Banking Blogs

As the markets float slightly to the downside, the market continues to digest the Non Farm Payrolls and Unemployment data from this morning.  Non Farm Payrolls for December dropped by 85,000.  This was slightly below estimates as

QUESTION: WE   WERE   JUST   THE   HUMAN   RESOURCES   MANAGER   AND   CHIEF   FINANCIAL   OFFICER   FOR   THE   BANK,   SO   HOW   CAN   WE   BE   PERSONALLY   RESPONSIBLE   FOR   EMPLOYEES'   UNPAID   WAGES?

Most investors think about the immediate tax implications of completing a 1031 exchange but may not consider the long-term benefits of the tax deferral.  An exchange provides the opportunity to apply pre-tax dollars towards replacement property and put that money to work for the investor.  This money can help the investor acquire a more expensive replacement property that may yield a higher annual return on investment and may enjoy greater long term appreciation. Exchanges also provide the opportunity to diversify real estate holdings, consolidate investments and acquire property that is less management intensive.

If there is a silver lining to be found behind this otherwise gloomy economic state, it's that there are great deals to be found everywhere you look. From cars to houses, things have gotten much cheaper. And as a homeowner, that means your mortgage can get cheaper too. Here are the top ten reasons you should refinance now.

Are you getting 15% - 74% or more yield from your CDs, stocks, savings accounts, self directed IRAs, pension plan or other investments? If the answer is no, and I'm pretty sure that it is, I have a simple solution that I myself use and have taught others on how to make tens of thousands of dollars more on their investments simply by increasing the yield on the same money they are investing now. I am going to share with you the way you can control your investments and safely make them grow three, four, even five times your current rate. Yes, I know that this sounds too good to be true, but it isn't.

Perhaps your company has dabbled with exporting for a few years and management likes the results: increased sales, access to markets that even out seasonal and economic cycles in the U.S., new outlets for older products, etc.  What was originally an experiment is looking like a strategy.  The Sales group has been given the green light to hire more people and the objective of raising exports from 10% of annual sales to 25%.  Your job in Credit Management is to protect the company from losses that may result. Up until now, the job hasn’t been too tough.  By setting a policy of shipping only against cash in advance (U.S. dollars, to be sure), or confirmed, irrevocable letters of credit, you’ve avoided the political, economic, and commercial risks of exporting.  Or perhaps the Sales folks have been limited to bringing on customers in Canada and Western Europe, whose culture and legal and accounting systems are similar to those in the U.S.  But now your Sales people are going to be venturing into new markets — South America, Eastern Europe, and Asia — and you know they’re going to whine that they won’t be competitive unless you, in the Credit Management (often vilified as “Sales Obstruction”) Department will approve more liberal terms of sale.

Congratulations!  You have just received a call about being an expert in bankruptcy matter.  But what type of case?  And what type of expert? Knowing the answers to these basic questions can save you and your potential client a lot of unpleasant surprises down the road. In business insolvency and bankruptcy proceedings, experts are typically utilized to provide opinions on whether a business is viable, the value of the business, or the value of the lender's collateral. 

Article 9 of the Uniform Commercial Code deals with security interests in personal property.  A key concept under Article 9 is perfection.  Utah, the state in which the author practices law, adopted Revised Article 9 which became effective July 1, 2001, the uniform effective date prescribed by the drafters of Revised Article 9.  Each of the other states also has a version of the Revised Article 9.  (In the citations below, the paragraph numbers in brackets are references to Utah's paragraph numbers, while the unbracketed paragraph labels are those of the code as nationally promulgated.)  Let's review the perfection of security interests created after that effective date.  The rules of perfection have changed considerably from the original Article 9.

Many creditors have grown used to court attacks on their mandatory arbitration clauses. Courts look to see if the arbitration clauses are fair to both the consumer and the creditor, and also look to the intent of the parties at the time the consumer signed the contract. At the moment, the House and Senate are further attacking mandatory arbitration clauses.  Representative Henry C. Johnson (Georgia) and Senator Russell D. Feingold (Wisconsin) in the House and Senate, respectively, introduced the Arbitration Fairness Act of 2007. Committee hearings have been held in both the House and Senate.

If debtors or debtors’ counsel are looking for good news in the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005 (BAPCPA), they will probably need to look to Chapter 12. Chapter 12 was an amendment to the Bankruptcy Code in the mid 80’s to address what was then seen as a national farm crisis.  To get the amendment passed, the statute had a two-year sunset provision.  Ever since, Chapter 12 has had to be re-enacted, and there have been gaps.