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Corporate bonds trading at significant discounts to par value may offer their issuers attractive opportunities to deleverage and amend the restrictive covenants of their bonds. In recent times, many issuers have been launching bond...

FSA FINALIZES LIQUIDITY REGULATION OVERHAUL The Financial Services Authority on Tuesday published its final rules on the liquidity requirements expected of British banks. The overhaul, designed to enhance firms' liquidity risk-management...

Next Week's Big Deal: Bank Earnings When push comes to shove, there is one deciding factor that ends up directing the stock market, and that's corporate earnings. But the crop of profit reports coming next week has an added burden:...

Off the top of my head, there are several things I can think of that this world does not need: Twitter, arena football and light beer come to mind. Add to that list another story about the demise of PE activity this year. As the quarter...

ALAN GREENSPAN FORMER FED CHAIRMAN "This is an extraordinary period and temporary actions must be taken, especially to assuage the angst of a very substantial part of our population." SALLIE KRAWCHEK HEAD OF WEALTH MANAGEMENT, BANK...

Most of The Bond Buyer's weekly yield indexes rose this week, as several weeks of permeating market firmness began to reverse and some weakness appeared. "It's full speed ahead until you run into a brick wall, but guess what just happened,...

Amid a weakening municipal market yesterday, California came with a massive $#.### million sale of taxable, tax-exempt, and Build America Bonds. JPMorgan priced a $#.### million taxable component, in which the bonds mature in ####,...

Jobless Claims Off ##,### To ###,### in Oct. # Week Initial jobless claims decreased by ##,### to ###,### in the week ending Oct. #, putting claims at their lowest level since Jan. #, the Labor Department reported yesterday. Continuing...

Babcock & Brown Infrastructure Group's $#.# billion recapitalization by Brookfield Asset Management announced on Thursday is surely indicative of the Sydney company's troubles. But it's also the poster child for an area that has drawn...

Junk bond issuance has vaulted higher, helping some borderline companies stave off bankruptcy, and Wall Street dealmakers believe #### could be one of the speculative grade market's biggest years. The outsize returns in the high-yield...

Whip out your Rubik's Cube and cue the reruns of Family Ties and Miami Vice - private-equity dealmaking across the pond has returned to volumes not seen since the ####s. In the latest research published by Nottingham University Business...

As a partner in a ##-year-old, lower-middle-market private-equity firm, I am often asked by investment bankers to list the qualities we seek in the bankers we hire. That's an easier question to ask than to answer,since each sale mandate...

When Mike Corcell resigned from legendary investor Steven Cohen's SAC Capital to run a U.S. long-short equity fund at $#.# billion hedge fund RWC Partners in March, he would be handed more than the investment reins to a new fund set...

The nation's debt-collection industry has grown with the increased reliance by consumers on credit, but the severe economic contraction has impacted M&A activity in a nook of the financial services industry that has even attracted some...

They sit on doorsteps, often neglected, or dangling from unused pay phones. Yellow pages were probably an afterthought to Google, whose disruptive technology not only provides the phone number and address of the local pizza shop, but...

Life has gotten easier for municipal bond exchange-traded funds. A year ago, forced selling and illiquidity foiled many municipal ETFs in their efforts to replicate a target index. Some days, the price movements of some of the biggest...

While credit quality is improving, as evidenced by the slowing pace of downgrades and defaults, there are still many more investment-grade companies likely to join the junk pile than companies poised to jump up the credit spectrum....

SAN FRANCISCO - The tangled tale involving bonds issued for the failed Copia "wine shrine" in Napa, Calif., could reach a major turning point later this month when a bankruptcy judge will consider confirming a plan to conclude the museum's...

WASHINGTON - The trustee for millions of dollars of toll revenue bonds issued in #### to finance South Carolina's first publicly owned and privately built toll road, the Southern Connector Project, is warning investors that the bonds...

