Fed’s Evans Says Low Inflation Gives Fed Breathing Room – NYTimes.com

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Charles Evans, president of the Chicago Federal Reserve Bank, said on Monday he expects the U.S. economy to grow 3.0 to 3.5 percent over the next 18 months, but that low inflation will give the central bank room to keep monetary policy easy for an extended period.

Next year “will definitely be a better year” than 2009, Evans told business television channel CNBC in an interview, but added he expects the jobless rate to creep up further.

Evans said he expects the U.S. jobless rate — currently

read article here… Fed’s Evans Says Low Inflation Gives Fed Breathing Room – NYTimes.com.

US to reassure China on fiscal discipline – FT.com
By Krishna Guha in Washington May 29 2009

US Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner will reassure Chinese leaders that the US is commited to long-term fiscal discipline on his trip next week to Beijing, a senior Treasury official said on Thursday.

Mr Geithner will also urge his hosts to accelerate moves to shift the composition of China’s economy, so it relies less on exports and more on domestic demand, the official added.

His comments came amid heightened concern in US markets about China’s continued appetite for US government bonds and other assets and anxiety in China about potential losses on its US investments.

Richard Fisher, the president of the Dallas Fed, on Thursday challenged the view that foreign central banks are shying away from longer duration Treasuries, saying “there continues to be strong demand”.

But he highlighted the severe fiscal challenges facing the administration – including what he estimated was $104,000bn in unfunded entitlement liabilities – and said the US central bank “can ill-afford to be perceived as monetising debt”.

FT.com / US / Economy & Fed – US to reassure China on fiscal discipline.

FYI… $104,000bn = $104,000,000,000,000.00 = $104 TRILLION

U.S. Recession May Soon End, Business Economists Say – Bloomberg.com
By Shobhana Chandra

May 27 (Bloomberg) — The U.S. recession will probably end in the third quarter, a survey of business economists showed, even as rising joblessness indicates the recovery will be weaker than previously estimated.

The world’s largest economy will begin to expand next quarter, according to 74 percent of economists in a National Association for Business Economics survey. Compared with NABE’s February poll, growth will be slower and unemployment will be higher in the second half of this year and through 2010.

Government stimulus spending and Federal Reserve efforts to thaw credit markets are helping pull the economy out of the worst slump in half a century, the survey said. While housing is stabilizing, the economists predicted consumer spending will be restrained by a deteriorating labor market as job losses continue for the rest of the year.

“There are emerging signs that the economy is stabilizing,” Chris Varvares, president of the group and of Macroeconomic Advisers LLC in St. Louis, said in a statement. Still, the recovery may be “considerably more moderate than those typically experienced following steep declines,” he said.

The economy will shrink at a 1.8 percent annual rate from April to June, and then grow at a 0.7 percent pace in the next three months, the survey showed. Growth will accelerate to a 1.8 percent rate by the final quarter.

U.S. Recession May Soon End, Business Economists Say (Update1) – Bloomberg.com.

