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July 3, 2008
Report: Overdue Home-Equity Credit
Lines Rise Most Since 1987
The American Bankers Association reported yesterday that consumers fell
behind on loans secured by their homes at the fastest pace in two
decades in the first quarter, Bloomberg News reported. Home-equity lines
of credit at least 30 days past due rose 14 basis points to 1.1 percent
of accounts in the quarter, the ABA said. Delinquent credit-card
accounts increased 13 basis points to 4.51 percent, the highest since
2006. Americans had $625 billion in home-equity credit lines in the
first quarter, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Growth
in the loans has slowed in the past two years after rising to $559
billion in 2006 during the housing boom from $184 billion in
2001.
href='http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=email_en&refer=&sid=aEGQR1.P0t4A'>Read
more.
District Court Approves ACandS'
Asbestos-Related Plan
A district court upheld a bankruptcy court's confirmation of
ACandS Inc.'s reorganization plan on Friday, a necessary step due to the
asbestos settlement trust set up by the plan, Bankruptcy Law360
reported yesterday. Judge Joseph J. Farnan Jr. of the U.S. District
Court for the District of Delaware affirmed the plan confirmation order
that Bankruptcy Judge Judith K. Fitzgerald signed in
May. The trust, which sparked much of the preconfirmation contention, is
in part the result of a $449 million settlement between ACandS and its
insurance company, Travelers Cos. The settlement funds will go to paying
several hundred thousand past and future asbestos claims against
ACandS.
href='http://bankruptcy.law360.com/secure/ViewArticle.aspx?Id=60993'>Read
more. (Registration required.)
Judge Allows $90 Million in Claims
Against New Century
Bankruptcy Judge Kevin J. Carey approved an
agreement for New Century TRS Holding Corp. to pay more than $90 million
in claims to Bank of America NA, Bankruptcy Law360 reported
yesterday. The bank's claims arise from a repurchase agreement between
Bank of America and various New Century subsidiaries dating back to
2006. After New Century entered chapter 11 in August, Bank of America
filed five proofs of claim against the company and its units, seeking at
least $38 million each. The bank claimed that the New Century companies
were still liable to Bank of America for certain amounts owed under
their repurchase agreements. New Century and its creditors disputed Bank
of America's claims, but after “extensive negotiation” they
reached an agreement, the parties said in a June 6 motion seeking
approval of their agreement.
href='http://bankruptcy.law360.com/Secure/printview.aspx?id=61005'>Read
more. (Registration required.)
Merrill Lynch Stokes Worry About
Potential GM Bankruptcy
Merrill Lynch & Co. said that General Motors Corp. is burning
through cash faster than investors realize, and that it may even face
bankruptcy if the auto market worsens and it can't raise the $15 billion
of capital the bank's analysts expect it will need over the next two
years, the Wall Street Journal reported today. Derivatives
traders, who have already taken a dim view of GM's prospects, demanded
even higher premiums for those wanting to buy protection on the auto
maker's debt. The credit-default swaps currently imply investors must
pay a $3.7 million fee on top of $500,000 annually to insure $10 million
of GM's bonds for five years. That has risen from a fee of $3.3 million
Tuesday, according to Phoenix Partners, and $2.35 million two weeks
ago.
href='http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121500446790222775.html'>Read
more. (Registration required.)
Automakers' Struggles Ensnare
Workers
With more than 15 of their assembly plants across the country set to be
idled or slowed because of shift cutbacks, the Detroit automakers will
temporarily lay off upward of 25,000 auto workers this summer and fall,
the New York Times reported today. Because of their union
contracts, GM, Ford and Chrysler are obligated to pay workers more than
half of their regular take-home wages, plus health benefits, with state
unemployment benefits picking up a portion of the rest. Despite cutting
more than 100,000 jobs since 2006 through buyouts and special retirement
programs, the Detroit companies still cannot match their production
capacity with their steadily declining market share.
href='http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/03/business/03auto.html?ref=business&pagewanted=print'>Read
more.
Big Job Cuts Announced at
American
American Airlines expects to cut nearly 7,000 employees by the end of
the year, or about 8 percent of its worldwide work force, as it reduces
flights and grounds aircraft because of high fuel costs, the New
York Times reported today. American, the largest domestic carrier
and a division of the AMR Corporation, announced in May that it would
cut flights by 11 percent to 12 percent in the United States, and by
about 8 percent overall. Including the cuts disclosed by American,
airlines have said they plan to cut about 30,000 jobs this year. If job
cuts continue at that pace, 2008 will be the second-worst year this
decade for job reductions in the airline industry, according to
Challenger, Gray & Christmas, a firm that tracks employment data.
Airlines laid off more than 100,000 workers in 2001 after the 9/11
attacks in New York and Washington, D.C.
href='http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/03/business/03air.html?ref=business&pagewanted=print'>Read
more.
IRS Taps Audit Firms to Probe Foreign
Bank Role in Tax Cases
The Internal Revenue Service summoned six of the biggest
accounting firms to help detect foreign banks whose U.S. customers may
be evading taxes through secret accounts, expanding an investigation
that yielded a guilty plea by a former banker for UBS AG, Bloomberg News
reported today. A U.S. judge on July 1 granted the IRS power to issue a
summons demanding that Zurich-based UBS reveal the names of U.S.
customers who may have used secret accounts at the bank to avoid taxes.
Last month, former UBS private banker Bradley Birkenfeld pleaded guilty
to conspiracy and said the bank helped wealthy U.S. citizens conceal $20
billion in assets. The IRS scheduled a conference call next week with
the auditors to discuss the so-called Qualified Intermediary program
adopted in 2000 to help the agency keep track of U.S. customers' money
in foreign banks. Under the program, foreign banks agree to confirm U.S.
depositors' identities and notify the IRS of income earned in the
accounts. In exchange, the banks can withhold taxes at favorable rates.
Without the agreement, they would be required to withhold 30
percent.
href='http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=aushwq37mC88&refer=home'>Read
more.
Fund Manager Who Faked His Suicide
Surrenders
Samuel Israel III, the fugitive former manager of bankrupt Bayou Group
hedge fund whose faked suicide on a Hudson River bridge and subsequent
disappearance last month set off an international manhunt, turned
himself in yesterday morning in Southwick, Mass., the New York
Times reported today. Israel now faces several more years in jail
on top of the 20-year sentence he received in April for defrauding
investors out of $450 million after the collapse of his Bayou Group
hedge fund.
href='http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/03/business/03bayou.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&ref=business&pagewanted=print'>Read
more.
International
Eyes on Inflation, European Bank Raises
Rate
The European Central Bank, spooked by soaring prices for food and fuel,
raised interest rates today, joining several other central banks in
battling a global eruption of inflation, the New York Times
reported. With the quarter-point increase to 4.25 percent from 4
percent, the central bank followed those in Sweden and Norway that
raised rates this week, citing inflation. The Federal Reserve in
the United States, where short-term interest rates are only half of
those in Europe, has so far declined to join them. Manufacturing
activity in the 15 countries that use the euro shrank in June for the
first time in three years, according to a survey of European purchasing
managers. In Spain and Ireland, where a collapse in housing prices has
magnified the problems, there is an increasing risk of
recession.
href='http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/04/business/worldbusiness/04euro.html?ref=business&pagewanted=print'>Read
more.