U.S. Bancorp (USB) has signed a deal with BB&T Corp. (BBT) to acquire the latter’s banking operations in Nevada . As per the agreement, U.S. Bank National Association, U.S. Bancorp’s lead bank, will purchase about $800 million in deposits and certain branches of BB&T’s Nevada banking operations.   The deal is subject to regulatory approval and is expected to close in early 2010. The acquisition involves deposits of those branches that BB&T had recently acquired from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) as receiver for Colonial Bank.  The purchase will fortify U.S. Bancorp’s business in Nevada . The company expects this acquisition to meet or exceed the company’s internal rate of return and earnings per share accretion targets.  Last week, US Bancorp has announced that its lead bank, U.S. Bank, has agreed to buy the bond trustee business of First Citizens Bank, a subsidiary of ...

The U.S. government has already retrieved about $4 billion in profits from 8 of the biggest banks that have fully repaid their obligations from the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP). The government has recorded profits of about $1.4 billion from its investment in Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS), $1.3 billion from Morgan Stanley (MS) and $414 million from American Express Company (AXP). Furthermore, the government has also reaped profits in the range of $100 million to $334 million from its investments in each of the following five banks: Northern Trust Corporation (NTRS), The Bank of New York Mellon Corporation (BK), State Street Corp. (STT), US Bancorp (USB) and BB&T Corp. (BBT). It also collected about $35 million in profits from 14 smaller banks that have paid back their loans. TARP was introduced in October 2008 to ...

Deutsche Bank Securities Inc., the New York unit of Germany's Deutsche Bank AG (DB), has a $42 million unsecured claim against mortgage lender Taylor, Bean & Whitaker Mortgage Corp. Taylor Bean filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on August 24 as it was forced to shut its mortgage lending operations on August 5. The filing in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court listed the claim as disputed and ranked it as the largest unsecured claim against Taylor Bean. Taylor Bean said the claim was related to Ocala Funding, an entity set up by Taylor Bean to borrow money for short periods to fund home loans. The filing also listed a $9 million claim from James G. Hicks of Lawrenceville related to money owed for the acquisition of a mortgage company made by Taylor Bean. The company said approximately 100 Taylor Bean bank accounts were frozen by Colonial ...

For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – August 28, 2009 – Zacks.com announces the list of stocks featured in the Analyst Blog. Every day the Zacks Equity Research analysts discuss the latest news and events impacting stocks and the financial markets. Stocks recently featured in the blog include: JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM), Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria (BBV), BB&T Corp. (BBT), Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ) and AMR Corp. (AMR).

Get the most recent insight from Zacks Equity Research with the free Profit from the Pros newsletter: http://at.zacks.com/?id=5513

Here are highlights from Thursday’s Analyst Blog:

Thrifts Defy Troubles

Thrifts are required to have at least 65% of their loans as mortgages and other consumer loans, which makes them particularly vulnerable to the housing downturn. But banks have no such compulsion. However, the banking industry is likely to face further special

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Northern Trust Corp. (NTRS) on Wednesday declared that it has completed the final step to free itself from the government bailout program. The Chicago-based custody bank paid $87 million to repurchase stock warrants issued to the federal government as part of the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP).

With this repurchase, Northern Trust has paid a total of nearly $1.71 billion to the Treasury under TARP. This includes repurchase of preferred stock issued to the government and preferred dividends. According to the bank, the total payments represent a 14% annualized return on investment to the US taxpayers.

The $700 billion bailout program was launched by the federal government to help revive deteriorating credit markets during the height of the financial crisis. The government provided capital to institutions in exchange of preferred stock and warrants to purchase common shares.

Most banks still have short-term debt guaranteed by the government. However,

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On Wednesday, regulators said that the US thrift industry had earned its first profit since the third quarter of 2007, but the number of troubled institutions continued to rise. Profit for the period ended June 30, 2009 was $4 million, compared to a loss of $1.62 billion sequentially and $5.4 billion in the prior-year quarter. The small profit for the quarter mainly came from higher net interest margins, lower provisions for loan losses and better fees.

Although results for the quarter showed some improvement, overall performance of the industry remained uneven. Troubled assets at thrifts accounted for 3.52% of the industry's assets, up from 3.35% in the previous quarter. However, total value of troubled assets fell to $38.6 billion from $41 billion in the earlier quarter.

"Problem thrifts" on the agency's list are those which have significantly low capital reserves and other deficiencies. Their number rose to 40 from

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Less than two weeks after Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) seized Colonial BancGroup’s (CBCG) banking operations, the holding company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection yesterday. Most of Colonial’s banking assets were sold to BB&T Corp. (BBT).   The shutdown of Colonial BancGroup’s banking operations is the biggest bank failure so far this year, and the sixth-largest in U.S. history.   The estimated cost of Colonial BancGroup’s failure to the deposit insurance fund would be $2.8 billion. The FDIC and BB&T have signed an agreement to share losses on about $15 billion of Colonial BancGroup’s loans and other assets.   BB&T expects losses in the loan portfolio acquired from Colonial BancGroup’s banking operations of $5 billion will not have a negative impact on its earnings because of its loss-sharing agreement with the FDIC.   For the last several quarters the holding company posted losses as a result ...

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Thursday August 20, 2009

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Medis Technologies (Nasdaq: MDTL) today announced that, subsequent to its notification by Nasdaq that Nasdaq considers Medis to be out of compliance with various Nasdaq requirements including the maintenance of certain levels of net worth, Medis’ common stock will be delisted from the Nasdaq Global Market effective at the open of business tomorrow and is expected to be quoted on the Pink Sheets beginning at the opening of the market tomorrow. The ticker symbol will remain the same: MDTL.

The LGL Group, Inc. (NYSE Amex: LGL), today announced results for the quarter ended June 30, 2009. LGL is the holding

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Yesterday, BB&T Corp. (BBT) said expected losses in the loan portfolio acquired from Colonial BancGroup (CBCG) of $5 billion will not have a negative impact on its earnings because of its loss-sharing agreement with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC).   Last Friday, BB&T took control of Colonial after it was seized by regulators. As a result, BB&T is exposed to losses connected with its purchase of Colonial assets for $21.8 billion.   The estimated cost of Colonial’s failure to the deposit insurance fund would be $2.8 billion. The FDIC and BB&T have signed an agreement to share losses on about $15 billion of Colonial's loans and other assets.   The Colonial deal is the biggest acquisition in BB&T’s history, creating the nation's eighth-largest financial holding company by deposits. BB&T is a dominant player in Southeastern U.S., where many closures have happened. Having taken over most of ...

Bank of America Corp. (BAC) sued Colonial Bancgroup Inc. (CNB) to protect its claim on certain loans after the troubled company refused to return more than $1 billion it owed to Freddie Mac (FRE).

Bank of America filed the lawsuit at a federal court in Florida, asking for a temporary restraining order prohibiting Colonial from using the proceeds it received from Freddie Mac for buying mortgage and other loans owned by Ocala Funding LLC.

Bank of America was the collateral agent for the Ocala Funding loans and Colonial held them as custodian, agent and bailee. On the whole, Bank of America was a trustee to parties that provided financing for Colonial's mortgage business.

On Thursday, the court decided in favor of Bank of America and ordered Colonial to freeze $1 billion in assets.

Colonial appears to be on the threshold of collapsing as a going concern

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