TheStreet Search RSS Feed: Shanthi Venkataraman

Ben vs. Bernie on Too Big to Fail

Wed, 22 May 2013 12:34:22 EDT

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said in testimony Wednesday that he believes the best approach to solving "Too Big to Fail" would be to require banks to hold more capital.

In an exchange with independent Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, Bernanke said that the Fed was doing a "lot of things" through the Orderly Liquidation Authority as part of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, to address the issue.

Regulations based on Dodd-Frank aim at making banks safer by requiring them to hold more capital and restricting risk taking activities, while preventing future bailouts. ...

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Foreclosure Inventory Rate Drops 25% in April: LPS

Wed, 22 May 2013 10:16:14 EDT

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- The number of U.S. homes in some stage of the foreclosure process fell 25% year-over-year in April, as fewer Americans fell behind on their mortgage loan payments and banks pursued other alternatives to foreclosure.

According to the LPS "First Look" Mortgage Report, the delinquency rate -- the percentage of mortgages that are more than 30 days past due but not in foreclosure -- fell to 6.21%, the lowest level since 2008.

The number of borrowers who were either delinquent or in the foreclosure process fell to 4.7 million in April, after dropping below 5 million in March, for the first time since 2008. ...

Long Live King Jamie

Tue, 21 May 2013 13:24:03 EDT

Updated from 12:04 p.m. ET with more information throughout.

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Jamie Dimon will get to keep his chairman and CEO titles at JPMorgan Chase , ending weeks of uncertainty over his future at the country's largest bank.

Preliminary voting results collected prior to the meeting were announced at the close of the annual meeting. The initial tallies showed 32.2% of the shareholders voted in favor of a proposal to split the chairman and CEO roles. ...

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Citi Mortgage CEO Sanjiv Das Departs

Mon, 20 May 2013 11:28:35 EDT

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Citigroup said Sanjiv Das, CEO of Citi Mortgage, is leaving the bank to pursue other opportunities.

According to an internal memo announcing management changes, viewed by TheStreet, CEO Mike Corbat said Jane Fraser will become CEO of Citi Mortgages. Fraser led the Citi Private Bank for the past four years. Fraser, a former partner at McKinsey & Co. joined Citigroup in 2004.

Das will, however, remain at the bank for the next few months to help the bank work on mortgage issues related to the government. ...

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When CEO Is Superhero, Chairman Is Sidekick

Mon, 20 May 2013 08:36:17 EDT

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Shareholder activists calling for an independent chairman at JPMorgan Chase may be guided by principles of sound corporate governance, but they fail to see the biggest weakness in their case.

So long as Jamie Dimon stays CEO, he will be the boss.

JPMorgan's annual meeting is on Tuesday. Among the various proxy items subject to a shareholder vote is a proposal to split Dimon's dual roles as CEO and chairman of the board of directors. ...

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Vikram Pandit Buys Stake in Indian Firm

Thu, 16 May 2013 15:45:07 EDT

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Former Citigroup CEO Vikram Pandit is returning to his roots in more ways than one.

Pandit, who has been keeping a low profile since his unceremonious exit from Citi late last year, is buying a 3% stake in Indian financial services company JM Financial along with his partner Hari Aiyar.

The firm intends to apply for a banking license and said it will appoint Pandit as non-executive chairman of the proposed bank. ...

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Housing Momentum Good to 2017: CoreLogic Case-Shiller

Thu, 16 May 2013 10:53:27 EDT

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Forget all the talk of a housing bubble. The recovery has plenty of momentum behind it, according to CoreLogic.

Home prices rose 7.3% in 2012, the most in seven years, according to the CoreLogic Case-Shiller Home Price Index. Prices are set to rise further in 2013 and beyond. Economists expect the index to rise at an annual rate of 3.9% between the fourth quarter of 2012 and the fourth quarter of 2017.

The rate of appreciation will be clearly slower than 2012. Home prices are projected to rise only 2.5% in 2013. This is decidedly lower than some forecasts that call for a 7% to 8% rise in 2013. ...

Do Not Vote Out Jamie Dimon: Analysts

Wed, 15 May 2013 12:21:00 EDT

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Shares of JPMorgan Chase will suffer if investors vote to split the chairman and CEO roles currently held by Jamie Dimon at the May 21 annual meeting next week, according to analysts.

A possible exit by Dimon, who has successfully steered the bank through the financial crisis and has a strong track record, could destabilize operations, they argue.

And the question of who will be equal enough to the task of running the country's largest and most complex bank will also weigh on the stock. ...

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Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac Help Uncle Sam Shrink Deficit: CBO

Wed, 15 May 2013 10:23:46 EDT

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- The U.S. budget deficit in 2013 is projected to shrink faster than earlier thought, thanks in large part to the government's new cash cows, bailed-out housing giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

The Congressional Budget Office on Tuesday said the budget deficit will shrink this year to $642 billion , the smallest shortfall since 2008. The projection was $203 billion smaller than the $845 billion shortfall forecast by CBO in February.

