Goodbye Amtrust (formerly Ohio Savings):
+ 
+ 
Regulators Pull Plug on Bank – BY DAVID ENRICH – Federal regulators on Friday seized AmTrust Bank, a battered Cleveland thrift kept alive this year after local politicians pleaded with the government for a second chance. – Wall street Journal
AmTrust’s Peculiar Buyer – Tom Lindmark – The WSJ has a pretty good article on the failure of AmTrust. – … Based on the WSJ article one has to wonder what in the world a New York and New Jersey focused financial institution wants with an Ohio bank with a smattering of banks in some of the more destitute economies in this country. … – But Then What Blog
AmTrust’s bankruptcy filing may be a lesson learned from WaMu – By Teresa Dixon Murray – … the same day, the family that owns 77 percent of AmTrust Bank’s parent company took action to make sure the identical thing doesn’t happen to them. The parent company filed an 11th-hour bankruptcy to protect assets and, in recent weeks, has moved $7 million in cash from AmTrust to accounts at PNC Financial Services Group. Some subsidiaries, including AmTrust bank itself, were not included in the bankruptcy filing.
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. is probably ticked at the tactic. – The Plain Dealer
and
AmTrust Financial attorneys talk about possibility of selling bank – By Teresa Dixon Murray – Cleveland Plain Dealer
————
US banks premature in reducing provisioning for bad loans – There are some interesting tidbits in Moody’s latest quarterly report on the US banking system, notably that US banks are premature in reducing provisioning for bad loans, and the charge-off trend now shows that the erosion of commercial real estate surpasses that of residential real estate. – Research Recap
————
Citigroup Said to Need Treasury Stake Sale Before TARP Payment – By Bradley Keoun – The U.S. Treasury Department’s refusal to sell its 34 percent stake in Citigroup Inc. is hampering the bank’s plans to repay $20 billion of remaining bailout funds, people familiar with the bank said. Executives at the New York-based bank are growing frustrated because they can’t sell stock to raise money for repayment until the Treasury signals when and how it will unload its 7.7 billion shares – Bloomberg
Banks Take Losses on Short Sales as Foreclosures Soar – By John Gittelsohn and Margaret Collins – … “It’s really finally dawning on banks that they’re better off with a short sale,” said Richard Green, director of the Lusk Center for Real Estate at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. “I think banks were in denial.” … – Bloomberg
————
From BANKSTOCKS.COM: Why BofA’s TARP repayment marks a turning point – Gary Townsend – The company’s moves are the latest signs that the financial panic is receding at last.
————
Tim Geithner: For the Last Time, NO BANKS WOULD HAVE SURVIVED WITHOUT TARP – NY Magazine