Microfinance focuses on lending. Now the industry is turning to deposits IT IS hard for people in the rich world to imagine what it is like to live on $2 a day.
Posts Tagged ability
Countries compete to weaken their currencies ONCE upon a time, nations took pride in their strong currencies, seeing them as symbols of economic and political power.
Countries don’t like bad news about their creditworthiness WHEN the subprime crisis broke in 2007, credit-rating agencies were among the first groups to take the blame. Critics argued that investors had drawn false comfort from the AAA ratings that the agencies handed out on complex packages of mortgage-related debt. Furthermore, the raters were hamstrung by the conflicts of interest inherent in being paid by issuers to assess their bonds.
Binyamin Appelbaum, at the WaPo, reports that Senators Dodd and Corker (Tenn) are nearing a deal to give authority for financial consumer protection to the Federal Reserve. Uh, wasn’t the Fed already responsible for consumer financial protection? More from the WSJ: Senators Outline Plan to Create New Consumer-Protection Unit Within the Fed The division would be led by a White House appointee, have the ability to write and enforce rules, and have a separate budget.
Yesterday I posted some excerpt from Freddie Mac’s 10-Q: We believe that several of our mortgage insurance counterparties are at risk of falling out of compliance with regulatory capital requirements, which may result in regulatory actions that could threaten our ability to receive future claims payments, and negatively impact our access to mortgage insurance for high LTV loans. The WSJ has more tonight, including the risks to Fannie Mae: Fannie, Freddie Warn on More Losses Fannie Mae has about $109.5 billion of mortgage-insurance coverage in force … Freddie Mac had $63.4 billion in mortgage insurance and $12.2 billion in bond insurance.
From CNBC: Boomers in Denial About Retirement Savings Wells Fargo just released the results of its Retirement Fitness survey and looked hard at the investment habits of pre-retirees ages 50 to 59.
Press Release: CIT Board of Directors Approves Proceeding with Prepackaged Plan of Reorganization with Overwhelming Support of Debtholders And from the NY Times Dealbook: CIT Files for Bankruptcy On Sunday afternoon, the company filed for Chapter 11 — but under a so-called prepackaged bankruptcy plan that will enable it to emerge from court protection by the end of the year.
From the WaPo: FHA Set to Hire Freddie Mac Official On Friday, the Inspector General of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, which includes FHA, said the agency lacks the ability to ensure that lenders meet its requirements. The report also said that FHA did not obtain or consider negative information on lenders from other HUD offices, follow up on whether the required fees or documentation were collected, or properly dispose of lender application files containing personally identifiable information. The AP has more on the report.
CBO Pans Healthcare Plan
Jul 16
Obama’s health care received perhaps its harshest criticism to-date Thursday, after the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said it will “significantly” expand public spending in an already unbalanced budget.
We are seeing some positive reactions this afternoon in some of the solar stocks on an individual basis, despite energy prices not offering much of an added boost to the sector. Canadian Solar Inc. (NASDAQ: CSIQ) is up on an upgrade. ReneSola Ltd
