RHN Letter to the Editor | Holding mortgage servicers accountable
With the numerous bank errors that took place in the five months that Dana Milbank tried to refinance his home [ Foreclosures: Big banks reign of error, Sunday Opinion, March 6 ], you could almost laugh that a prominent mortgage servicer happened to pick a nationally recognized columnist to harass. But it is not funny. http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/holding-mortgage-servicers-accountable/2011/03/09/ABeSoKS_story.html
Preemption After Dodd-Frank May Not Be as Weak as You’ve Heard | RHN Mention
For eight months after the enactment of the Dodd-Frank Act, it has been conventional wisdom that federal preemption of state banking laws was rolled back at least somewhat, dealing the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and national banks a significant blow. But a growing number of preemption experts are arguing that is dead wrong. http://www.americanbanker.com/issues/176_50/preemption-1034399-1.html
Metro Giving: Learning the Language | Mentions Steven Kupfer, RATA
Every other Tuesday, NYMetro showcases regular New Yorkers giving back.
Steven Kupfer had a few extra minutes five years ago. “After work, I would often have some spare time,” said the New York State government employee. “So I thought maybe if I did something a little productive, that would be a good thing.” Kupfer, 54, spends up to eight hours a week as a “conversation partner” — someone who meets with non-native English speakers to help them become fluent. Metro found out about Kupfer through his conversation partner Tae Yeom. “As an ordinary person, he is fulfilling a small contribution continuously to our community,” Yeom said in his nomination. Kupfer’s help is a gateway to getting jobs and passing exams. http://www.metro.us/newyork/local/article/802461–metro-giving-learning-the-language
Guilty Plea in Fraud Case Tied to TARP
Raymond E. Bowman, the former president of Taylor, Bean & Whitaker Mortgage, pleaded guilty on Monday in connection with a $1.9 billion fraud that included trying to deceive the federal bank bailout program. Mr. Bowman, 45, of Atlanta, admitted to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, bank fraud and securities fraud and one count of making false statements. Mr. Bowman also agreed to cooperate with prosecutors’ investigation of the company. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/15/business/15mortgage.html?ref=business
Washington to Woo Wall Street With Infrastructure Bank
This week, Marketplace has learned Massachusetts Senator John Kerry is likely to introduce a bill to create a national infrastructure bank. The bank would be seeded with government money. But — and this is unusual — its primary purpose would be to get Wall Street to pick up part of the bill for future construction projects. That’s a good move, according to Michael Likosky. He wrote a book called “Obama’s Bank: Financing a Durable New Deal.”What an infrastructure bank at its core is about, it’s about building new things and bringing private capital in to build new things. Here’s how it might work: The government would put in as much as $50 billion. Wall Street would add to that and it would have a say in investment decisions. The profits would be split proportionally. Bernard Schwartz, a long-time executive, says that $50 billion could quadruple once professional investors add their own funds. http://marketplace.publicradio.org/display/web/2011/03/14/pm-new-move-to-woo-private-capital-for-public-works/
Senate Banking Committee Hearing | Report to Congress: Reforming America’s Housing Finance Market
http://banking.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Hearings.Hearing&Hearing_id=482a3e7b-b029-4711-8881-b2dad0b2f1b3
Republicans mount first Dodd-Frank challenge
Congressional Republicans on Wednesday will stage their first outright challenge to 2010’s Dodd-Frank financial regulation reforms with a fistful of bills favoring private equity firms, derivatives end-users and corporate CEOs. After months of trying to defund and defang Dodd-Frank at the administrative level, Republicans are finally unveiling draft legislation that would repeal or amend parts of the laws approved after the severe 2007-2009 financial crisis. http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/03/15/us-financial-regulation-congress-idUSTRE72E02X20110315
National AG foreclosure settlement may not be so national
Some state attorneys general clashed in recent days over the proposed settlement with mortgage servicers over problems found in their foreclosure processes, illustrating how far away a final agreement is likely to be. Banks will not be held to these stricter mortgage servicing standards in states where the AG does not sign on to the deal. http://www.housingwire.com/2011/03/14/national-ag-foreclosure-settlement-may-not-be-so-national
Editorial | A foreclosure settlement plan might make matters worse
At the moment, state attorneys general and some within the Obama administration are pushing for a settlement that would, appropriately enough, force the banks to fix the foreclosure process and streamline loan modifications. More controversially, they are also trying to extract a large cash amount $20 billion is under discussion to help write down the principal balances of the 22.5 percent of U.S. homebuyers who owe more than the market value of their homes…Here’s the problem several problems, actually. As flagrant as the mortgage companies procedural violations might have been, they did not actually cause many foreclosures. http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/a-foreclosure-settlement-plan-might-make-matters-worse/2011/03/11/ABVIvuV_print.html
