Business Insider Magazine - Los Angeles South Bay » lending

Hanmi Financial posts hefty loss

Editor and Publisher — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 22:40:11 +0000

Parent of bank serving Korean community, with branch in Torrance, ordered to raise $100 million.

Hanmi Financial Corp., which owns the largest bank focused on the Korean American market, reported another large quarterly loss Thursday and said regulators had ordered it to raise $100 million in capital by July or face seizure.

The parent of Hanmi Bank wants to raise the new capital from private investors in South Korea, giving them a controlling stake, said Jay S. Yoo, the company’s chief executive.

But some analysts said the Los Angeles company would struggle to raise the needed money, mainly because regulators have permitted few ... Continue Reading

Carl Icahn lends CIT a hand

Editor and Publisher — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 20:08:56 +0000

The embattled small business lender gets a $1 billion credit line from a onetime foe as it tries to push through a restructuring plan.

By David Ellis

(CNNMoney.com) Small business lender CIT Group got a hand Friday from a most unlikely source: a billionaire activist investor who has spent the past month trying to foil the company’s restructuring plans.

New York-based CIT (CIT, Fortune 500) said Friday it reached an agreement under which Carl Icahn will support the firm’s restructuring. Icahn’s hedge fund ... Continue Reading

New home sales fall 3.6%

Editor and Publisher — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 19:08:48 +0000

(Associated Press – Los Angeles Times) WASHINGTON – Sales of new homes dropped unexpectedly last month as the effects of a soon-to-expire tax credit for first-time owners started to wane.

The Commerce Department said Wednesday that sales fell 3.6 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 402,000 from a downwardly revised 417,000 in August. Economists surveyed by Thomson Reuters had expected a pace of 440,000.

It was the first decline since March. Sales in September were down 7.8 percent from a year ago.

The median sales price of $204,800 was off 9.1 percent from $225,200 a year earlier, but up 2.5 percent ... Continue Reading

Bernanke’s trillion-dollar decision

Editor and Publisher — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 23:51:05 +0000

(Politico) The biggest decision of the economic recovery will be made in the next six months, and Barack Obama will have almost nothing to do with it.

Forget the debate over TARP, and never mind the questions about a second stimulus. This decision is about when to pull out $1 trillion that’s propping up the U.S. banking system. And it will be Federal Reserve Chairman