An Arkansas bank has made its way to the Mortgage Graveyard, US Bancorp was forced to shell out $600 million for an off-balance sheet conduit and IndyMac Bancorp Inc. reported a giant loss. Other recent corporate activity included more international write-downs, an acquisition of a $1 billion originator and the likely bankruptcy of Fremont Investment & Loan.
IndyMac said today it had a $184 million first-quarter loss, reversing a $52 million profit a year earlier. Total credit provisions/costs were $249 million and actual realized credit losses were $334 million. Quarterly losses are expected to continue throughout 2008, albeit at a declining level.
“It is important to also understand that 24 percent of our first quarter loss is from staff reduction severance and office closing costs, and another 22 percent is from business activities that we have permanently closed and where losses are expected to diminish over time, such as homebuilder construction lending, home equity lending and our conduit channel,” Michael Perry, chairman and chief executive officer of the Pasadena, Calif.-based company, explained in the announcement. “Another 22 percent is from business activities that we have permanently closed and where losses are expected to diminish over time, such as homebuilder construction lending, home equity lending and our conduit channel.”
HSBC, which reported it earned a first-quarter profit compared to a loss a year earlier, said loan impairment charges at its U.S. consumer finance business were in line with expectations at $3.2 billion compared with $4.6 billion in the fourth quarter $1.6 billion during the first quarter 2007. Fair-value gains were $2.7 billion in the latest period.
Allianz Group said it marked down asset-backed securities by EUR 845 million (U.S. $1.3 billion). Net income was EURÂ 1.15 billion (U.S. $1.8 billion).
An off-balance sheet conduit will that lost access to commercial paper financing received $600 million through a liquidity facility from sponsor USÂ Bancorp, an SEC filing today said. The $1.1 billion qualified special-purpose entity stopped issuing commercial paper in March, triggering the facility. The commercial loan will be paid by the proceeds of the underlying high-grade investment securities, and additional second-quarter draws are anticipated.
Liberty Financial Group was acquired by Guild Mortgage Co., an announcement today said. Bellevue, Wash.-based Liberty reportedly originates $1 billion in prime mortgages annually through branches located predominately in Washington and Colorado.
Fremont General Corp. warned in an SECÂ filing Friday that it cannot produce consolidated financial statements in the timely manner required to consummate its deal to sell a substantial portion of Fremont Investment & Loans’s assets to CapitalSource TRS Inc.
As a result, Fremont General Corp. will likely file for bankruptcy following receipt of the requisite approvals for the sale from the regulatory authorities. It will then request bankruptcy court approval for the sale to CapitalSource, the filing said. A bankruptcy will not impact Fremont Investment & Loans’s operations or the FDIC insurance of its deposits.
On Friday, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency shut down ANB Financial N.A. in Bentonville, Ark., according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, which has been named receiver. Branches of ANB were to open today as branches of Pulaski Bank and Trust Co., Little Rock, which assumed the insured deposits.
ANB is the third FDIC-insured institution to fail this year and the only failure in Arkansas since the collapse of Sinclair National Bank in September 2001.
According to a June 2007 agreement between ANBÂ and OCC, the bank was required to strengthen its underwriting on its commercial real estate portfolio, diversify its concentration and limit commercial mortgage growth.
