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Large corporations may be behind the latest spate of merger activity, but if the transaction activity in private equity offers any indication, leveraged buyouts involving public companies are coming steadily back into fashion. American...

When Philip Falcone, founder of $# billion hedge fund Harbinger Capital Partners, revealed his intentions to acquire satellite company SkyTerra Communications and to bring the publicly traded company private, he was not straying from...

Hugh McColl and Marc Oken have seen carnage in the banking space before. McColl, as most are well aware, is credited for building Bank of America after starting with the relatively modest single-state North Carolina National Bank in...

When Canada's Parliament approved amendments to the Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA) on Sept. ##, it brought the country's corporate bankruptcy process one step closer to Chapter ## proceedings in the U.S. More importantly,...

Covered bonds, touted as a potential panacea to housing market troubles and a viable alternative to securitization by U.S. regulators last summer, still have not taken off on this side of the Atlantic. The creation of a market in the...

Bernanke Touts Fed's Ability to Supervise The Federal Reserve Board is "well-suited" to supervise "systemically important financial institutions that may not already be subject to the Bank Holding Company Act," Fed chairman Ben S. Bernanke...

The municipal market was flat to slightly firmer as Ohio's American Municipal Power Inc. came to market with $###.# million of taxable debt, including $###.# million of Build America Bonds. Merrill, Lynch & Co. priced the $###.# million...

SAN FRANCISCO - The Southern California Public Power Authority plans to bring $### million of tax-exempt notes to market later this month to provide interim financing for one of several wind energy projects the joint-powers agency is...

Two of The Bond Buyer's weekly yield indexes declined to ##-year lows this week as yields dropped slightly in all the week's sessions. Michael Pietronico, chief executive officer at Miller Tabak Asset Management, said this week was...

Bank of America Merrill Lynch is closing in on Citi in the race to be the number one municipal bond underwriter for ####. Bank of America Merrill was the top underwriter in the third quarter, managing $##.## billion in deals for a ##.#%...

CHICAGO - Chicago-based Loop Capital Markets LLC has cemented a partnership with UBS Wealth Management US to provide primary municipal securities to UBS' retail clients in a move Loop is hoping will bolster its appeal with borrowers...

Puerto Rico officials aim to boost the commonwealth's general obligation rating to BBB-plus by #### and enter the single-A category by ####, according to the government's Strategic Model for a New Economy, a plan to cultivate the island's...

Next Week's Big Deal: U.S. Trade Balance Report The coming week may be a quiet one in terms of economic data, but more than casual attention will be focused on the U.S. trade report. In September, the government said July exports were...

DEALMAKING ADVENTURES IN THE MIDDLE KINGDOM In most countries, when investment banks and financial sponsors open up new locations, the decision over where to hang their shingle can be pretty obvious. In Europe, bankers might want a...

Earlier this week a soft reading in consumer sentiment had Wall Street all aflutter about the staying power of our nascent recovery. The pullback was just the latest reminder, the doubters said, of the fragility of the rebound in the...

PAUL VOLCKER WHITE HOUSE ECONOMIC ADVISOR "The safety net has been extended outside the banking system. That's what I want to change." AARON BRYSON ANALYST, BARCLAYS "As a percentage of GDP, commercial real estate mortgage debt now...

Bank of America announced this week that president and CEO Kenneth Lewis will retire on Dec. ##. He will also retire from the board on that date, and his successor will be chosen before then. "Bank of America is well-positioned to meet...

"The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter." - Winston Churchill Less than a year after Wall Street and all things finance served as a populist piA±ata for both major political parties...

Global commercial spending increased ##.#% last year to $##.# trillion from $##.# trillion in ####, according to a report Visa Inc. released this week. Visa's global Commercial Consumption Expenditure index, which uses a variety of...

The Consumer Confidence Index fell in September following an increase the previous month, The Conference Board Inc., a New York-based research organization, reported today. The September index stands at ##.#, down from ##.# in August....