The budget agency said the decline in the projected deficit for 2013 "stems largely from a boost in in estimated revenues as well as from expected payments to the Treasury by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac." Also see: Fannie Mae is a Government Cash machine >> ...

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Student Debt Continues to Rocket: NY Fed

Tue, 14 May 2013 11:58:49 EDT

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Student debt continues to climb, even as other forms of consumer debt decline, according to the latest quarterly report on household debt published by the New York Federal Reserve.

Student loans grew by $20 billion during the first quarter to a total of $986 billion as of March 31, 2013. This has been the only category of household debt to grow during the great recession and is now the biggest form of household debt next to mortgages.

The delinquency rate on student loans -- the proportion of student loans that are more than 90 days behind on their payment -- declined to 11.2% in the first quarter from 11.7% in the fourth quarter. But this figure understates the number of problem student loans as nearly half the loans are currently in grace periods or deferment or forbearance. ...

No Housing Bubble Here: Trulia

Tue, 14 May 2013 09:50:09 EDT

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- National home prices are still undervalued relative to their fundamental value, Trulia economist Jed Kolko noted in a blog post Tuesday, soothing concerns the market is heading into bubble territory.

While price gains in some markets are starting to rival those bubble years, this is still more reflective of a "rebound" from the bottom, according to Kolko.

"Bubbles are notoriously difficult to predict and hard to confirm until after they've burst: it's impossible to be sure whether price gains are justified by fundamentals until, if and when, a bubble bursts," Kolko wrote. "San Francisco home prices, for instance, are the highest in the country; is that "irrational exuberance" by speculative homebuyers, or are those prices justified by strong job growth, high incomes, great weather, and constraints on the local housing supply?" ...

Reject Goldman Exec Pay Plan: Glass Lewis

Mon, 13 May 2013 18:08:48 EDT

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Influential shareholder proxy advisory firm Glass Lewis is advising shareholders of Goldman Sachs to vote against its executive compensation plan.

In a report Monday, the firm said the investment bank failed to align pay with performance, a concern it raised last year even though it ultimately approved last year's plan.

"Shareholders should be concerned with this disconnect particularly as this is the second year in a row the Company has paid more than its peers while performing somewhat worse, based on our pay for performance analysis," the report said. "A properly structured pay program should motivate executives to drive corporate performance, thus aligning executive and long-term shareholder interests." ...

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3 Reasons to Buy JPMorgan: Goldman Sachs

Mon, 13 May 2013 10:51:26 EDT

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Despite looming uncertainties, investors should buy shares of JPMorgan Chase , according to Goldman Sachs analyst Richard Ramsden.

"While investors are unlikely to get full clarity on the issues that have weighed on JPM in the near-term, we believe shares will begin to re-rate before the market has certainty, with the May 21 shareholder vote serving as a potential catalyst," Ramsden wrote in a note to clients on Monday.

JPMorgan's shares have been under pressure amid negative headlines surrounding litigation, growing regulatory scrutiny and the pending shareholder vote on splitting Jamie Dimon's Chairman/CEO dual role that may prompt his exit. ...

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Foreclosure Activity at 6-Year Low: RealtyTrac

Thu, 09 May 2013 11:40:11 EDT

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- National foreclosure activity in April fell to its lowest level in more than six years, according to the latest report from RealtyTrac.

Foreclosure filings -- which include notice of defaults, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions -- fell to 144,790 properties in April, down 5% from the previous month and 23% from April 2012. One in every 905 units had a foreclosure filing during the month.

Problem loan rates are declining as the housing market improves resulting in lower foreclosure activity. Banks are also pursuing alternatives to foreclosure such as short sales and mortgage modifications that have proved to be a less costly and more effective way of "curing" distressed mortgages. Also see: Mortgage Performance Sees Dramatic Improvement: TransUnion >> ...

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Another Regulatory Slap for JPMorgan Chase

Wed, 08 May 2013 17:54:24 EDT

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- JPMorgan Chase said in a regulatory filing Wednesday that it received a "Wells-type" notice in March that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission intends to bring a possible enforcement action against the bank related to its bidding practices in the organized power markets.

A Wells notice is a notification from a regulator that it intends to bring an enforcement action against a company and gives the recipient of the notice a chance to argue why such an action is unnecessary.

The New York Times reported last week about the possible enforcement action based on a 70-page document sent to the bank. The document accused the bank of engaging in "manipulative schemes" that transformed "money-losing power plants into powerful profit centers," and that one of its most senior executives, Blythe Masters, gave "false and misleading statements" under oath. ...

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