Finance

Approximately $2.6 Billion in Writedowns From Improvement in Company Credit Spreads; Terminating Government Guarantee Term Sheet Costs $402 Million

CHARLOTTE, N.C., Oct. 16 -- Bank of America Corporation (NYSE: BAC) today reported a third-quarter 2009 net loss of $1.0 billion. After deducting preferred dividends of $1.2 billion, including $893 million related to dividends paid to the U.S. government, the diluted loss per share was $0.26.

Those results compared with net income of $1.2 billion, or diluted earnings per share of $0.15, during the year-ago period.

Through the first nine months of the year, the company had net income of $6.5 billion, or $0.39 per share after preferred dividends, compared with $5.8 billion, or $1.09 per share a year earlier.    » read more »

October 15, 2009 -- Washington, DC -- Congressman Paul Hodes, a member of the House Financial Services Committee, released the following statement after a telephone press conference on reforming financial services and credit card company practices. Congressman Hodes was joined on the call by Dartmouth Professor Karl Griswold.

Professor Griswold’s credit card company arbitrarily lowered his credit limit while he was seeking to purchase his first home. This lowered credit line resulted in a deduction in his overall credit score and has hurt his buying power as he continues his search for a first home.    » read more »

October 16, 2009 -- WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer (D-NY) urged the Federal Reserve Friday to take a tougher approach on overdraft fees that banks impose on their customers, expressing fear that the regulator’s planned crackdown on the abusive practice won’t go far enough and adding that the Fed’s slowness to act on the issue shows the need for a new consumer watchdog agency.    » read more »

October 15, 2009 -- America's workers appreciate Chairman Frank's efforts yesterday to strengthen the Over-the-Counter Derivatives Markets Act of 2009. However, the final bill that goes to the House floor needs to go further to protect taxpayers and our economy from a repeat of what happened at AIG.

The final bill should:

· Require all standardized derivatives be traded on exchanges that are transparent and require capital to back up risk;

· Have no exceptions for overseas trades or foreign currency trades;

· Prevent regulatory arbitrage by having the SEC regulate derivatives tied to securities and the CFTC regulate derivatives tied to commodities; and    » read more »

Compensation Estimates Highlight Need for Reforms; Statement of Robert Weissman, President, Public Citizen

Oct. 15, 2009 -- Note: U.S. banks and securities firms are on track to pay a record $140 billion in compensation to staff - more than at the peak of 2007, according to a recent Wall Street Journal analysis.    » read more »

CtW report: Chamber CEO Tom Donohue has hijacked the Chamber’s agenda

October 15, 2009 --
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Preaching free enterprise, U.S. Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Thomas J. Donohue leads the Chamber’s attack on the financial reforms essential to restore employment and the economy. He cloaks the Chamber’s staunch opposition in the most expensive rhetoric money can buy. But Donohue’s pro-business, pro-economy and pro-jobs rhetoric notwithstanding, the Chamber’s record under his leadership is none of those things. It is pro-CEO.    » read more »

October 15, 2009

Washington, D.C. – Rep. Brad Miller (NC-D) and Rep. Dennis Moore (KS-D) filed an amendment to the Consumer Financial Protection Agency (CFPA) bill today designed to generate broader support among Democrats for the financial regulation reform bill proposed to crackdown on lending practices that led to the current economic crisis.

The amendment allows banks with less than $10 billion in assets and credit unions with less than $1.5 billion in assets to be exempt from examination by a new CFPA agency in addition to federal bank regulators. The CFPA would remain the primary examiner for consumer protection rules for 150 banks with more than $10 billion in assets.    » read more »

October 15, 2009 -- Today Congressman Dan Maffei joined a majority of his colleagues on the Financial Services Committee to pass legislation that will overhaul the market for financial derivatives. Today’s bill, which was approved by a vote of 43-26, represents a key part of a broader effort by Congress and President Obama to modernize America’s financial regulatory system in response to last year’s financial crisis.    » read more »

15 October 2009 -- WASHINGTON, D.C. – In these tough economic times, many small businesses are struggling to acquire the financial resources they need to succeed and grow. Representative Ann Kirkpatrick, a member of the House Small Business Committee, is working hard to help them during the downturn and has introduced a bill to make it easier for them to access investment capital. A hearing was held today on H.R. 3722, which will reform two critical Small Business Administration (SBA) programs to more effectively serve our entrepreneurs.    » read more »

WASHINGTON, DC- On the heels of a strongly-worded letter to the CitiGroup CEO requesting major credit card companies, including Citigroup, avoid changing credit card account terms before federal regulations on the industry take effect early next year, U.S. Congressman John Boccieri (D-Alliance) today with 17 of his House colleagues sent a letter to the Chief Executive Officer of Wells Fargo bank, calling on him to reverse his bank's recent decision to suddenly increase rates on their customers by 3 percent, and join other credit card companies who have pledged to not increase rates in advance of the effective date of the Credit Card Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure Act of 2009 (Credit CARD Act).    » read more »

October 14, 2009 -- WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Congressman Marion Berry (AR-01) and Ron Pollack, Executive Director of Families USA, hosted a conference call to discuss a report issued today by Families USA that analyzes the number of uninsured in Arkansas. The report estimates approximately 28,300 people in Arkansas lost health insurance coverage in 2009 due to a rise in unemployment.    » read more »

14 October 2009 -- NISKAYUNA, New York and Herzliya, Israel, October 14, 2009 – SolarEdge, whose technology increases solar power systems’ output by up to 25 percent, announced today that GE (NYSE: GE) unit GE Energy Financial Services has joined a US$23 million funding round to support growth in residential and large-scale photovoltaic sites.

SolarEdge’s other investors are US venture capital leaders Opus Capital and Walden International, the Israeli funds Genesis Partners and Vertex Venture Capital, and the Singaporean fund JP Capital Asia.    » read more »

October 14, 2009 -- Washington, DC – U.S. Senator Tim Johnson, Chairman of the Senate Banking Committee’s Subcommittee on Financial Institutions, held a hearing today that focused on the current conditions of our nation’s financial institutions and examined the continuing challenges institutions face.    » read more »

In Oval Office meeting, discusses proposal to create special process to get deficits under control

October 14, 2009 -- Washington –One day after a private Oval Office meeting with President Obama to discuss his concerns about mounting federal deficits, Senator Evan Bayh (D-IN) today urged the leader of the Senate to endorse an independent debt-fighting panel to get America’s fiscal house in order.    » read more »

October 9, 2009 -- Washington, D.C. – Speaker Nancy Pelosi released the following statement today after President Obama delivered remarks at the White House on the need for a consumer financial protection agency to protect the financial interests of America’s families.

“Congress is working with President Obama to protect American taxpayers by ushering in an era of honesty, fairness, transparency, and accountability in our financial marketplace and preventing the abusive anti-consumer practices that resulted in the worst global financial crisis since the Great Depression. We will help achieve this goal by establishing a consumer financial protection agency, whose sole purpose is to protect the financial interests of America’s families.    » read more »