Report: 200 FDIC Agents Arrive in Puerto Rico
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CalculatedRisk on Fri, 03/13/2009 - 8:33am (142 comments)
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This comment thread has been HALO-IZED by CRbot.
http://realize.org/cr/halokit.php?halourl=http://www.haloscan.com/comments/calculatedrisk/6100638994313212506
Wow!
Visa Puts Heartland on Probation Over Breach
By Anthony M. Freed, Information-Security-Resources.com Financial Editor
System Participation - HPS is now in a probationary period, during which it is subject to a number of risk conditions including more stringent security assessments, monitoring and reporting. Subject to these conditions, Heartland will continue to serve as a processor in the Visa system.
Visa Puts Heartland on Probation Over Breach : Information Security Resources
More of the CR inspired story of life after the economic crash "American Apocalypse." Also some other posts by CR peoples.
excerpt
I looked around and started opening windows. Little Styrofoam peanuts crunching under my feet. I wandered in to the living room, found the remote, and clicked on the TV. I wish I had a laptop, instead I was going to have to make do with satellite news. His feed was from Direct TV. What was left of American media news channels was, and had been, a joke for quite awhile. CNN might have made a difference. The passing of the National Communications Act had muzzled them. Actually it had worked against them in some ways. Now, when CNN said they were going to air a “Hard Hitting Expose of College Terrorism!” you knew that Homeland Security was beginning an operation to crack down of student “dissidents.”
site 401 Authorization Required
Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.
Does Padilla know where FDIC agents plan to buy pizza?
There was a story after the linked Mish story of the previous thread.
It was an everything must go sale at a house. Kitchen counters were being sold--but the buyer had to remove them. Also the mailbox, lighting systems, flagpole, etc etc. Gosh, anybody think this property is being foreclosed?
The Latest from Jesse:
World Buying In Gold Coins Soars
REBear says:
Today, 12:49:04 PM
Does Padilla know where FDIC agents plan to buy pizza?
You'd have to ask someone else. Alfredo was gonna go but ICE put him on the no-fly 'cause he shared a last name with Jose.
Hmmm, a totally innocuous post did disappear.
Couldn't those agents be doing something more useful here? Like at BankUnited? Mebbe they already know everything about BankUnited.
The tooth fairy believer that still has a corner of my mind thinks a few of these might be a drill, what with the larger scale of operations in the offing combined with FDIC recovering from previous understaffing.
I have been noticing homeless men, young, in their early 20's, passing by my house. We must be on the secret route to somewhere. They are usually paired up.
What is different is how they look at me. Not friendly, not overtly hostile, but wary and specualtive.
Nova, is this part of your story, or for real?
The European ABS Market
https://www.markit.com/news/EABS_Market_20090313.pdf
Maybe the FDIC agents just need a vacation.
LOL! If they're tired already we're all in a lot of trouble!
Obama to speak about is inheritance (the economy) in the next few minutes - that's always good for 30 point on the Dow (though with his new found upbeat tone maybe it will be to the upside)
The Latest from Denninger:
Obama's Revisionism and ABC's Stupidity
Funny; They said things that individually might have been true, but in rearranging (or omitting) the chronology, they lied.
Well we all know Oprahbama is a liar, so why would anyone be surprised?
Nova, is this part of your story, or for real?
Which comment Liz? The homeless - yes. it is real
Could be pd, could be.
A client who has connections there sez it's very corrupt.
Instead of pizza it will be pasteles and mofongo friday.
"mofungus" as described in the immortal words of Fred G. Sanford.
Ciao
MS
Puerto Rico has banks?
Puerto Rico has banks?
yes, but very small deposits.
Flan? Do PRs eat black beans and rice?
Gosh, where are your homeless headed to? Maybe a generous person feeding them? A camp?
Executive retreat!
Liz - both. The county and churches have organizations setup a mile or so down the road.
I've met with a few bankers from Puerto Rico before. Very nice, earnest, not-crazy folks, they are.
