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| Friday, November 20, 2009 |
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ANALYSIS
March 2, 2009
Sagging Index no longer reflects what’s going on in the market, some say, Replacements? Google it, to start.
March 2, 2009
Downward price spiral will actually boost the cost of capital for most companies. CFOS, take note.
March 2, 2009
The latest bailout at AIG could be a preview of how the president will deal with Wall Street.
March 2, 2009
No corporate defaults. Big debt offerings. Percolating CP issuance. Things may be looking up in the capital markets.
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March 4, 2009 3:25 PM ET
Federal banking regulators knew as far back as 2002 about problems at First National Bank Holding Co.’s banks in Arizona, California and Nevada, but failed to act until shortly before their demise last year. This criticism of the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency—served up today by the Treasury Department’s inspector general—echoed the IG's blast last week of the lax oversight of IndyMac by the U.S. Office of Thrift Supervision. The two reports are likely to fuel moves in Congress for a toughening of federal banking oversight. First National Bank Holding Co. of Scottsdale, Arizona, which described itself as the Southwest’s largest privately held family-owned banking institution, incurred significant losses from its commercial and residential real estate loans, today’s report said. Auditors traced these losses in part to weak management by the banks, which were owned by Raymond A. Lamb. Lamb created a corporate culture that regulators “considered to be high-risk and one that emphasized growth and profits over appropriate risk management,” the report said. The IG claimed First National’s management failed to address repeated regulatory concerns about the bank’s underwriting, loan concentrations and accounting. Regulators said the executives “directly caused” the bank’s problems, according to the report. Yet the OCC failed to act for six years, auditors for the IG said. “We believe that OCC should have taken formal enforcement action much sooner and was not aggressive enough in the supervision of the banks when problems first arose,” the inspector general report said. As of Dec. 31, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.’s insurance fund had recorded a $739 million loss from the collapse of First National Bank of Nevada, First Heritage Bank of Newport Beach, California, and First National Bank of Arizona. IndyMac’s failure is likely to cost the FDIC insurance fund $8.5 billion to $9.4 billion, the agency said in January. Comptroller of the Currency John Dugan said “it is appropriate to take additional measures to reinforce certain expectations and requirements to our examining staff.” The agency’s senior management plans to reiterate to bank examiners “the importance of ensuring that banks take timely actions to address examination findings,” he said in a Feb. 25 letter attached to the report. Lamb could not be reached for comment. He is identified on the “Linked-In” web site as being “El Presidente” of Bankers Consulting Co. in Phoenix. However, the company is not listed in directory assistance and does not appear to have a web site. He also has an unpublished residential number in Phoenix, which is listed as his home on campaign contributions. He donated $2,000 to the campaigns of Senator John McCain (R, Ariz.) in 2004 and 2006, and $3,500 to Arizona’s other Republican senator, Jon Kyl, in 2006, according to CampaignMoney.com. In 2002, Lamb erupted in anger at an OCC examiner, the Wall Street Journal reported last October, citing two people in the room. The agency later raised its quality rating on bank assets from a 3 to a 2, on a scale of 1 to 5. It also reassigned the examiner, according to the newspaper. (Editor's note: To see copy of the Inspector General’s report, "CLICK HERE")
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