Credit card delinquencies rose to #.##% of total card loans during the second quarter ended June ## from #.##% the previous quarter, according to a report by the American Bankers Association. The credit card delinquency rate was #.##%...

EZ Card & Kiosk has installed three kiosks in the Madera County (Calif.) Jail, including one that issues nonreloadable prepaid debit cards to inmates when they are about to be released. The kiosk accepts banknotes and coins from inmates...

The Alaska Option electronic funds transfer network last week announced it will test Acculynk Inc.'s PaySecure Internet PIN-debit technology. Alaska Option is the sixth EFT network to pilot the software, joining Credit Union ##, Metavante...

State Bank of India, which recently purchased #,### ATMs from Wincor Nixdorf AG, is deploying the machines throughout India, beginning in Mumbai and New Delhi, Matthew Kovac, a Wincor Nixdorf spokesperson, wrote CardLine sister publication...

Interac, Canada's debit card network, says the Canada Revenue Agency is the first major federal government agency to accept Interac Online. Consumers choose the Interac Online payment option upon checkout at a Web site, which opens...

Amazon.com Inc. yesterday launched Mobile Payments Service, a product that enables sellers to accept payment for purchases made from mobile devices using their own mobile Web sites or applications, according to the Seattle-based company....

More than one-third of credit cardholders have paid off and closed credit card accounts since January of last year in response to issuers' actions, and ##% said credit card companies treated them unfairly, according to a poll Consumers...

Financial institutions dramatically increased their ATM surcharge fees this year, a move that is both routine and necessary, says Greg McBride, senior financial analyst for Bankrate.com. The average ATM surcharge fee banks and thrifts...

Providing value to merchants should be the primary goal of independent sales organizations that offer data-security services to their clients, not generating additional revenue, industry observers generally agree. Some ISOs resell security...

Co-op Financial Services, operator of one of the nation's largest surcharge-free ATM networks for credit unions, says the network is growing. The Rancho Cucamonga, Calif.-based network announced that ## credit unions joined in the third...

Mobile payments are not yet taking off in the United Kingdom, but there are signs they potentially could, according to a new Cardbeat report from Auriemma Consulting Group LLC. So far, "it's not really being pushed, and no one has really...

The Australia Patent Office has granted United Kingdom-based Serverside Group a patent for the company's card-customization technology, the company said Monday. This is the fourth such patent for Serverside, whose financial-institution...

With lawmakers threatening to speed up implementation of recent credit card reforms, Bank of America Corp. announced Tuesday it would stop repricing its customers, reports American Banker, a CardLine sister publication. Senate Banking...

Also Tuesday, a group of congressional Democrats pressed the Federal Reserve Board to require credit card companies to hand over more information to the central bank, reports American Banker, a CardLine sister publication. Under the...

American Express Co. yesterday said Alfred F. Kelly, the company's departing president, will receive separation payments totaling $#.# million and will be eligible to receive a $# million bonus for his performance this year. AmEx outlined...

Visa Inc. finally has weighed in on the encryption debate, providing guidelines to merchants that choose to implement data-security measures beyond industry requirements, reports American Banker, a CardLine sister publication. Visa...

More companies have begun to offer encryption options, or have announced plans to do so, with a focus on so-called "end-to-end" encryption. Typically, this means payment card data are encrypted when the information is read by a merchant's...

Consumer confidence remained high in September, but spending remained flat, according to survey data Discover Financial Services released today. The Riverwoods, Ill.-based company's U.S. Spending Monitor rose to ## from ## in August....

Diners Club International Ltd. and United Kingdom-based ATM network Link Interchange Network Ltd. yesterday announced an agreement enabling all Diners Club cardholders to withdraw cash from Link's ##,### ATMs in the UK. Under a previous...

Although the House Financial Services Committee finally held its first discussion today on whether to restrict bank interchange rates, the hearing chiefly served to dispel beliefs that the panel was eager to legislate on the issue....