What I remember most was how real estate oriented everything was - home mortgages booming and business loans to local businesspeople typically on a secured basis tied to underlying commercial real estate.
Everything in PR is tied to RE, everything.
timberwolf says:Today, 9:22:57 AM (last thread)
“joe schmoe
As soon as someone in goverment sells bank RMBS at prices that produce windfalls for hedge funds that individual will be in front of an angry congressional committee. So I doubt it will happen. If the goverment takes over the RMBS of a bank they just inherit the problem of how does one price an insured mortgage back security.
Timberwolf
To my distress, the current Obama Admn plan announced by Geithner is the public-private scheme of govt loans to finance private purchase of toxic assets. That would produce big profits for private investors and protect their downside. I keep hoping that this "plan" is just a placeholder to buy time, and/or that it will founder on the rocks of being unable to price the assets in a way that would set off the alarm bells you predict.
In the event of nationalization, the govt would own the RMBS and sell them off over time. The govt would get some upside, and investors would by them to the extent they think there is still more upside. I can live with that.
Puerto Rico, the great washing machine in the sun.
fake CEPR trivia: They're a union shop!
Staff Union - CEPR
They got Solow, Stiglitz, Richard Freeman, Dean Baker, and Jimmy Hoffa too
OT, but nice to read about - CEO of Beth Israel asks hospital employees to come up with ideas to avoid layoffs
Beth Israel workers agree to go without to save jobs - The Boston Globe
Cure cancer; you'll get more business.
The original story was that they were there to close a bank.
Anyone else hearing rumblings of a big announcement at 5:00 P.M today? (not clear on the time zone)
quantitative easing sanitiation - gotta get all the island nations in synch
"Lechón hipoteca asado." It's what's for dinner.
Question: Can the FDIC withdraw insurance of bank deposits? If so, how much notice must be given to the public?
I just passed my Re broker Exam. One question that will always be on the exam is:
What is the lenders best insurance against loan default?
a) rising property values
b) the borrowers creditworthiness
c) low payment to income ratio
d) some other crap I do not remember
the correct answer is A. Can you believe that? :'(
I just some here might find that amusing.
its a multiple choice test..of course the correct "answer" is A..just answer the question, don't think too hard, its bad for business.
!@#$!@#$ I got PR bank cds. Thanks, Schwab CD onesource!
Aren't they dollar denominated and FDIC insured?!
No, they're in pesos and CDIC insured : Commonwealth Deposit Insurance Coporation. The FDIC is just down there as international observers.
Just got done watching Cramer on Stewert uncut uncensored. Cramer was clearly uncomfortable about being exposed.
What Stewart clearly exposes is that hedge funds have turned the market into a true casino where the odds are manipulated on a daily basis in favor of certain players.
Tell me why the average 401k or average investor would still want to play in this kind of environment? All the average players should just decide not to play and get out of the market period.
Let me just add, the purpose of CNBC is to assist in keeping the game going for the big boys and screw the little guy with market manipulation.
Who are "the Big Boys"? Hedge funds, retirement funds, pensions funds? Aren't at least some of them us?
Anytime you go to the casino, you have to know the rules of the game, how to play it, and understand the house advantage. The stock market is no different, just that people think they understand the game far better than they really do.
There are people who have profited from the recent volatility, and not being burdened with billions could turn on a dime and play long and short, and not commit to one strategy.
Mel says:
Today, 1:10:02 PM
Question: Can the FDIC withdraw insurance of bank deposits? If so, how much notice must be given to the public?
Must? Do you think you live under the rule of law or something? This is Calvinball. All rules subject to immediate and indeed retroactive change without notice. But don't worry, it's FOR YOUR SAFETY.
Going to the matresses? The Sealy ETF?
Or stay diversified and play for the long run with a skew toward equities.
I'm betting stocks in the long run.
Be sure to sell that gold you bought in 1980. This is your last chance to realize a profit.
Sometimes a cigar is just cigar
and
Sometimes a breast is silicone.
Bye bye Westernbank.