Wells Fargo & Co., the nation's second-largest debit card issuer, has followed its two largest competitors and changed its overdraft policies. The San Francisco-based bank last week announced that it is eliminating overdraft fees for...

Four credit unions have joined Credit Union ##, the nation's largest ATM and point-of-sale network for credit unions, bringing with them ## additional ATMs, Tallahassee, Fla.-based Credit Union ## announced yesterday. The credit unions...

Hungary's antitrust regulator has fined the local units of Visa Inc. and MasterCard Inc., as well as OTP Bank Nyrt. and six other lenders there, saying they colluded on fees charged to credit card customers, reports Bloomberg News....

National Australia Bank plans to deploy contactless-payment terminals at more than ### Melbourne-based merchant locations by Oct # and to at least #,### more merchant locations by the end of the year, a spokesperson for the Australia-based...

American Express Co. today announced it is eliminating monthly fees on all its gift cards, effective immediately. The change makes American Express the first major issuer of general purpose gift cards to eliminate fees after purchase....

Visa Inc. today introduced a new global information and reporting tool for commercial cards developed through a partnership with Spendvision, a United Kingdom-based expense-management software maker. Visa says that over the next few...

Visa Inc. says Congress and the public "should not be fooled by the motives behind the petitions being delivered to Congress today by the CEO of #-Eleven," according to a statement the card company released today. "This deceptive campaign...

AITE: Health care payments are among the top three challenges facing the U.S. health care industry, exceeded only by the state of Medicare and unresolved legislative and regulatory issues, according to a new Aite Group report. Aite...

A Federal Reserve Board proposal released Tuesday would clamp down on practices in the credit card industry by reining in fees, limiting card use by young borrowers and restricting rate increases, reports American Banker, a CardLine...

The Reserve Bank of Australia, the country's central bank, says it might raise the cap for interchange fees for transactions for the domestic EFTPOS scheme. The cap could increase to ## Australia (## U.S. cents or # euro cents) cents...

American Express Co. has joined GlobalPlatform, the international smart card specifications group said Tuesday. American Express joined as a full member of the group, which encourages interoperable smart card systems and offers free...

A week after introducing the Ink suite of small business cards (CardLine, #/##), JPMorgan Chase & Co.'s Chase Card Services today has launched a comprehensive marketing campaign to support the products. The suite includes Ink Bold,...

The seasonally adjusted Credit Manager's Index for September increased to ##.# from ##.# in August and from ## in July, according to a report released today by the National Association of Credit Management. The index, a gauge of economic...

Prepaid card processor eCommLink Inc. on Monday announced that its investors have provided $## million in additional funding to support the company's ongoing and international growth plans. Syntek Capital AG, a Germany-based investment...

VeriFone Holdings Inc. has become the lead investor in Semtek Corp. and is likely to eventually acquire the remaining company shares, according to the San Jose, Calif.-based point-of-sale terminal maker. Semtek is the developer of encryption...

Vero Beach, Fla.-based PointOS Professional, a point-of-sale system maker for restaurants and bars, says today it has chosen Merchant Warehouse Inc., a Boston-based independent sales organization, as its exclusive payment card company....

A statement posted Wednesday online by Canada's Finance Ministry says credit card reforms are set to take effect at the start of next year, reports Bloomberg News. Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said that implementing the new regulations...

Ukash, a British firm that sells prepaid vouchers for online transactions, said Wednesday it has made its first move into South America, through a deal with Rocalix SA. The deal enables consumers to buy Ukash vouchers from ### shops...

* TNB Card Services' parent Town North Bank NA has appointed Steven L. McDonald president and CEO. McDonald had been the bank's executive vice president and chief financial officer since September ####. * USA Technologies Inc. has released...

U.S. Reps. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., and Barney Frank, D-Mass., yesterday introduced legislation that would force credit card issuers to comply with key parts of the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure Act three...