Today's hearing before the Financial Services Committee concerning a bill Reps. Peter Welch, D-Vt., and Bill Shuster, R-Penn., introduced that would regulate interchange rates is a major step forward, lawmakers say. The issue has been...

Wells Fargo & Co. plans to raise interest rates on most credit card customers by # percentage points before new rules limiting such increases take effect, according to a company executive in a report from Bloomberg News. "This is something...

Small-business owners should expect to see more business card mail offers in the coming months as issuers begin to target the segment while the economy shows signs of improvement, according to Mintel Comperemedia. Mailings have been...

Consumers who store funds in accounts tied to Green Dot Corp. prepaid cards now can transfer those funds to PayPal Inc. accounts, reports American Banker, a CardLine sister publication. The agreement announced Wednesday with eBay Inc.'s...

U.S. Bancorp today named Anthony Vuoto to head its card operations. Vuoto, ##, will serve as general manager of retail payment solutions, which comprises U.S. Bank's consumer and small-business credit, debit, prepaid and specialty card...

New Zealand's Commerce Commission says it has signed separate interchange-related agreements with seven financial institutions in that country. The agreements with the financial institutions settle the commission's claims that the institutions,...

* Citigroup Inc.'s ThankYou Network loyalty program has expanded its rewards collection by adding music downloads from Sony Music Entertainment. * Obopay Inc., a mobile money-transfer provider, has appointed Dilip Nagaraja as executive...

Robust performance in the U.S. independent sales organization channel and benefits from international acquisitions helped bolster Global Payments Inc.'s fiscal first-quarter results despite difficult economic conditions, according to...

First Data Corp. is developing a security format that could assuage merchants' concerns about encrypting card data at the point of sale, reports American Banker, a CardLine sister publication. The Atlanta payment processor announced...

Twelve individuals who worked for a group of Buffalo, N.Y. area collection agencies were charged Tuesday with grand larceny after allegedly posing as law enforcement officials and threatening debtors with jail if they did not pay their...

After a one-month decline, the charge-off rate of prime credit card portfolios increased to a record high in September, according to Fitch's Prime Credit Card Index results released yesterday. Charge-offs on prime credit card portfolios...

Discover Financial Services' Discover Network this month will begin to see a slight uptick in volume when transactions for Diners Club International cardholders outside North America now processed by MasterCard Worldwide's network switch...

With Canada's imminent move to chip-and-pin cards by October ####, it may be time for restaurants to install pay-at-the table terminals, Chris Justice, president of Ingenico for North America, tells CardLine. "EMV in Canada is the big...

An estimated #.## million Australians have had criminals steal or skim their credit cards, according to survey data from Australia-based credit reporting agency Veda Advantage and research firm Galaxy Research. An additional #.## million...

American Express Co. today announced a reorganization of its top leadership, including the departure early next year of company President Alfred F. Kelly Jr. Kelly, ##, has indicated he wants to become a CEO and, "given my plans for...

NCR Corp. is the world's largest ATM manufacturer based on annual shipments, and Diebold Inc. is the world's third largest, but in the U.S. their roles are reversed, according to a recent survey by Aite Group LLC, a Boston-based consulting...

In another use of a prepaid card designed to influence human behavior, the Forsyth County, N.C., health department, handed out $## Wal-Mart Stores Inc. gift cards to residents if they agreed to be tested for syphilis and HIV, says...

Prepaid debit card providers are adding an array of features to differentiate their products. Among them is a savings-account option, which slowly is gaining traction. Two weeks ago, FSV Payment Systems Inc. announced the launch of...

Last year, Unicoi County Jail in Erwin, Tenn., fired an employee and accused him of theft and official misconduct after he admitted stealing money from jail inmates. The employee confessed to stealing $### from two inmates to pay his...

