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Investigation initiates foreclosure moratorium
By Ben Mook As calls for a moratorium on foreclosures and sales of foreclosed homes continue to grow, so do the calls for it to be as short as possible to avoid hindering a housing market still trying to recover. Pressure on banks and processing firms to suspend foreclosures over concerns of paperwork errors has continued to mount since Bank of America said Friday it was halting foreclosures [...]
BofA halts foreclosure sales in 50 states
Bank of America Corp., the nation's largest bank, said Friday it would stop sales of foreclosed homes in all 50 states as it reviews potential flaws in foreclosure documents. A week earlier, the company had said it would only stop such sales in the 23 states where foreclosures must be approved by a judge. The move comes amid evidence that mortgage company employees or their lawyers signed do[...]
Four Idaho banks hang on to federal TARP money
[caption id="attachment_31026" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Idaho Bancorp., parent company of Boise-based Idaho Banking Co., is one of four Idaho-based banks that are not ready to start paying back the funds given to them as part of the federal Troubled Asset Relief Program. Photo by Steve Martin/IBR."][/caption] Leaders from the four Idaho-based banks that took money from the federal[...]
Swiss publish ‘too big to fail’ rules for banks
A Swiss government committee on Oct. 4 published new rules requiring the country's two biggest banks to increase their capital reserves beyond international standards agreed last month. The committee said it considered Credit Suisse Group and UBS AG to be "too big to fail," but that implicit government bailout guarantees should in future be replaced with stricter capital requirements to prevent[...]
Statewide university incubator fund ready to launch
The State Board of Education is gearing up to create a $333,000 annual fund that university researchers could tap to turn their ideas into businesses. The governor-appointed Idaho Innovation Council endorsed the idea of a two-year pilot project during its quarterly meeting on Sept. 30. "We have to try to find some way to help people get from the great idea stage to the next step," said [...]
Small Business Job Act draws mixed reviews
One Idaho small-business lobbyist is not sold on the new Small Business Jobs Act. "It's a mixed bag for businesses," said Suzanne Budge, Idaho director of the National Federation of Independent Business. "While there are some tax provisions that are helpful and targeted ... and credit provisions and loan provisions that may help some small businesses, the biggest problem is the continued uncer[...]
Feds remove order from Sterling Savings Bank
Sterling Savings Bank officially shook off an order by state and federal regulators Sept. 27 about a month after the bank completed a $730 million recapitalization effort. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and Washington Department of Financial Institutions terminated a consent order with the Spokane-based bank dating from October 2009. The bank raised more money than regulators wanted a[...]
Highway 12 invests in crowdsourcing platform
Boise-based Highway 12 Ventures is betting on a company that aims to help news websites, blogs and other online venues pull content from larger networks of writers. Highway 12, the only venture capital fund based in Idaho, joined with other investors as part of a $1.1 million wager on Boulder, Colo.-based Kapost. George Mulhern, a general partner at Highway 12, said Kapost has a good opportu[...]
Big box store bank branches attractive, but changing
[caption id="attachment_29745" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Big box stores are attractive to banks because of large customer bases."][/caption] Home Federal has closed four of its six in-store Walmart branches since 2006 and wants to ditch the other two in the future. Having branches within the world's largest big box retailer hasn't worked out so well for the Nampa-based bank, sai[...]
Federal gov’t sends $5M in housing help to Idaho
The federal government is sending an additional $5 million to Idaho to help neighborhoods hurt by the foreclosure crisis. U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan announced the additional funding Sept. 8 to help communities acquire foreclosed properties for demolition, re-sale or development. The money is a byproduct of the Wall Street reform bill passed earlier this year b[...]
Commentary: Want to invest in commercial real estate?
By Michael S. Mallaber Have you been thinking about investing in commercial real estate? There are many ways in which investors can get started but, first and foremost, the many risks involved in owning and managing commercial real estate should be understood. Some investors begin by purchasing small projects - for instance, a five-unit or larger residential apartment project or a small o[...]
Idaho investors look for more angels
The co-founder of Idaho's first angel investment fund wants to create another half dozen million-dollar pots of cash over the next few years in a bid to transform the financing infrastructure for early-stage companies in the state. Kevin Learned, co-founder of the Boise Angel Fund, and Denise Dunlap-Taylor, former CEO of The Network Group, launched Loon Creek Capital Group in August aiming to l[...]
