May 2009

Investors believing the collapse of Wall Street means the dawn of a new age of shareholder democracy to rein in crony capitalism may have to wait much longer. That's because new shareholder proposals letting investors rein in fat cat pay and also fire miscreant, apathetic board directors are merely advisory, nonbinding, with all the force of a goose feather. That goes even for banks who ... read more

(EMac will be out in the coming week.) It’s an idea that’s been vilified as bizarre, crackpot, sheer lunacy.   But it’s an idea that’s picking up speed around the country, as an increasing number of cities and towns are finding that it helps lower and middle class taxpayers.   It involves local ... read more

Wells Fargo is being stress-tested by the government and may need more capital to bolster its troubled balance sheet, federal regulators have told the bank. It may need $50 bn in new capital due to looming writedowns, says Keefe Bruyette & Woods, which did its own stress test of the bank's balance sheet. But then again, thanks to a sweet tax break, maybe Wells won't need any capital at ... read more

Government banking regulators have told Bank of America, the country's largest bank by assets, that it needs to plug a $34 billion capital shortfall based on results of the government's stress tests, which measure a bank's ability to withstand a deeper economic recession. FOX Business reported last week that BofA might need a capital infusion of $36 billion or more. The news comes after Bank ... read more

With fears growing in the markets that six of the nation's largest banks have failed the Treasury's stress test, the pressure is on for them to bolster their capital cushions with possibly more government funding. The list includes Bank of America and Citigroup, Wells Fargo, Regions Financial, SunTrust and Key Corp., according to analysis from Deutsche Bank analyst Matthew O'Connor, which other ... read more