Credit card charge-offs rose to a record high in August, while the principal payment rate fell, underscoring continuing economic pressure on consumers, according to a new report by Moody's Investors Service. Moody's this week said its...

Prepaid debit card providers are adding an array of features to differentiate their products, and a savings-account option slowly is gaining traction. Houston-based FSV Payment Systems Inc. Monday announced the launch of a savings-account...

Although most companies keep customers' credit card numbers secure, the majority fail to protect customers' other personal-identification and bank-account information, new survey data suggest. The Poneman Institute LLC, a Traverse City,...

Starbucks Corp. is testing an Apple Inc. iPhone application that enables loyalty cardholders to pay for their purchases at retail locations. Customers can manage their Starbucks Card account and add funds using a credit or debit card,...

Police in Cleveland captured two men as they tried to haul an ATM out of Taleris Credit Union last month, reports Credit Union Journal, a CardLine sister publication. Police drove up and saw a Jeep Grand Cherokee dragging a yellow rope...

Deutsche Card Services GmbH, a subsidiary of Germany's Deutsche Bank AG, has expanded its card-acceptance service to cover domestic debit brands, a spokesperson for the processor and acquirer tells CardLine sister publication CardLine...

Discover Financial Services' Diners Club International Ltd. today announced it has signed an agreement with Elavon Inc., U.S. Bancorp's merchant-acquiring subsidiary, to expand Diners Club and Discover card acceptance in the U.K. and...

Following three consecutive months of increasing optimism, small-business owners' confidence in the economy fell in September, according to a monthly survey Discover Financial Services sponsors. The monthly Discover Small Business Watch...

Western Union Co. announced Friday that it had won a $##.# million jury verdict against its chief rival, MoneyGram International Inc., for infringing a patent on money transfers initiated by telephone, reports American Banker, a CardLine...

The Electronic Transactions Association, a Washington, D.C.-based trade group representing the merchant acquiring industry, is working on a credentialing program for people who sell merchant services, Carla Balakgie, ETA CEO, tells...

SUM Selective, the surcharge-free ATM network owned by NYCE Payments Network LLC, last week signed an agreement with Select-A-Branch ATM Network LLC that expands the number of surcharge-free ATMs which SUM customers can access. SUM...

Ingenico S.A. is buying easycash Beteiligungen GmbH, a Germany-based payment processor, for $### million (### million euro), from Warburg Pincus LLC, a New York-based private equity firm, the point-of-sale terminal maker announced today....

Rules designed to enable consumers IN? India to make more free ATM withdrawals have led financial institutions to bolster their data-crunching and deployment strategies, according to issuers and local press reports. The rules, which...

Most consumers who signed a petition circulated by #-Eleven Inc. last summer to gather support for legislation to lower interchange fees were misled, MasterCard Worldwide announced today. A survey conducted by MasterCard revealed some...

NCR Corp., the world's largest ATM manufacturer based on annual shipments, announced yesterday that it received a major order from State Bank of India, the country's largest bank based on assets. State Bank of India signed a deal to...

Recent decisions by Bank of America Corp., Wells Fargo & Co. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. to revamp their overdraft policies will have a limited effect on debit cardholders, industry observations and research suggest. But they likely will...

NFinanSe Inc. believes the company's August announcement that it raised about $## million in shareholders' equity will help the prepaid card provider maintain a "good balance sheet" as it attempts to grow along with the industry. "It's...

Before the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York recently announced the indictments of two men for operating an alleged Ponzi scheme involving deployment of off-premise ATMs, some of their companies' investors...

SUM ATM Network Adds Access SUM Selective, the surcharge-free ATM network owned by NYCE Payments Network LLC, has signed an agreement with Select-A-Branch ATM Network LLC that expands the number of the surcharge-free ATMs that SUM customers...

First Data Corp. Atlanta-based First Data Corp. recently named Kevin J. Schultz, ##, president of Financial Services, and John Elkins, ##, chief marketing officer....

