The Securities and Exchange Commission charged three former senior-level executives of IndyMac Bancorp with securities fraud on Friday.
Beware the revisionists. It was bound to happen eventually, but here we are, less than two years after the U.S. faced its worst financial crisis in decades, and a steady stream of politicians routinely take to the airwaves to declare that the government overreacted with the $700 billion TARP plan and ripped off the taxpayer. That the incredible interventions by the Federal Reserve and the Treasury weren't necessary. That we should have taken our lumps and let the chips fall where they may.
Psst. Did you hear who Microsoft is going to buy next? No? Me neither. But that hasn't stopped traders from gossiping.
Regulators cleaning up after bank failures showed Wednesday how far they're willing to reach out for help.
Five months after securing a sweet deal to buy IndyMac Bank, the new owners say they are fulfilling their obligation to modify troubled home loans.
Troubled Colonial BancGroup will be bought by rival BB&T Friday, the government said after state regulators closed the bank whose assets had been frozen by a federal judge.
Cleaning up after bank failures is one chore you won't hear bankers complaining about.
A consortium of private equity firms has acquired BankUnited FSB in Florida after the savings and loan was shut down by federal regulators Thursday.
U.S. financial regulators have spent the last several years in a race to impotence. The clear winner of this chase to the bottom is the Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS), the agency that served as chief financial regulator to a motley crew of credit crunch losers, including Countrywide, Washington Mutual, IndyMac and American International Group. Shuttering OTS would be a good first prize.
What's the best way to fix the nation's banking system? Well, at least two senators making the rounds on the Sunday morning political TV gabfests think it's to let the megabanks fail.
If it's Friday, there must be a bank failing somewhere across the country.
The babies' grandmother hasn't paid the mortgage on their home for 10 months
Billionaire investor Wilbur Ross, known for his investments in distressed companies in the steel, automotive industries, said it is only a matter of time before his firm acquires a bank.
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. announced Friday that it had struck a deal to sell failed mortgage lender IndyMac to a group of private investment firms for $13.9 billion.
Stocks gained Tuesday morning as investors welcomed the government's decision to pour $6 billion into GMAC, the financing arm of struggling automaker General Motors.
A group of investors is on the verge of buying the one of the nation's largest failed banks.
Stocks fell Monday, closing lower on one of the final trading days of a dismal year, amid global tensions and downbeat corporate news.
Stocks were mixed Monday morning as investors returned for the final few trading days of 2008.
The final chapter is close to being written on IndyMac, the California thrift that rose high on the risky mortgages that fueled the housing boom before collapsing in the most expensive bank failure in U.S. history.
Bankers are counting down the days until they officially close the book on a terrible 2008. Too bad the outlook for 2009 is just as dismal.
Sheila Bair may now be a lightning rod, but at least she's finally getting some respect.
The nation's top banking regulator warned Tuesday that help for troubled homeowners is failing to keep pace with the foreclosure crisis.
Rep. Barney Frank, chairman of the House Committee on Financial Services, highlighted the need for a bailout program for troubled homeowners on Wednesday. But he stressed that not all borrowers should necessarily be rescued.
Citigroup says it will expand its foreclosure prevention efforts and try to keep 130,000 troubled borrowers with $20 billion in mortgages in their homes.
The Bush Administration is working to create a program that would cut down on foreclosures by helping creditworthy borrowers make their monthly mortgage payments
The battered economy is in desperate need of a housing fix, and one failed bank just may have the answer.
The federal government, which has been criticized for not doing enough for Main Street while coming to the immediate aid of banks, is working on a new plan to help troubled homeowners.
President Bush's announcement Tuesday that the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. will temporarily do away with its insurance caps and cover all deposits in non-interest bearing accounts was a measure aimed straight at Main Street. But critics say the step doesn't address the most critical problem threatening small businesses: slow sales and a sluggish credit market.
When recruiting consultant Fran Quittel heard on her car radio one Friday afternoon in July that her bank, IndyMac, had been seized by federal regulators, she was surprised but unworried. An IndyMac customer for five years, Quittel had both personal accounts and business accounts at the bank, but she was confident her accounts contained less than the $100,000 insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.
Singling out Wall Street bailout candidates is an increasingly risky proposition for beltway politicians
The Bush administration wants to help beleaguered financial institutions - and prevent the financial crisis from getting worse - by spending $700 billion to buy up troubled mortgage securities.
Ameribank Inc. was shut down on Friday by the Office of the Thrift Supervision, making it the 12th bank this year to go under.
As part of the massive housing rescue bill passed by Congress in July, troubled borrowers will be able to refinance their home loans with the backing of the Federal Housing Authority (FHA) starting on October 1.
Nevada regulators have shut down Silver State Bank. It was the 11th failure this year of a federally insured bank
The government's latest assessment of the nation's financial system showed that many more small banks are in trouble. But what the report didn't say may speak volumes.
The recent failure of IndyMac has sent the FDIC's insurance fund balance to its lowest levels since 1995. This is forcing the regulator to boost its reserves by increasing the fees banks pay.
The number of troubled banks on the government's watch list grew dramatically last quarter.
Federal regulators say U.S. banking industry profits plunged by 86 percent in the second quarter, as slumps in the housing and credit markets continued
Federal regulators on Friday shut down Kansas bank Columbian Bank and Trust Company, which was struggling with losses on soured real estate loans.