The shrinking number of debit cardholders withdrawing funds from ATMs other than their issuers' are paying higher surcharge fees, a recent survey by Bankrate.com has found. This year, financial institutions are charging noncustomers...

Diners Club International Ltd. and United Kingdom-based ATM network Link Interchange Network Ltd. Tuesday announced an agreement enabling all Diners Club cardholders to withdraw cash from Link's ##,### ATMs in the UK. Under a previous...

State Bank of India, which is bringing smiles to the faces of major ATM manufacturers by buying thousands of their ATMs, considers the machines key to acquiring and retaining customers. "ATMs are now a necessity for customer retention,"...

First Data Corp. First Data Corp. has named Raymond E. Winborne senior vice president and controller. NCR Corp. NCR Corp. has named Robert Fishman, ##, interim CFO, replacing Anthony Massetti, who will resign Oct. ## to accept a position...

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

As the credit rating agencies (CRAs) begin to rebuild their brand, market experts are questioning whether the changes these firms are implementing are tackling the key problems that have caused rating inaccuracies. The failure of the...

The well-documented struggles of the U.S. economy continue to pose increased difficulties for borrowers underlying U.S. middle market CLOs. Whereas early middle market CLOs benefited from solid performance of underlying middle market...

Notwithstanding the anaemic state of securitization generally, cross-border securitization of Canadian receivables has remained fairly steady, and in some sectors has actually picked up. This is due in part to Canadian domestic securitization...

The Internal Revenue Service's update on REMIC rules that will now allow for more commercial loan modifications is welcomed by the industry. However, the ##% property valuation test required at the time of the modification could bring...

The increased numbers of European banks and other originators making tender offers to buy back their structured finance issues primarily reflect originators taking advantage of opportunities to optimize their funding profiles and capital...

Early last summer, the Obama administration proposed a sweeping revision of U.S. financial regulation. Among its notable features are the elevation of the Federal Reserve to the role of primary financial regulator and the creation of...

Although the economic fallout from the "great recession" would have been much higher without the steadying hand of government, its activity also has other consequences, including a potential downside for the commercial real estate sector....

In keeping with the Term ABS Loan Facility's (TALF) and thePublic-Private Investment Program's (PPIP) prominent roles in the current securitization market, the Information Management Network (IMN) has aptly made these programs the focus...

A sense of relief is percolating through the market of Shariah-compliant bonds, known as sukuks. Standard & Poor's records show that issuance in the first seven months of the year came in at slightly more than $#.# billion, compared...

A massive leap in the values of "toxic" MBS since March - albeit from record lows - may lessen the urgency prompting the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Public-Private Investment Program (PPIP). However, it may also dampen investors'...

A new financing vehicle is poised to take off in Mexico, and it has structured finance players scrambling to make deals. What's interesting is that, at its core, it's an equity product. Boosters of capital development certificates (CCDs),...

Credit rating agencies (CRAs) are still scrutinized and blamed for their failure to capture the true risk in rated ABS transactions. Just last week, past and present employees of Moody's Investors Service were required to testify to...

The American Securitization Forum (ASF) last weeksubmitted a letter to federal banking regulators. The letter requested a six-month moratorium on any regulatory capital rule changes related to the implementation of accounting standards...

Many retired Americans are financially aiding other members of their families, either by giving them money or managing their finances directly, according to the fourth Real Life Retirement quarterly survey from Charles Schwab. The survey,...

With ### banks currently on the FDIC's distressed list and ## collapsed-including three more on Friday-should bank reps be worried? "I think there's cause for concern," says Paul Werlin, president of Human Capital Resources, a recruiter...

Bank sales of fixed annuities reached $#.# billion in the second quarter, according to Beacon Research in Chicago, a drop in sales from $##.# billion in the first quarter. The decline in sales would have been even more severe if the...

It takes more than a few doubts about safety and soundness for banks to lose retail customers these days-or at least more than it used to. Last fall, a bank ranking in the ##th percentile from a financial soundness perspective might...