Federal Reserve Bank Of Kansas City The Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City is hosting an international conference on the changing landscape of retail payments Nov. # to ##. The title of the two-day conference is "The Changing Retail...

In last Thursday's issue of ATM&Debit News #### EFT Data Book, a bar graph on page ## showed a dramatic increase in ATM shipments in #### compared with previous years. The chart should have included a statement explaining that the...

Being a mortgage veteran with over ## years of experience for chief operating officer Marc Helm of Reverse Mortgage Solutions, Spring, Texas, means, among other things, going to conventions to get a read on the market. "I'm interested...

The next generation of mortgage companies has several advantages as well as disadvantages. One advantage is that a new company doesn't have to deal with legacy issues or a full portfolio of nonperforming loans. A disadvantage is that...

(Note: These were current at press time. For updates and a full listing, please see the MBA's website at www.mortgagebankers.com.) SATURDAY MBA Convention Registration Oct. ##, #### #:## a.m.-#:## p.m. San Diego Convention Center Exhibit...

One topic a panel titled "The Recent Evolution of Independent Mortgage Bankers" may end up covering is the Federal Housing Administration's plan for a $# million net-worth lender requirement . Net worth may be a "significant" problem...

Jon Daurio, the chairman of Kondaur Capital Corp., Orange, Calif., may not expect to revolutionize his mortgage market thinking at the upcoming convention, but he agrees it has its benefits. His attendance proves that. Today's two most...

As the mortgage industry faces a myriad of challenges, some lenders attending the MBA annual may be focused on how technology can help them rework their processes in the face of new regulation, gain new efficiencies and increase customer...

It's not going to be easy to make decisions about what to do during your free time at the conference while exploring the second largest city in California. A mixture of some good preplanning combined with on-the-spot adventure is often...

A move into the wholesale channel is what Michael Ashley, chief business strategist of retail direct lender Lend America, Melville, N.Y., may be talking about at the MBA annual this year. "We think there's an opportunity now to revisit...

For the first time in maybe a half-dozen years, David Kittle is planning to take a "real" vacation. As soon as he returns home from the Mortgage Bankers Association convention in San Diego, MBA's outgoing chairman is going to pack his...

As often as I have been to San Diego (five times), I had never gone to La Jolla Cove, which is one of the most picturesque beaches to visit. Nor had I walked the streets of the nearby La Jolla commercial district. So when some free...

San Francisco isn't the only City by the Bay in California. San Diego again will serve as host of the Mortgage Bankers Association's annual convention this year, and this pleasant waterside city (which actually fronts two bays) is so...

Given that a recent white paper by the Mortgage Bankers Association calls for the dismantling of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in favor of several smaller entities, many at the MBA annual this year will be looking for more clarity on how...

Seizing on Fannie Mae's recent decision to require that appraisals be delivered digitally using the MISMO Version #.# standard, Global DMS believes attendees will be looking to see how this move will increase the validity of the appraisal...

In the same way that the mortgage crisis is forcing lenders to look at the business of originating a loan differently, Tyler Sherman, chief executive officer at Motivity Solutions, urges attendees at this year's MBA annual to do the...

The only thing certain in today's economy is uncertainty. But there are things that technology vendors can do to make sure they survive and thrive regardless of all the recent doom and gloom in the headlines, according to Michael Hammond,...

Fraud prevention technology has seen a boom in the past year or so. With "red flags" from the Patriot Act beginning to see more stringent enforcement, the mortgage industry has both seen the prevention tools themselves improve considerably...

The government's focus on consumer protection has resulted in new mortgage documentation and new rules around old mortgage documents, which Document Express believes will translate into attendees at this year's MBA annual looking closely...

As more pressure is being put on mortgage lenders, they are being challenged to automate, which Xerox Mortgage Services expects will trigger greater e-mortgage adoption going forward. "We're investing in e-mortgages," said Greg Smith,...

