The RTC to rise again?

By Geert De Lombaerde Posted on September 9, 2009 at 8:11 am

Investment Dealers’ Digest says banking regulators are seriously considering creating a bad-asset management entity modeled on the Resolution Trust Corp. from 20 years ago.

“They are very, very keen to ensure it does not repeat itself,” says the industry participant who attended meetings with the FDIC about the RTC. “My guess is they’ll have the spirit of the PPIP investment plan where the investors share both upside and downside with the U.S. government.”

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Tags: credit, distressed assets, Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., financial institutions, financial regulation, loan losses, Resolution Trust Corp., special assets  

Banks’ foreclosure juggling act

By Geert De Lombaerde Posted on September 1, 2009 at 10:18 am

Many of the bankers who have wrestled with a rising tide of foreclosures since last summer will soon begin to put large numbers of those properties back on the market. And that could come with a whole new round of problems for both the housing market and the banking sector.

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Tags: banking, foreclosures, housing market, residential real estate, special assets  

Delayin’ and prayin’

By Geert De Lombaerde Posted on July 27, 2009 at 6:38 am

Just as banks are (maybe) getting over the worst of the housing market’s troubles, more and more people are raising red flags about the sector’s CRE exposure. And bankers may not be helping themselves by dragging their feet on loans gone bad.

“The rate at which these troubled loans are being resolved has been sluggish,” James Helsel, treasurer of the National Association of Realtors, told the Joint Economic Committee July 10. “Over $60 billion in assets have become distressed this year but only $4 billion worth of commercial loans have been resolved so far.”

SEE ALSO: The billions the SBA had to buy back from lenders last year.

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Tags: banking, commercial real estate, lending, loan losses, National Association of Realtors, special assets, U.S. Small Business Administration  

Nashville loans also a pain in Synovus’ you-know-what

By Geert De Lombaerde Posted on July 24, 2009 at 6:43 am

Synovus Financial, the parent company of The Bank of Nashville, says it has its hands full with its loan portfolio in Nashville and Memphis. The Bank of Nashville lost almost $70 million in the year ended March 31, mostly due to asset writedowns.

SEE ALSO: Synovus’ earnings and similar messages from Green Bankshares and Cadence Financial as well as a sobering thought from Pinnacle CEO Terry Turner

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Tags: banking, loan losses, special assets, Synovus Financial Corp., The Bank of Nashville  

Cadence: It’s all your fault, Nashville

By Geert De Lombaerde Posted on July 23, 2009 at 9:28 am

Mississippi-based bank holding company Cadence Financial (Ticker: CADE) says it’s beefing up its special-asset staff to handle its large load of sour Middle Tennessee loans. In the banking equivalent of running to the hills, the bank slashed its local real estate portfolio by about $40 million in the second quarter.

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Tags: banking, Cadence Financial Corp., earnings reports, loans, Mississippi, residential real estate, special assets