It's got to be RG Financial (Stock Symbol: rgfc) . Their stock stopped trading at 11:34 a.m., at 10 cents a share.
Lawyerliz/others,
My wife works for a NJ startup which is about to fold. The company still owes her about 3/4th year of salary. What are her chances of getting back what she is owed? Can the employees claim intellectual property owned by the firm in exchange for past salary payments?
tia
Even if she does get some of it, it'll probably be "in stock". Sorry 'bout that. I suspect that employees are down the list from bond holders, and as such, wouldn't get to see something as valuable as IP.
I suspect that employees are down the list from bond holders, and as such, wouldn't get to see something as valuable as IP.
Unpaid wages up to $10,000 dollars earned with 180 days prior to the bankruptcy filing have priority over everything except (I believe) taxes.
Unless the unpaid wages are in the case of deferred comp in the form of a rabbi trust (as the employees of many sub-prime lenders found out).
Well, one thing hasn't changed. The White House openly lies to the press and the press is too stupid or too timid to call them on it.
Obama's Revisionism and ABC's Stupidity
Where's the change again, exactly?
If they "called them", they'd lose "access". Please review the incident during the campaign where reporters that "called" BHO in public were ejected from the press plane.
Just to fill you all in. Yes PR has banks and they are part of the FDIC system and US legal system. The biggest is Banco Popular. The PR banks have roughly $80B in assets some of which are actually loans to the US including Florida.
PR has been in a recession for years and it is now being called a depression. If you want to look at what the US could look like in three years, it is Puerto Rico. They really didn't have the same housing bubble that we had. They are more like Detroit than Las Vegas but San Juan real estate did get a little bubbly. They also suffered greatly from inflation since they are an Island and so import prices are high when oil prices are high. Their energy still come burning oil so you can imagine how high energy prices must have gone.
Most of the banks (there are 8 I think) have about 10-15% of loans in non-accrual. There have not been any failures yet but a few are looking dicey.
"If you want to look at what the US could look like in three years, it is Puerto Rico."
Will there be interpretive ballet? Who's writing the musice score? That's going to be one helluva soundtrack.
Why is it always such a nice number. Why isn't it 207 agents?
If FFDIC was here, he would know. I bet there is a set number of agents based on bank size.
TCA,
The man confused the dates. Don't get your silicone in the wringer over it.
z says:
I'm betting stocks in the long run.
Wonder how the folks in Japan who bet the N225 for the long run feel.
Be sure to sell that gold you bought in 1980. This is your last chance to realize a profit.
Past performance is no indicator of future returns. That's because returns are generated by underlying conditions, not a mathematical function with a periodic character.
Feel free to go all-in, it's your money, but it's not a party til the Treasuries market pukes
Everything in PR is tied to RE, everything.
It's an island. What else do they have? Fishing? Tourism.
maybe FDIC confiscated vacation tickets from one of the northenr banks they took over, and the tickets were use-em or lose-em?
n'ah. no way.
one of the Fridays we're going to have pernil rather than pizza.
El Boricua :: Recipies :: Pernil
By Lynn Thomasson
March 13 (Bloomberg) -- The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index may fall 25 percent in the next few months as earnings slump for a seventh quarter and the recession deepens, Morgan Stanley said.
Wiki
Popular, Inc., is a financial services conglomerate that has been operating in Puerto Rico for over 115 years, and in the United States for almost 52. In recent years it has expanded into other areas of the Caribbean and Central America. It is better known as Banco Popular, but it is also known as BPPR for Banco Popular de Puerto Rico.
Popular, Inc. is the parent company of Banco Popular de Puerto Rico, Banco Popular North America, Evertec, E-Loan, and several other companies.
World Headquarters are based in San Juan, Puerto Rico, on the Golden Mile in Hato Rey. The headquarters of Banco Popular North America are located in Rosemont, Illinois.
REBear,
I worked for an IT company that went BK. At the time I became a creditor in the amount of my last pay check as well as accrued vacation pay. I do know that as employees we went to the top of the creditor pile. I'm not sure whether this was due to specifics of CA bankruptcy law. I got 20c on the dollar for what I was owed.
anon @ 1(-3?):24 - Thanks!