At the MBA annual this year people from all across the mortgage industry will meet to determine what specific tools and instruments are needed to address the critical housing problem, because it is not going away. New ideas and concepts...

The mortgage industry has seen the compliance game change considerably in the past year or two. Traditionally, mortgage loan compliance has been linked to the point of sale, but the current state of the economy has caused lenders to...

The Helping Families Save Their Homes Act continues to be a major source of conversation and will likely be a heated topic at the MBA annual and during the panel, "Navigating Legal Trends in the Servicing, Foreclosure and REO Arenas."...

Point-of-sale vendor Data-Vision believes that attendees will be looking to boost their online presence as a way to both cut cost and comply with new regulation. "Based on our experience with clients, compliance and regulatory change...

Loan origination vendor Avista Solutions will be enhancing its technology to help borrowers self-serve online. As the broker market has dissipated, Avista says, technology has potentially become an opportune way to reach borrowers interested...

As investors require more of lenders, risk mitigation becomes a critical component in remaining profitable. In this area, Digital Risk believes that lenders need to use data more effectively. "From a new origination perspective, everyone...

What industry leaders see coming in #### is what Dan Cutaia, president and chief operating officer of Sun Prairie, Wis.-based Fairway Independent Mortgage Co., hopes to learn more about at this year's Mortgage Bankers Association's...

Some attendees at MBA annuals of the past may have considered training valuable but not necessarily top of mind. This year it takes on a new importance, according to Chris Nickerson, CEO of TrainingPro, Hunt Valley, Md. Professional...

While MBA annuals in years past focused a lot on the origination side of the house and increasing efficiency, Jason Marx, vice president and general manager, mortgage at Wolters Kluwer Financial Services, expects this year will be about...

If you attend the "Shamu Show" at SeaWorld - and I strongly suggest that you do - heed the signs that say "soaking zone." If you sit in the first ## rows you will get wet. Wet can be good on hot days. But if the weather isn't balmy...

It used to be that lenders blamed their systems for holding them back. Compliance Systems Inc. chief strategy officer Roger Gudobba says technology is no longer an obstacle and the variety of offerings on display at the MBA annual will...

Los Angeles-based private equity firm Aurora Capital Group agreed to acquire HLTH Corporation's Porex segment for $### million. HLTH previously said it was interested in a sale of the Porex unit, but earlier attempts to divest the plastic...

New York-based private equity firm Mistral Equity Partners acquired a group of ## wireless dealers of Bell Mobility, the wireless services division of Bell Canada. The Canadian dealers will be rolled into a single portfolio company...

Cortec Group, the New York-based private equity firm, has bought a majority stake in ### Medical Inc., an Oklahoma City-based maker of single use urologic catheters. Madison Capital Funding led the senior loan syndicate; but terms of...

Angelo Gordon & Co., the New York investment firm, is leading a group of lenders that will take control of the Star Tribune of Minneapolis as it exits bankruptcy. The Minnesota publisher will receive $### million in new debt that will...

In a move that appears situated to take advantage of the challenging lending markets that have developed over the past year, New York City-headquartered retail bank Amalgamated Bank launched a lending unit that will focus on providing...

Mooreland Partners expanded its London office with the addition of Victor Garcia. Garcia c omes from Nomura, where he served as executive director of its European investment banking team. From #### forward, Garcia worked on and sourced...

New Haven, Conn.-based M&A advisory boutique Woodbridge Group has brought on Alden C. Purrington III and Joseph Achenbaum to expand the firm's capital raising group. Purrington arrives from Federal Street Capital, where he was a managing...

As some investors have backed away from emerging markets in dealmaking, Emerging Capital Partners (as its name implies) has not shied away from making deals to support developing nations' industries at a time when the global economy...

The US Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission will solicit public comment and host discussions as they jointly consider making changes to the Horizontal Merger Guidelines used by both agencies to evaluate M&A. Ultimately-as...