Republicans Assail Regulator on Costs of New Rules
Republican lawmakers are stepping up their criticism on federal regulators charged with writing new rules for Wall Street, saying the agencies are ignoring the costs of the rules. Representative Frank D. Lucas, chairman of the House Agriculture Committee, has asked the CFTC’s internal watchdog to study how the agency calculates the costs of new regulations it is writing for the derivatives industry. http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2011/03/14/republicans-assail-c-f-t-c-on-costs-of-new-rules/
Debit-Cards Swipe Fee Caps Would Be Delayed Under House, Senate Bills
U.S. Senate and House lawmakers will propose legislation to delay proposed debit-card swipe fee caps that have been challenged by financial companies and questioned by bank regulators. Senators worked to complete their bill late yesterday as House Republicans got a first look at language that would put a hold on Federal Reserve rules aimed at making fees paid by retailers reasonable and proportional to processing costs, as required by the Dodd-Frank Act. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-03-15/lawmakers-preparing-bills-to-delay-debit-card-swipe-fee-caps.html
Google Is Said to Plan Payment Test in New York, San Francisco
Google Inc. plans to start testing a mobile-payment service at stores in New York and San Francisco within four months, letting shoppers use their phones to ring up purchases…The company will pay for installation of thousands of special cash-register systems from VeriFone Systems Inc. (PAY) at merchant locations…The registers would accept payments from mobile phones equipped with so-called near-field-communication technology. The project would put Google in a growing field of companies experimenting with NFC, which lets consumers pay for products and services by tapping a device against a register at checkout, giving them an alternative to cash or physical credit cards. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-03-15/google-is-said-to-ready-payment-test-in-new-york-san-francisco.html
FHA Short Refi program applications rise as major lenders come aboard
Five of the largest lenders in the U.S. are signed up for the Federal Housing Administration’s Short Refi program, spurring applications upward even as Republican lawmakers try to terminate the initiative. http://www.housingwire.com/2011/03/14/fha-short-refi-program-applications-go-up-as-major-lenders-come-aboard
Banking’s Scourge on Charm Offensive
Elizabeth Warren has earned a reputation as the scourge of the financial industry. Now, Ms. Warren is setting up the federal government’s new CFPB a longtime dream of hers that the 2010 financial overhaul established. And her tone has changed. http://professional.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703749504576172510974842034.html?mod=WSJPRO_hps_MIDDLEThirdNews#printMode
FCIC | Derivatives, as Accused by Buffett
Warren E. Buffett’s “elephant gun” and itchy “trigger finger” may be the market chatter, after Berkshire Hathaway announced a $9 billion deal to buy Lubrizol on Monday. But Wall Street denizens have been focused on something else in recent days: Mr. Buffett’s private interview before the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, a transcript of which has been whizzing around e-mail inboxes. Mr. Buffett, in a two-hour interview transcribed by the newsletter Santangel’s Review, touched on everything from ratings agencies to the dangers of leverage. But the most provocative moments centered on derivatives, the complicated investments at the heart of the financial crisis. It is perhaps the first time that Mr. Buffett has opened up so publicly about the topic. http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2011/03/14/derivatives-as-accused-by-buffett/?ref=business
IRS Boosted Auditing of Richest Taxpayers, Almost Doubling Rate Last Year
The Internal Revenue Service audited 18.4 percent of taxpayers reporting income above $10 million last year, up from 10.6 percent the previous year. Audit rates increased in 2010 for all income groups, except for people with no adjusted gross income, according to data released today in Washington for the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30. Highest earners had the sharpest increases in audit rates. The IRS audited 11.6 percent of taxpayers reporting adjusted gross income between $5 million and $10 million, up from 7.5 percent the year before. Taxpayers making between $75,000 and $100,000 faced the least chance of an audit, with a 0.64 percent rate. Through its voluntary offshore disclosure programs and court cases involving Swiss banks, the IRS has gotten a better understanding of how wealthy people in non-corporate businesses manage their assets http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-03-14/irs-boosted-auditing-of-richest-taxpayers-almost-doubling-rate-last-year.html
UBS Says Faces LIBOR Manipulation Probe
Swiss bank UBS said it had received subpoenas from U.S. and Japanese regulators regarding whether it made “improper attempts” to manipulate LIBOR rates, the benchmark price for interbank borrowing costs. UBS said it had received subpoenas from the U.S. SEC, Commodity Futures Trading Commission and Department of Justice regarding its submissions to the British Bankers’ Association, which sets LIBOR rates. It has also been ordered to provide information to the Japan Financial Supervisory Agency concerning similar matters. UBS said it was conducting an internal review and is cooperating with the investigations. It did not provide any further details. http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2011/03/15/business/business-us-ubs-libor.html?src=busln
