC does for its national report, the picture looks ugly.
For the year, the 12 banks headquartered in the Hampton Roads metropolitan statistical area reported a combined loss of $92.66 million, according to the latest FDIC figures. That's compared to a combined profit of $42.2 million those same banks earned in 2008.
But that figure doesn't tell the whole story.
By Michael Schwartz
michael.schwartz@insidebiz.com
Old Point National Bank revealed last week its plans to build an $8 million, five-story, 50,000-square-foot headquarters building in downtown Hampton, reaffirming and expanding its claim to the largest market share of any bank operating in the city.
It's the first big local bank headquarters expansion announcement in the region since 2008 when the now-extinct parent of Gateway Bank & Trust said it would move its headquarters to the still unrealized tower at Virginia Beach's Town Center.
By Michael Schwartz
michael.schwartz@insidebiz.com
"It's not that this is a strong quarter; it's simply that everything was so bad a year ago."
That about summed up FDIC Chairman Sheila Bair's take on the banking industry's performance in the fourth quarter 2009. Things were not as bad as 2008, but still not good, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.'s release last week of combined financial results of all federally insured banks.
By Michael Schwartz
michael.schwartz@insidebiz.com
The federal government's plan to offer capital infusions to community development financial institutions couldn't have come at a more opportune time for NCP Community Development Federal Credit Union.
By Michael Schwartz
michael.schwartz@insidebiz.com
A recent tussle over a bill introduced in the General Assembly shows how powerful and combative the state's bank and credit union lobbies can be.
What began as a bill aimed at opening the door for a federal credit union to merge with a state-chartered bank ended up a compromise piece that only would allow state credit unions to convert to mutual savings banks.
By Michael Schwartz
michael.schwartz@insidebiz.com
Virginia, along with many other states, is considering legislation that would seek to regulate appraisal management companies, mostly unregulated firms that act as middlemen between parties in the real estate appraisal process.
By Michael Schwartz
michael.schwartz@insidebiz.com
Chesapeake-based Monarch Financial Holdings last week completed the final step needed to buy itself out of its ties to the Troubled Asset Relief Program and partial federal government ownership, making it the first local financial institution to officially un-TARP.
By Philip Newswanger
philip.newswanger@insidebiz.com
Loans for commercial properties are gaining steam, according to the latest quarterly survey from the Mortgage Bankers Association.
Nationwide loans made during the fourth quarter of 2009 grew 12 percent from the same period in 2008.
Loans also grew by 15 percent for the fourth quarter compared to the third quarter of 2009.
The average loan size also increased to $11 million in the fourth quarter of 2009 from $9 million in the same quarter in 2008.
By Michael Schwartz
michael.schwartz@insidebiz.com
The Treasury Department has extended its Troubled Asset Relief Program to offer capital infusions to community development financial institutions, those banks, thrifts and credit unions that serve low-income areas.
The plan allocates up to $1 billion in TARP funds to be lent to certain CDFIs with the goal of stimulating economic activity in those areas that the government deems some of the hardest hit by the recession.
