by Calculated Risk on 1/08/2010 07:15:00 PM

This is an unofficial list of Problem Banks compiled only from public sources.

Changes and comments from surferdude808:

The Unofficial Problem Bank List changed by a net of one institution this week to 576 with assets of $304.8 billion.

Additions include North Valley Bank, Redding, CA ($910 million); First Trade Union Bank, Boston, MA ($690 million); Wheatland Bank, Naperville, IL ($481 million); and Decatur First Bank, Decatur, GA ($241 million).

Removals are terminations of Formal Agreements issued by the OCC against First National Bank of Baldwin County, Foley, AL ($263 million); Capitol National Bank, Lansing, MI ($229 million); and First National Bank of Wyoming, Laramie, WY ($218 million). These removals could be temporary as the OCC may be converting the action against these banks from a Formal Agreement to a Consent Order. The OCC is much prompter in posting its terminations than its new actions.

Other changes to list this week are Prompt Corrective Action orders being issued against banks-- Mainstreet Savings Bank, FSB, and Sun American Bank -- that are
already operating under a formal action.

The list is compiled from regulator press releases or from public news sources (see Enforcement Action Type link for source). The FDIC data is released monthly with a delay, and the Fed and OTC data is more timely. The OCC data is a little lagged. Credit: surferdude808.

See description below table for Class and Cert (and a link to FDIC ID system).

For a full screen version of the table click here.

The table is wide - use scroll bars to see all information!

NOTE: Columns are sortable - click on column header (Assets, State, Bank Name, Date, etc.)



Class: from FDIC

The FDIC assigns classification codes indicating an institution's charter type (commercial bank, savings bank, or savings association), its chartering agent (state or federal government), its Federal Reserve membership status (member or nonmember), and its primary federal regulator (state-chartered institutions are subject to both federal and state supervision). These codes are:

N National chartered commercial bank supervised by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency

SM State charter Fed member commercial bank supervised by the Federal Reserve

NM State charter Fed nonmember commercial bank supervised by the FDIC

SA State or federal charter savings association supervised by the Office of Thrift Supervision

SB State charter savings bank supervised by the FDIC

Cert: This is the certificate number assigned by the FDIC used to identify institutions and for the issuance of insurance certificates. Click on the number and the Institution Directory (ID) system "will provide the last demographic and financial data filed by the selected institution".

by Calculated Risk on 1/08/2010 04:14:00 PM

First a summary of employment posts, and some other stories:
• Employment Report: 85K Jobs Lost, 10% Unemployment Rate for graphs of unemployment rate and a comparison to previous recessions.

• Seasonal Employment-Population Ratio, Part Time Workers, Temporary Workers

• Unemployed over 26 Weeks, Diffusion Index, Seasonal Retail Hiring

And other stories:
• From SacBee: Schwarzenegger declares budget emergency, proposes deep cuts

• From Bloomberg: Soured Non-Agency Mortgages Rise to 1.81 Million

• From Bloomberg: Tishman, BlackRock to Miss Stuyvesant Town Payment

HAMP 2nd Lien Program Update

In an email exchange with me, Treasury spokesperson Meg Reilly clarified the status of the HAMP 2nd Lien program today. Ms. Reilly told me the program is "moving forward", and although there are no "official contracts signed yet, ... servicers are committing to the program". She characterized the email received¹ by Tom Lawler from HAMP administration as "misleading" (I think that means "incorrect").

Ms. Reilly also wrote:

The Second Lien program is moving forward. Treasury has been working to create program infrastructure and technology, including a new platform that matches second liens to first liens modified under HAMP. Because there has not been a systematic method of notification to second lien holders when a first lien on the same property is modified, ramp up has taken some time. We have made enormous progress and continue to move forward with innovative technological development and program implementation and expect to finalize servicer contracts soon.

¹ Mr. Lawler has shared with me his email exchange with HAMP administration. His questions were straightforward concerning the status of the 2nd lien program: "Is there a list of servicers who have signed up for the Second Lien Modification Program? (2MP) The last time I checked with y'all, no one had signed up yet." And the response was: "That program is currently on hold and there is no list of servicers that registered before it was placed on hold." I considered the "on hold" important news, although Treasury has clarified that today. (ht to Diana Golobay at HousingWire who contacted Treasury first).

by Calculated Risk on 1/08/2010 03:00:00 PM

The Federal Reserve reports:

Consumer credit decreased at an annual rate of 8-1/2 percent in November. Revolving credit decreased at an annual rate of 18-1/2percent, and nonrevolving credit decreased at an annual rate of 3 percent.