Nobel Prize Winner Yunus Working to Ensure `Smooth Transition’ at Grameen
Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus said he is working to ensure a “smooth transition” of management at Grameen Bank, the microfinance lender founded and headed by him. Yunus appealed to the nation’s top court last week against a High Court decision that upheld his removal as the managing director of Grameen. The central bank had written to Grameen saying Yunus, 70, can’t continue as managing director after age 60. The Supreme Court will hear the appeal today. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-03-15/nobel-prize-winner-yunus-working-to-ensure-smooth-transition-at-grameen.html
New York Senate Republicans advance constitutional fix for state redistricting issue
Senate majority Republicans on Monday advanced a constitutional amendment to reform New York’s notorious gerrymandering, but not without another fight in the chamber on its most heated issue. In a critical committee vote Monday, Democrats opposed the measure they called a GOP ploy to delay the issue past the 2012 election. The constitutional amendment that advanced in a party-line vote wouldn’t change the way election districts are drawn for the Legislature and Congress until after 2020. Instead, Senate Democrats support a bill that would be effective in time for next year’s elections, before the Republican’s 32-30 majority could use the current system to redraw election districts to protect its power. http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2011/03/new_york_senate_republicans_ad.html
N.Y. group home scandal is an Albany disgrace for the ages
When government wastes money or buries us in red tape, it’s annoying. When government turns a blind eye to political corruption, it’s infuriating. But when government fails at one of its most sacred duties – safeguarding the developmentally disabled – that’s a stomach-churning outrage. Which is why the appalling conditions in state-run group homes, as searingly documented by The New York Times, rank as the worst Albany scandal in years. As the operator of 2,000 group homes, the state takes direct responsibility for the care and protection of some 10,000 New Yorkers with severe physical and mental disabilities. And as The Times story makes clear, it has badly dropped the ball. http://www.nydailynews.com/opinions/columnists/hammond/index.html
Huntley kid clean$ up
State Sen. Shirley Huntley likes to keep the campaign cash close to home. Huntley’s campaign committee paid her daughter $50,700 for three months of work on the Queens Democrat’s 2010 re-election bid. Pamala Corley raked in the money from July to September 2010 — $1,000 as a consultant, $37,300 for wages, $10,000 for polling costs and $2,400 for office expenses. She got another $1,200 for office expenses in November 2010, campaign-finance reports show. Huntley (pictured) and her ties to two nonprofits, including one run by her daughter, are the subject of an investigation by state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, the Sunday Post revealed. http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/huntley_kid_clean_up_wtbHSgBBdt8p3zfgBhu6rM
Education advocacy group swats back at Gov. Cuomo on disclosure
Gov. Cuomo wants lobbying groups like the alliance and the Committee to Save New York to disclose donors of more than $5,000. In a letter to Cuomo, the alliance listed four groups, led by New York State United Teachers, which gave $425,000. In the letter, Alliance for Quality Education Executive Director Billy Easton called on Cuomo to disclose donors funding the governor’s efforts in support of his budget. The letter fails to point out the state Democratic Party, and not Cuomo, is funding the effort, and that the party will have to make such disclosures under campaign finance law. Easton also calls on Cuomo to disclose information on the Committee to Save New York, a coalition of business groups supporting the governor’s fiscal agenda. http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2011/03/15/2011-03-15_group_swats_back_at_gov_on_disclosure.html
Back in Albany After U.S. Charges, State Senator Finds a Different World
When his Democratic colleagues held their daily meeting on Monday, State Senator Carl Kruger stayed holed up in his office across the street from the Capitol. When he finally emerged, a woman who spotted him down the hallway gasped. And when Mr. Kruger walked onto the Senate floor, most of his colleagues acted as if he were invisible. Four days after he surrendered to federal prosecutors on public corruption charges, Mr. Kruger, a Democrat from Brooklyn, returned on Monday to a world very different from the one he had inhabited for the past 17 years. It was an awkward first day back in the Senate for Mr. Kruger, the former chairman of its Finance Committee, who is known for his ability to raise and distribute campaign money. Mr. Kruger was never one to be spotted in crowds in Albany, often dining alone and never taking on the back-slapping image of some of his colleagues. And now, facing charges in what prosecutors called a “broad-based bribery racket,” Mr. Kruger clearly seemed to make some people uncomfortable by his presence. And yet Mr. Kruger, reduced in a week’s time from a highly powerful lawmaker to a pay-to-play punch line, seemed undeterred. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/15/nyregion/15kruger.html?_r=1&adxnnl=1&ref=nyregion&adxnnlx=1300194009-3ZlJO8UAfiNVWVwCkLlwpA
Head of City’s Main Labor Federation Quits Amid Criticism