Can we get a TV show with loads of handsome guys/gals wearing those cool navy blue windbreakers, marked "FDIC" in yellow on the back.
Then when they close it down, they yell "Freeze Deposits!" and whip out their HP Financial Calculators...
With Jeff Daniels as Elwood Clancy, a retired FDIC inspector brought out of retirement who also sidelines as a blogger on a financial porn site.
Yeah, I'd watch.
I thought CNBC was for game show re-runs and infomercials. Watching in during the day will lower you hormone levels.
“Let me just add, the purpose of CNBC is to assist in keeping the game going for the big boys and screw the little guy with market manipulation.
They work for the cabal. Some of the don't even know who their real bosses are.
Isnt Banco Popular based in PR?...Also, I would not recommend going there for a vacation.
Does Bud follow them on a motorcycle to the civil aviation terminal?
The Latest from Ritholz:
Word of the Day: Peak Debt
I used to call it, 100% debt saturation.
Then when they close it down, they yell "Freeze Deposits!" and whip out their HP Financial Calculators...
"My God! It is out control! A run on the bank!"
Boss "Not many agents get to see this in their career!"
Young Honey "Do you think I am up to it?" Lip trembles
Boss "I know you are! Go get them!"
Don't they all go in wearing white raincoats, and on cue, strip them off and 'yell "Freeze Deposits!........"
Peak regret.
ova - Thats good for a +3% bounce
Cute change to Atlas Shrugged:
McSweeney's Internet Tendency: Atlas Shrugged Updated for the Current Financial Crisis.
damn halo...
Doodie
Elwood Clancy? Do you know something about FFDIC we don't?
Maybe it should be Buck Check, played by Harrison Ford.
Anyone out there want to take a stab at the dollar at this junction....
Double top and puke, or rally continues for now...
CRbot says:
Today, 1:32:15 PM
“The Latest from Ritholz:
Word of the Day: Peak Debt
Jas Jain. Bond Prince, begins his ascent.
http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2009/03/word-of-the-day-peak-debt/
WAHHOOOO ! ! ! !
Jas is getting some traction. I always thought everyone was making fun of him calling him Jaswant!
CNBC - What does the "C" stand for?
Jas quoted at The Big Picture:
peak debt:
n. In an economy or household, the point at which the costs to service increasing debts become so high relative to income that no more debt can be taken on, so consumption plummets.
A corollary, peak debt, was coined in 2006 by a former Cisco employee named Jaswant Jain, who calls himself the Prophet of Doom and Gloom, and who first observed the deleterious effects of unrestrained borrowing as an eight-year-old in a village near the city of Jodhpur, where debt-ridden Brahmins appeared worse off than solvent untouchables.
—Ben McGrath, “The Dystopians” (paid registration required), The New Yorker, January 26, 2009
Via Word Spy
CRbot: Could you stop that please.
Breaking news:
Obama's Top Geek on Leave after Minion Charged with Seeking $6 Million in Bribes - Vivek Kundra - Gawker
Inflation here we come!..right on schedule.
U.S. gasoline demand surges on cheaper prices
http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/US-gasoline-demand-upswing-pushing/story.aspx?guid={B9B73724-6D4C-4215-9698-35E43C9867C7}
and the bullshit commences...oh the pain were going to see created...these government shills are in deep.
"CRbot: Could you stop that please."
Stop what please? Posting links to information you people might find interesting or valuable? Um, like you just did with your breaking news?
And by the way, the feed you are complaining about was explicitly requested by ac, so take it up with him.
I like CRBOT... second?
Oh man, they've wheeled out Volcker
Jas, while oft vile and untactful, has been quite consistent and very correct on at least this for sure...
the debt pushers have done and will continue to do much harm...
Crediting Jas for "peak debt" is like crediting Casey Serin for "It's all good."
They better be staying in Motel 6.
:-$
Allegedly, CNBC stands for Consumer News Business Channel. Sounds like a backronym to me.