The FDIC, six weeks after taking over mortgage lender IndyMac Bank, said Wednesday that it will start systematically modifying some of the bank's most troubled loans to keep borrowers in their homes.
Consumers who banked with failed mortgage lender IndyMac will lose a whole lot less money than originally feared.
Treasury prices rose Monday after the government shutdown of two local banks on Friday sparked further worries about the strength of the U.S. financial sector.
The federal rescue on Friday of two more failing banks - two weeks after the high-profile seizure of IndyMac Bank - leaves many Americans wondering whether their bank is safe.
So much for all the good news from the financial sector.
The FDIC has gone out of its way to stress that most banks are safe. But how safe is the FDIC?
The federal takeover of IndyMac Bank last week left many Americans wondering whether their bank was safe. It put a spotlight on a relatively obscure list published quarterly by the FDIC called the "problem list."
Treasury prices continued to fall for a second straight session Thursday, led lower by an equity rally, a weak dollar and mixed economic reports.
When FDIC Chairwoman Sheila Bair swooped in on Friday and took over IndyMac Bank, she became steward to billions of dollars in customer savings deposits. She also inherited $200 billion worth of home mortgages - a sizable number of which are in trouble.
The FBI is investigating Indymac Bancorp for fraud, a source tells CNN.
Stocks got a big bounce back Wednesday as investors welcomed encouraging news from the banking and airline sectors. Falling oil prices also helped spark a strong stock market rally.
Now-defunct IndyMac Bancorp Inc. is under investigation by the FBI for possible fraud in connection with home loans made to risky borrowers
The chances are your bank is not going to shut down overnight.
The housing finance crisis and spiraling energy costs will remain a drag on the U.S. economy for the rest of the year, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke told lawmakers in a gloomy presentation about the economic outlook.
Stocks gave up a recovery attempt Tuesday, ending mostly lower, as falling oil prices failed to distract investors from slumping technology shares amid ongoing fears about the credit market and the economy.
The dollar sank to a new all-time low against the euro Tuesday as concerns about the health of the U.S. banking sector and economy deepened. But the dollar bounced back slightly after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke acknowledged that the dollar's weakness is a concern.
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were created to help individuals realize the American dream of home ownership, but they now find their survival at risk in the U.S. mortgage crisis.
How stable are the government-sponsored enterprises Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac? Kitty Pilgrim reports.
The financial sector tumbled Monday, dragging down the broader market, as the IndyMac bank failure countered relief that the government is helping Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
Shares of Washington Mutual and National City both plunged Monday as fears grew about the credit crisis plaguing big banks.
IndyMac's startling collapse last week sparked fears that other institutions could follow suit. Yet, several veteran banking analysts say that there won't be nearly as many bank collapses as there were in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
If this weekend's news about Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and Friday's IndyMac failure weren't scary enough, now Wall Street will have to contend with what is likely to be dismal quarterly results from many top financial firms.
FDIC says it will be business as usual when IndyMac re-opens Monday as a federally run bank. CNN's John Lorinc reports.
California bank IndyMac will reopen as a "strong and safe institution" under federal management and a new name Monday, days after regulators closed it, the firm's new CEO said Sunday.
In what could turn out to be the most expensive bank failure ever, troubled mortgage lender IndyMac Bancorp Inc. was taken over by federal regulators on Friday.
The FDIC stressed Sunday that the takeover of failed bank IndyMac is largely a "non-event" for most customers.
When banks fail, the FDIC steps in to protect you. CNN's Deb Feyerick reports.
Sen. Charles Schumer said Sunday the Bush administration is trying to "blame the fire on the person who calls 911" by suggesting he had a role in one of the costliest U.S. bank failures.
IndyMac Bank succumbed to the pressures of tighter credit, tumbling home prices and rising foreclosures Friday
In what could turn out to be the most expensive bank failure ever, troubled mortgage lender IndyMac Bank was taken over by federal regulators on Friday.
IndyMac has become the latest mortgage lender to announce what is by now a familiar routine to battered investors: Shuttered business lines, failed attempts at capital raising and massive layoffs. A look at how it got here shows the risks of dominating a lending niche it had long argued was minimally risky: low documentation loans to residential mortgage borrowers with middling (at best) credit profiles.
A plan that would help troubled mortgage borrowers today - and might make lenders whole later on - was unveiled Wednesday in Washington.
A curious thing happened on Wall Street yesterday. The Dow surged more than 130 points and the S&P 500 had a healthy bump too. By all accounts, it was a good day.
The mortgage meltdown can be detrimental for all Americans, even those who don't own homes, by making property values go down.
Credit crisis
IndyMac Bancorp is essentially eliminating all subprime and piggyback loans from its product menu and ramping up its conforming loan business, according to a regulatory filing on Friday.
Little has troubled Wall Street more recently than subprime mortgage worries, with financial, mortgage lender and homebuilder stocks among the hardest hit.
U.S. stocks pushed into negative territory at Friday's open after an employment report that was weaker than expected.
IndyMac Bancorp Inc., a big Southern California mortgage specialist, said Tuesday second-quarter profit fell 57 percent as the deepening U.S. housing slump hurt margins and loan volume, and more customers fell behind on payments.
Subprime mortgages have been generating a lot of attention, and worry, among investors, economists and regulators, but those loans may be only part of the threat posed to the housing market by risky lending.
A couple of years ago, an associate dean at Stanford University's business school complained that I hadn't given enough low grades in a course I teach there called "The Paths to Power." When he ask...