Jack Ahern submitted his resignation as president of the federation, the New York City Central Labor Council, just days after the national president of the operating engineers’ union wrote to members of its Local 30, which Mr. Ahern also heads, saying that Mr. Ahern had engaged in improper overspending on meals and other personal expenses. The operating engineers’ president, Vincent J. Giblin, wrote that Mr. Ahern had to reimburse about $37,200 to his local and should also not have taken an additional salary as chairman of the board of one of the operating engineers’ credit unions. Mr. Giblin also wrote that the union was naming a former investigator for the federal Labor Department to monitor the expenses of Mr. Ahern’s local and was naming the parent union’s retiring chief of staff to oversee the local’s operations. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/15/nyregion/15ahern.html?ref=nyregion
Breslin calls for merger of services | Lawmakers asked to identify consolidation opportunities
County Executive Mike Breslin called on local governments Monday night who are burdened with the same economic challenges to consider cutting costs by pooling resources and consolidating services. People would be “shocked to find out” 106 local government units exist in Albany County, including cities, towns, villages, along with school, fire and water districts, he said. Breslin noted an attempt to consolidate the county Department of Public Works with the town of Berne Highway Department — a collaboration that would have saved $400,000 in the first year and more than $300,000 annually after that — was defeated. A study is under way to evaluate a regional approach to solid waste management, he said, A regional authority would be more efficient, he said, and while initial interest was high, participation from communities has waned. http://www.timesunion.com/local/article/Breslin-calls-for-merger-of-services-1131556.php
$464M in tax credits | State-funded brownfield program disappoints
A state-funded program created in 2003 to encourage the cleanup of brownfield sites by giving out tax credits to developers is not living up to expectations, a recent study by Environmental Advocates of New York showed. Meanwhile, a review of Department of Taxation and Finance reports by Gannett’s Albany Bureau shows that the Brownfield Cleanup Program has paid out roughly $464 million in tax credits over the last three years to developers. The bulk, $423 million, was used by companies to redevelop the properties, with the other $41 million going directly to environmental cleanup efforts. In turn, the developers spent $353 million of their own money on the clean-up of the sites, state records show. Tax credits are given out once all work is completed. Brownfields are abandoned or unused properties that have been deemed unsafe for redevelopment due to a high level of environmental contamination. According to the state Division of Budget, the program is expected to cost the state an additional $2.8 billion through 2016. http://www.pressconnects.com/article/20110314/NEWS10/103140363/State-funded-brownfield-program-disappoints?odyssey=mod|newswell|text|FRONTPAGE|s
Lobbying Clients Prepare For Life Without Lipsky
Richard Lipsky’s indictment on federal bribery charges has cost him several big name clients, including the Committee to Save New York and the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Workers Union. Yet other clients are sticking with Lipsky, a big-time lobbyist who often represented small-time clients, despite allegations that he funneled hundreds of thousands of dollars to State Sen. Carl Kruger in exchange for the Brooklyn Democrat’s political favors. They seem to view Lipsky as occupying such a unique niche in the lobbying world that they are willing to put up with the scrutiny he would invite—even if it means federal investigators might be listening in on their conversations. http://www.cityhallnews.com/newyork/article-1805-lobbying-clients-prepare-for-life-without-lipsky.html
Many Workers Seen Lacking Skills for New York Jobs
New York state is poised to generate one million new middle-skills jobs in industries like health care and transportation over the next seven years. But the state is also facing a shortage of qualified workers who can fill those positions, according to a new report.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704893604576200871243450518.html?mod=WSJ_NY_LEFTTopStories
WNY’s bankruptcy filings level off for month, following a sharp drop
Bankruptcy filings in Western New York leveled off in February, as the number of new cases reflected one of the lowest- percentage changes in nearly eight years. Courts in Buffalo and Rochester recorded 561 new cases last month, down by 0.9 percent from 566 in February 2010, according to new figures from the U. S. Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of New York. That includes 364 in Buffalo and 197 in Rochester, down by 1.1 percent and 0.5 percent, respectively. The last time the percentage changes for all three areas — the district as a whole and each of the two cities — were so slight was in May 2003. The nearly flat change is a sharp contrast to January, when filings fell by nearly 20 percent in the entire district, as well as in each of the cities. However, Carl L. Bucki, chief judge of the U. S. Bankruptcy Court for the Western District, cautioned that January’s numbers may have been artificially low, while February’s may have been artificially high. That’s because New York State revised its bankruptcy-exemption laws in late January, making them more favorable to debtors. http://www.buffalonews.com/city/communities/erie-county/article366541.ece
bdemployees 