More US banks face survival struggle

September 16th, 2009 Fed tightens review of commercial real-estate riskWASHINGTON — The Federal Reserve is stepping up its scrutiny of commercial real-estate lending at smaller banks, according to a Fed official. Instead of reviewing only individual banks, Fed examiners also are comparing results across the industry to better assess broader risks, the official says.

August 28th, 2009 FDIC lengthens requirements for newer banksWASHINGTON — Federal banking officials worried about rising bank failures will require new banks to meet stricter regulatory standards for seven years rather than the previous three-year requirement. The new rules, outlined in a letter Friday from the U.S.

July 30th, 2009 IMF says euro governments must clean up banksLONDON — The 16 countries that use the euro are unlikely to start growing again until some time in 2010 and must do more to shore up their banks if they want to keep the downturn from lasting longer, the International Monetary Fund said Thursday. In its latest update for Europe, the IMF's staff forecast that the euro zone will shrink by 4.8 percent this year alone and by 0.3 percent in 2010 despite the anticipated recovery some time in the year.

July 10th, 2009 Parliament OKs German bank assets planBERLIN — A plan to allow German banks to offload bad assets into special government-guaranteed vehicles cleared its final legislative hurdle on Friday. The legislation passed the upper house of parliament, which represents Germany's 16 states, after winning approval from the lower house a week ago.

July 2nd, 2009 FDIC seeks more investor interest in failed banksWASHINGTON — The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. proposed new guidelines Thursday for potential buyers of failed banks as the government seeks to sell a growing number of closed financial institutions.

June 20th, 2009 MUMBAI - A day after Air India asked its top executives to forgo their salary for July, the chairman and managing director of the state-run carrier, Arvind Jadhav, saturday appealed to all staff to "rise up to the challenge" and help the airline in its "fight for survival". In a letter to each employee, Jadhav has said that in view of the global crisis, all airlines have been experiencing low fares, poor load factors, drop in premium travel, decline in cargo load and low yields.

June 18th, 2009 KUALA LUMPUR - An opposition MP has expressed surprise that local banks are still refusing to honour cheques written in Tamil, the Malaysia Nanban reports. Seremban MP John Fernandez, who is from DAP, said on the contrary, cheques written in Malay, English and Chinese languages were accepted by the banks.

June 18th, 2009 NEW YORK - Most US stocks dropped for a third straight day Wednesday, led by banks, after President Barack Obama unveiled regulatory reforms, but technology stocks served as a bright spot. Obama laid out a sweeping overhaul of the government's financial regulatory system, proposing the most significant changes since the Great Depression of the 1930s.

June 17th, 2009 10 large US banks to repay $68B in TARP fundsWASHINGTON — Ten large U.S. banks are planning to repay the government about $68 billion in bailout money Wednesday, a pair of industry officials say.

June 3rd, 2009 Washington, June 11 (ANI: A new study has found that guppy populations introduced into new habitats adapt to the surroundings in just a few years, developing new and advantageous traits. As part of the study, a research team led by Swanne Pamela Gordon from the University of California, Riverside studied 200 guppies that had been taken from the Yarra River in Trinidad and introduced into two different environments in the nearby Damier River, which previously had no guppies.

June 3rd, 2009 Chavez threatens private banks with sanctionsCARACAS, Venezuela — President Hugo Chavez on Tuesday threatened to sanction private banks that fail to collaborate with his government's regulations as it moves toward a socialist economy. Chavez says that banks are designed to intervene in the financial system and provide credit to people buying houses or producing food, rather than generating massive earnings for their owners.

May 8th, 2009 Stress tests find 10 big banks need $75B moreWASHINGTON — The government's long-awaited "stress-test" results have found that 10 of the nation's 19 largest banks need a total of about $75 billion in new capital to withstand losses if the recession worsened. The Federal Reserve's findings, released Thursday, show the financial system, like the overall economy, is healing but not yet healed.

May 3rd, 2009 Buffett says most banks are not too big to failOMAHA, Neb. — Billionaire Warren Buffett says most of the banks the U.S.

April 21st, 2009 Top Asian News at 5:00 p.m. GMTKATMANDU, Nepal — Nepal's prime minister fired the army chief Sunday after a struggle over admitting former Maoist rebel fighters to the military, sparking mass protests and jeopardizing the survival of the country's first elected government.

February 15th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Banks have lent Rs.1.36 trillion (Rs.136,586 crore) to the agriculture sector in the first eight months this fiscal as against a full year target of Rs.2.8 trillion. As per the figures released by the government Monday, the commercial banks have lent Rs.96.6 billion, while cooperative banks and regional rural banks have lent Rs.251.2 billion and Rs.148.