“International Personal Finance Says Profit Drops on Bad Loans (Bloomberg)” plus 3 more |
- International Personal Finance Says Profit Drops on Bad Loans (Bloomberg)
- Debate on education loans — Our view: Student lenders scramble to save their sweet deal (USA Today)
- Lauth wants loans modified (The Indianapolis Star)
- Emirates NBD Business Banking sponsors Why Personal Branding seminar (Zawya)
| International Personal Finance Says Profit Drops on Bad Loans (Bloomberg) Posted: 03 Mar 2010 01:51 AM PST [fivefilters.org: unable to retrieve full-text content] March 3 (Bloomberg) -- International Personal Finance Plc , a U.K. lender that makes unsecured loans to low-income households overseas, said 2009 profit declined 35 percent as the recession boosted impairments. |
| Debate on education loans — Our view: Student lenders scramble to save their sweet deal (USA Today) Posted: 03 Mar 2010 09:22 PM PST Obama's plan is to ax the private loans and replace them by expanding an existing program of direct government loans, one that already makes up 37% of the student loan market. The reasoning is that if taxpayers bear the risks, they should reap the rewards. Cutting out the middleman makes a lot of sense. But after months of lobbying and contributing to congressional campaigns, banks are close to blocking or greatly watering down the proposal. According to the non-partisan Center for Responsive Politics, the largest student lender, Virginia-based Sallie Mae , spent about $3.5 million on lobbying last year. It has hired a number of leading Democratic lobbyists, including Tony Podesta, brother of Obama's transition chief John Podesta , to make sure the Obama plan, which has passed in the House, dies in the Senate. The opponents' argument is a familiar one: When government tries to be prudent with taxpayer money by driving a hard bargain or eliminating waste, it is actually being anti-business. This line has been sold repeatedly in the halls of Congress. In the health care arena, it means that Medicare is barred from bargaining with drug companies, even though it is by far their biggest customer and is spending taxpayers' money. In high finance, prudent action to limit the risks by megabanks is spun by Wall Street as Big Government regulation. In the case of student lending, banks have at least tacitly acknowledged that the money they've made off education loans has been excessive. Many of them are backing a counterproposal, circulated by Sen. Robert Casey , D-Pa., that would maintain their role as the originators and servicers of student loans (using taxpayer capital) while setting their compensation levels well below where they have been. This idea has two problems. The banks' compensation would be a political decision that future politicians could be persuaded to increase. And the measure would maintain the sometimes unhealthy relationship banks have with colleges, where financial aid officials have been wined and dined, and sometimes bribed, by banks angling to be chosen as a school's "preferred lender." Student lending is small compared with health care or global finance. But even in Washington, $87 billion is still a lot of money that could be put to far better use. Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction. |
| Lauth wants loans modified (The Indianapolis Star) Posted: 04 Mar 2010 12:08 AM PST Trying to pave its re-entry from bankruptcy, Lauth Investment Properties has proposed loan modifications with lenders on a third of its real estate holdings. One problem: Lauth's main equity partner rejects the deals, calling them "smoke and mirrors" that benefit mostly Lauth executives, including company Chairman Robert Lauth. The fight over the loan modifications is the latest development in the 10-month-old bankruptcy case involving Carmel- based Lauth, once the nation's 13th-largest commercial developer and now reduced to a company of just 37 employees. The modifications, if approved, could help Lauth toward its goal of rearranging its debts and emerging from bankruptcy with top management intact and still in control of many of its prime properties. Lauth seeks bankruptcy court approval of renegotiated loan terms on 13 projects, including office and retail holdings in the Indianapolis area, Denver and Virginia Beach, Va. Bank of America, Wells Fargo and M&I banks have agreed to modify $225 million in short-term loans on the properties. Changed terms include extended repayment dates, higher interest rates and collateral from additional projects, but precious little money down. With only $15 million in cash available to it, Lauth couldn't afford to pay down all of the loans, some of which are in default, said Gary Axelrod, an attorney for Kirkland & Ellis of Chicago, Lauth's main bankruptcy counsel. "We simply don't have a lot of cash to throw at the problem," he said. Lauth's hope is that if the first modifications are approved, other lenders might follow suit, he said. But Lauth hasn't gotten the blessings of its one-time equity partner Inland American Real Estate Trust of Chicago, which invested $225 million in Lauth projects and has seen the value of its stake plummet to a current estimated value of $10 million. In a court filing Monday, Inland called the proposed loan modifications "disguised plans of reorganization" that are "designed not to maximize value for the estate but rather to allow Robert Lauth and the debtors' other insiders to minimize, if not eliminate, their exposure on their personal guarantees" on the projects involved in the deals. Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Emirates NBD Business Banking sponsors Why Personal Branding seminar (Zawya) Posted: 03 Mar 2010 06:15 AM PST • Sponsorship of event in line with commitment to supporting growth of SME sector in UAE and wider region Dubai, March 3, 2010: Emirates NBDEmirates NBD
Led by Lesley Everett, a leading authority on personal branding and executive presence, and the author of Walking TALL: Key Steps to Total Image Impact, this event provided practical insights into building a powerful and sustainable personal brand.
Emirates NBDEmirates NBD
"In today's extremely competitive environment, successfully building and maintaining a personal brand is critical to increasing the visibility of small and medium-sized businesses," he said. "As the leading provider of products and services tailored to meet the needs of this segment, we are very pleased to provide our support for this unique event."
Emirates NBDEmirates NBD
- Ends -
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© Press Release 2010 Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction. |
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