FDIC Failed Bank List 2009

Bank Name	CERT #	Closing Date	Updated Date
Strategic Capital Bank, Champaign, IL	35175	May 22 2009	May 22 2009
BankUnited, FSB, Coral Gables, FL	32247	May 21 2009	May 21, 2009
Westsound Bank, Bremerton, WA	34843	May 8, 2009	May 12, 2009
America West Bank, Layton, UT	35461	May 1, 2009	May 18, 2009
Citizens Community Bank, Ridgewood, NJ	57563	May 1, 2009	May 7, 2009
Silverton Bank, N.A., Atlanta, GA	26535	May 1, 2009	May 7, 2009
First Bank of Idaho, Ketchum, ID	34396	April 24, 2009	May 18, 2009
First Bank of Beverly Hills, Calabasas, CA	32069	April 24, 2009	May 18, 2009
Michigan Heritage Bank, Farmington Hills, MI	34369	April 24, 2009	May 7, 2009
American Southern Bank, Kennesaw, GA	57943	April 24, 2009	May 7, 2009
Great Basin Bank of Nevada, Elko, NV	33824	April 17, 2009	May 18, 2009
American Sterling Bank, Sugar Creek, MO	8266	April 17, 2009	May 7, 2009
New Frontier Bank, Greeley, CO	34881	April 10, 2009	May 7, 2009
Cape Fear Bank, Wilmington, NC	34639	April 10, 2009	May 7, 2009
Omni National Bank, Atlanta, GA	22238	March 27, 2009	May 7, 2009
TeamBank, National Association, Paola, KS	4754	March 20, 2009	May 7, 2009
Colorado National Bank, Colorado Springs, CO	18896	March 20, 2009	May 7, 2009
FirstCity Bank, Stockbridge, GA	18243	March 20, 2009	May 7, 2009
Freedom Bank of Georgia, Commerce, GA	57558	March 6, 2009	May 7, 2009
Security Savings Bank, Henderson, NV	34820	February 27, 2009	May 7, 2009
Heritage Community Bank, Glenwood, IL	20078	February 27, 2009	May 7, 2009
Silver Falls Bank, Silverton, OR	35399	February 20, 2009	May 7, 2009
Pinnacle Bank of Oregon, Beaverton, OR	57342	February 13, 2009	May 7, 2009
Corn Belt Bank and Trust Company, Pittsfield, IL	16500	February 13, 2009	May 7, 2009
Riverside Bank of the Gulf Coast, Cape Coral, FL	34563	February 13, 2009	May 7, 2009
Sherman County Bank, Loup City, NE	5431	February 13, 2009	May 7, 2009
County Bank, Merced, CA	22574	February 6, 2009	May 7, 2009
Alliance Bank, Culver City, CA	23124	February 6, 2009	May 7, 2009
FirstBank Financial Services, McDonough, GA	57017	February 6, 2009	May 7, 2009
Ocala National Bank, Ocala, FL	26538	January 30, 2009	May 7, 2009
Suburban Federal Savings Bank, Crofton, MD	30763	January 30, 2009	May 7, 2009
MagnetBank, Salt Lake City, UT	58001	January 30, 2009	May 7, 2009
1st Centennial Bank, Redlands, CA	33025	January 23, 2009	May 1, 2009
Bank of Clark County, Vancouver, WA	34959	January 16, 2009	April 24, 2009
National Bank of Commerce, Berkeley, IL	19733	January 16, 2009	April 24, 2009

Last Updated 05/22/2009 Customer Service

FDIC: Failed Bank List.

Private equity comeback to alter U.S. bank landscape | Reuters
Fri May 22, 2009
By Paritosh Bansal

NEW YORK (Reuters) – After a disastrous foray into banking early last year, private equity is making a cautious comeback with deals such as the BankUnited takeover, and their return will likely change how the industry looks.

Regulators appear to be working with private equity firms looking to buy banks, and in the next year or two several U.S. regional lenders could end up in the hands of buyout funds, banking analysts said.

“I can’t picture a 5,000-branch bank coming out of this. But could I see 300-, 400-, 500-branch networks stitched together? I think so,” said Seamus McMahon, chief executive of bank consulting firm McMahon Advisory LLC.

“Private equity firms are going to have a lot of influence.”

As real estate markets continue to crater, many of the 8,300 U.S. banks will suffer, and some will fail. Private equity funds, meanwhile, have roughly $1 trillion of untapped funds at their disposal. Some buyout funds are dipping their toes in the water now.

Firms including Wilbur Ross’s WL Ross & Co, Carlyle Group CYL.UL, Blackstone Group (BX.N) and Blackstone Group (BX.N) teamed up to take over Florida-based BankUnited in a government-assisted deal announced on Thursday.

Private equity comeback to alter U.S. bank landscape | Reuters.

F.D.I.C. Approves New Rules to Replenish Insurance Fund
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS – NYTimes.com
Published: May 22, 2009

WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal regulators on Friday adopted a new system of special fees paid by financial institutions that will shift more of the burden to bigger banks to help replenish the deposit insurance fund.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation’s board voted 4-1 to approve the new fees. It is intended to raise $5.6 billion in the face of a cascade of bank failures that have depleted the insurance fund. The lone dissent came from the Comptroller of the Currency, John C. Dugan, whose agency regulates national banks.

The F.D.I.C. now expects bank failures will cost the fund around $70 billion through 2013, up from a previous assessment of around $65 billion.

“There will be some shifting of the burden” to major banks, the F.D.I.C. chairwoman, Sheila C. Bair, said. “The shift is not huge to them. We’re asking them to pay more.”

The seizure Thursday of the struggling BankUnited FSB in Florida is expected to cost the insurance fund $4.9 billion, the second-largest hit since the financial crisis began. The costliest was last year’s seizure of the California lender IndyMac Bank, on which the insurance fund is estimated to have lost $10.7 billion. C BankUnited FSB, based in oral Gables, Fla., was the 34th federally insured institution to be closed this year.

F.D.I.C. Approves New Fees to Replenish Insurance Fund – NYTimes.com.