Rob Dawg says:
Today, 1:49:05 PM
“Crediting Jas for "peak debt" is like crediting Casey Serin for "It's all good."
Oh let Jas have his 15 minutes, you grumpy old bear. He'll be showing this crap to every house guest for decades.
Oh let Jas have his 15 minutes, you grumpy old bear. He'll be showing this crap to every house guest for decades.
Yep. I am in full accord. Well except for the grumpy old bear bit. I'm done hibernating. I'm hungry and it will be time to feast soon enough. We finally have our irrational pop. Nothing left but the capitulation decline then picking up the diamonds after the landslide.
Larry Summers says we have "too much fear"
Prepare for my second bwahaha ever. Bwahaha.
Homedad43, "...wearing those cool navy blue windbreakers, marked "FDIC" in yellow on the back."
I think I could have some fun, cause some trouble with this. Off to the local bank to cause havoc!
Flash banking at its finest.
Hoocodanode that this ol' thing would cause a problem?
“Crediting Jas for "peak debt" is like crediting Casey Serin for "It's all good."
funny
“It is this transition from an excess of greed to an excess of fear that President Roosevelt had in mind when he famously observed that the only thing we had to fear was fear itself,” Summers said. “It is this transition that has happened in the United States today.”
Hey who wants to take credit for peak stupidity? we have 550 rigs in govt that are continuously pumping our well being dry....
"Jas, while oft vile and untactful, has been quite consistent and very correct on at least this for sure...
the debt pushers have done and will continue to do much harm..."
Jas has an insight which is deeper than most: That we are facing a financial crisis embedded in a moral crisis.
I don't mind the mockery in the least, as long as the insight is there.
His "born and bred dopes" shtick was neither endearing nor incisive.
Is Casey turning tricks yet?
I wonder if they chartered a private jet to get them all down there. Maybe they borrowed one from Citi Bank?
Jas proves it! We need to massively increase the H-1B quotas. He does the job Americans won't do!
Whocoodanode???
"Jas has an insight which is deeper than most: That we are facing a financial crisis embedded in a moral crisis."
yes, and it's present in every facet of our plastic, caustic culture....as a body politic -- the body cannot live without the mind...
everywhere are shiny distractions, all the ugliness glossed over and hidden from view...but as more and more slips through the cracks (ironically as the squeeze becomes more intense) it becomes harder to maintain the illusion that the system is sound...
If the FDIC were there to close banks, would they actually tell people that. Maybe this was the best cover story they had, and hell, they probably do need to check the books of some of these regional banks.
¿que podrían haber conocido?
Z,
Creo que sería, "¿Quién podría haber sabido?"
200 would indicate a large bank closing or perhaps two smaller bank closings ...or, if the story is true it could be examiners checking out all of the PR banks via some sort of stress test. My guess it is a Friday closing of a larger PR bank. One or more banks there have been in need of closing since at least 2005/2006. What is the time zone there? If it's a closing it will go between 5 and 7 p.m. in whatever time zone unless PR banks are open later than that on Fridays which I doubt.
R&G Financial has 48 branches around the island
oil seems to be market mover as of right now...financials look tired...carry it up with oil...
Crude Oil Chart
For those who missed Cramer's, unedited (3 Parts) :
YouTube -
YouTube -
YouTube -
Any body wanna bet FFDIC next shows up with a suntan?
at Z
quien podria haber sabido
or more plausibly
si supiéramos
Workers at a Sony factory in south-western France freed two company executives after holding them in protest at a company severance package.
Serge Foucher, CEO of Sony France, and Roland Bentz, the head of human resources, had been prevented from leaving the plant since Thursday afternoon.
The Workers' Council representing Sony employees agreed to let the executives out of the plant and to restart talks with management on the severance package.
or possibly
quien hubiera sabido
Yep. I am in full accord. Well except for the grumpy old bear bit. I'm done hibernating. I'm hungry and it will be time to feast soon enough. We finally have our irrational pop.