Click on graph for larger image in new window.

This graph shows the year-over-year (YoY) change in consumer credit. Consumer credit is off 3.9% over the last 12 months - and falling fast. The previous record YoY decline was 1.9% in 1991.

Consumer credit has declined for a record 10 straight months - and declined for 13 of the last 14 months and is now 4.5% below the peak in July 2008. It is difficult to get a robust recovery without an expansion of consumer credit - unless the recovery is built on business spending and exports (seems unlikely).

Note: The Fed reports a simple annual rate (multiplies change in month by 12) as opposed to a compounded annual rate. Consumer credit does not include real estate debt.

by Calculated Risk on 1/08/2010 01:52:00 PM

From the FDIC: FDIC Announces Winning Bidder of $1 Billion in Loans

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) has closed on a sale of an equity interest in a limited liability company (LLC) created to hold certain assets out of 22 failed bank receiverships. ...

A total of 21 groups submitted bids to purchase a 40 percent ownership interest in the newly formed LLC. The participating FDIC receiverships will hold the remaining 60 percent equity interest in the LLC.

The FDIC as Receiver for the failed banks conveyed to the LLC a portfolio of approximately 1200 distressed commercial real estate loans, of which seventy percent were delinquent. Collectively, the loans have an unpaid principal balance of $1.02 billion. Seventy-five percent of the collateral of the portfolio is located in Georgia, California, Nevada and Florida. The participating FDIC receiverships provided financing to the LLC by issuing approximately $233 million of corporate guaranteed notes. Colony Capital paid a total of approximately $90.5 million (net of working capital) in cash for its 40 percent equity stake in the LLC, which equals approximately 44 percent of the unpaid principal balance of the assets. As the LLC's managing equity owner, Colony Capital will provide for the management, servicing and ultimate disposition of the LLC's assets.
...
All of the loans were from banks that have failed during the past 18 months.

That is a reminder that today is the first "Bank Failure Friday" of 2010 - and that most of the bank failures this year will be because of CRE loans.

by Calculated Risk on 1/08/2010 10:59:00 AM

The underlying details of the employment report are mostly weak. A couple of exceptions are the manufacturing diffusion index has increased significantly over the last couple of months (see below), and temporary help hiring has been strong (see previous post). Otherwise this report was grim: Average weekly earnings declined. Average weekly hours were flat.

And three more graphs ...

Unemployed over 26 Weeks

The blue line is the number of workers unemployed for 27 weeks or more. The red line is the same data as a percent of the civilian workforce.

According to the BLS, there are a record 6.13 million workers who have been unemployed for more than 26 weeks (and still want a job). This is a record 4.0% of the civilian workforce. (note: records started in 1948)

Diffusion Index

The second graph shows the BLS diffusion indexes for total private employment and manufacturing employment.

Think of this as a measure of how widespread the job losses are across industries. The further from 50 (above or below), the more widespread the job losses or gains reported by the BLS.

Both the "all industries" and "manufacturing" employment diffusion indices had been trending up - meaning job losses are becoming less widespread. The manufacturing diffusion index has increased significantly over the last couple months.

Back in March, I pointed out the increase in the diffusion index was "a sliver of good news" in a very grim employment report. The diffusion index in March suggested that the situation was no longer getting worse.

Now the index shows job losses are less widespread. However this still shows a minority of industries are hiring, and the all industries diffusion index will probably be above 50 when the employment recovery begins. (For more on how this is constructed, see the BLS Handbook)

Seasonal Retail Hiring

Here is the final seasonal retail hiring graph for the year ...

Retailers hired significantly more seasonal workers in 2009 than in 2008, although this was still the lowest numbers of seasonal hires (excluding 2008) since 1989.

It is important to note that total retail payroll jobs - even with the increase in seasonal hires - was 426,000 fewer in December 2009 than in December 2008. This means retailers cut back sharply on permanent employees and relied a little more on seasonal employees this year.

Earlier employment posts today:

Employment Report: 85K Jobs Lost, 10% Unemployment Rate for graphs of unemployment rate and a comparison to previous recessions.

Seasonal Employment-Population Ratio, Part Time Workers, Temporary Workers