AXA Distributors, John Hancock, Lincoln Financial, Pacific Life and SunAmerica topped the list of the best variable annuity websites for advisors in a new survey by Kasina, a consulting firm in New York City. The stakes are high. With...

Readers interested in followinga discussion thread on the website can now sign up for automatic updates via our new "discussion board alert" service. Here's how it works: Say you're asking a question online. Now you can receive an email...

There's always something new to talk about with your clients. That's what many a successful advisor has told me about how they do business. It's not hard if you keep close tabs on your clients' life changes, as well as changes in the...

BIC: What new opportunities are opening up in your territory? Huck: Bankers meet one Friday every month, so I asked if I could build an education program. I'll bring in accountants and attorneys, and spend ## or ## minutes talking....

For Paul Stetter, an Advisor at Fulton Financial in Lancaster, Pa., the reason for transitioning to fees is a no-brainer. The ##-year-old advisor "didn't want to wind up at ## working the same way I've been working for the past four...

Increased human longevity, rapid economic changes and chaotic world events have caused people to reexamine their lives. Many potential clients-and advisors-have concluded that life means more to them than bank account balances and spreadsheet...

Contacting clients and reaching new prospects has always been critical for maintaining and growing your practice. Now technology can make the whole process far more effective. By using blogs, online forums, social networks and other...

For the past ## years, clients could contribute to a traditional or Roth IRA. Both accounts present certain tax benefits that are attractive in some situations, but next year, the rules regarding Roth IRAs are going to change. This...

In ####, Philip Moses, a Raymond James financial advisor at First Federal Bank of Florida in Lake City, Fla., had a local physician as a client who wanted to diversify his $#.# million portfolio. Moses, long an advocate of alternative...

The "SWiP" method of spending #% of savings each year in retirement is widely accepted by advisors. After all, Systematic Withdrawal Plans are simple. They maintain full liquidity and let advisors manage clients' money much the same...

Changes in the rules governing Roth IRAs could help wealthy clients in several ways in ####-if only they knew about them. An exclusive Bank Investment Consultant survey of #,### advisors across wirehouses, independent and banking channels...

Bank-based advisor productivity turned up in June, to $##,###, beating May's figures by #%, according to the Bank Insurance and Securities Association's Monthly Productivity Benchmarks report. While June is up over May, it falls short...

Revenue in the average bank or credit union brokerage declined ##% during the first half of the year compared with the same period last year, according to research firm Kehrer-LIMRA in Princeton, N.J. "The continuing difficulties facing...

WASHINGTON-Reduced origination costs for mortgage bankers and (in some instances) a reduction in competition are helping residential lenders post their best per-loan profit margins in years, as shown by a sixfold increase in the first...

NEW YORK-Banks in some cases appear to be becoming somewhat more willing to conditionally provide warehouse lines to larger and medium-sized players, but it remains difficult to say when and if lines will be again be available for "mom...

Depending on which side of the fence you are on, the educational requirements set up by the SAFE Act are either the best thing that has happened to ensure professionalism in the mortgage broker industry or the worst thing to happen...

WASHINGTON-Certain Federal Housing Administration loans could run afoul of a new HOEPA rule that prohibits prepayment penalties, and industry groups want the Federal Reserve Board to fix the problem. The problem stems from a Ginnie...

WASHINGTON-The National Association of Mortgage Brokers said it has received thousands of complaints from its members as well as appraisers, Realtors, and consumers concerning Home Valuation Code of Conduct rules promulgated by the...

The enactment of the federal S.A.F.E. Mortgage Licensing Act is bringing about many changes in education and licensing for the nation's mortgage loan originators (MLOs). Christopher Nickerson, who has been following closely the development...

ISELIN, NJ-Chase launched a program where customers paying their new Chase home loans regularly through Chase checking account debits can get #% of their total scheduled monthly principal and interest back through a new patent-pending...