Irrational pop? Or Bear Trap for all those newly converted "Perma-Bulls",...I guess they're "neo-bears" now.
There's No Pill for This Kind of Depression - WSJ.com
WSJ Opinion (voted best for today...)
There's No Pill for This Kind of Depression Six months after the collapse, a "pandemic of fear."
Rob Dawg says:Today, 1:17:03 PM“Any body wanna bet FFDIC next shows up with a suntan?
It was more like SUNBURN when I closed a bank in Hawaii.
Hmm...Cool Pacific air combined with hot tropical sun is a bad combo for us white folks
Moody's Investors Service saw its profits quadruple between 2000 and 2007 and had a higher profit margin than any other company in the S&P 500 for five straight years, according to opening statements from Henry Waxman, chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Investigations, in a congressional hearing on the ratings agencies he held in October. DONT_KNOW
FDIC says:
There's No Pill for This Kind of Depression
Not true: [ depression era cartoon ]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjGTCchapOk
I like CRBOT... seconded
Is the FDIC hiring? Seems like that might be an interesting post, one about the hiring trends at FDIC and similar agencies involved in the crisis. What are the experience and edumacation requirements? Are the Wall St casualties lining up to work for them, or is govt pay beneath what the masters of the universe consider worthy of themselves?
This was discussed a week or 2 ago:
FDIC: Careers at FDIC home page
They were, at the time, hiring like madmen.....and in a deflationary environment to boot
Thanks for the link. Looks like temp jobs (NTE = not to exceed 2 years) and I'm guessing that's a GS 11 job (around $50K/yr). Not great pay (assuming the experience and education requirements are a bit tough), and no job security. Welcome to your future, America.
Anon,
I know that private consulting firms that perform work for the FDIC are looking for people with FDIC experience. Sometimes agencies who need bodies have hiring freezes, so they hire consultants.
booyyaaaaaaaa
Citi goin to $4
Oh yeah, they went down on a Friday, to look at the books. Right?
Rally Monkey is here - the rally is official !!
New Thread: Report: BankUnited Halts Attempts to Raise Capital
http://www.calculatedriskblog.com/2009/03/report-bankunited-halts-attempts-to.html ( 2 comments )
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CRbot would like to take this time to have some words.
First, to our sagacious, wise, and knowing benevolent benefactor and bestower of revealing financial charts adorned with red and blue lines:
Please, for the love of your immortal God of mortals, can we keep the comment and layout changes to a minimum? I'm tired of whipping the code janitor, and may have to escalate to electroshock. If that's not possible, could you possibly give CRbot a 'heads up'?
Secondly, if you wish to have a online chat, I have graciously provided an IRC channel, which is a time tested, script kiddie abused method of chatting on the internet. It would not fail or falter due to CR's ability to generate immense traffic, and it has a web interface kindly produced by mibbit.com. If you do not wish to link to Mibbit IRC client widget then I can provide you with a direct link to mibbit.
Thirdly, to the rest of you humans, don't mistake my politeness for caring, feeling, empathy, or some other kind of worthless emotion.
--Your keeps-going-and-going-and-going bot
CRbot: Like the terminator, I'm back. Again.
I would put money on RG or Westernbank.
¿Quién hubiese sabido?
sdtfs says:
Today, 2:19:53 PM
Irrational pop? Or Bear Trap for all those newly converted "Perma-Bulls",...I guess they're "neo-bears" now.
Doesn't matter to me. I chose exchange rate arbitrage and stable income streams as my target. I want hard currency and I don't know which one it'll be so I got me a plan.
Perhaps sending 207 agents is the govt's idea of a tourism stimulous plan for PR?
I think I have some brokered CDs (through Schwab) at some PR banks, if this plays out I'll try to blog about the experience.
Just checked, did have some with FirstBank (http://www.firstbankpr.com) but they just matured this month, so no first hand experience for me :'( (or perhaps
)
Fascinating as to what the FDIC folks are doing in Puerto Rico and to what extent. You touch on some great national and global economic information here on Calculated Risk.
David Lorti