Receiving Wide Coverage
On second thought
Hotel operator Ashford Inc., “one of the biggest beneficiaries of the government’s small business lending program, said on Saturday that its companies will return at least $70 million in loans received through the Paycheck Protection Program.” The company, which applied for “$126 million in loans, had previously said it planned to keep the money it received.”
“Citing new guidelines from the Small Business Administration that restrict who can receive funding, the company said its firms will return the loans. The decision came after media outlets, including The New York Times, detailed how Ashford had benefited from a program intended to help small businesses.” That also “caught lawmaker attention. Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York and the minority leader, had asked for an investigation into the company’s loans.”
Wall Street Journal
Wider gap
“Auto lenders are offering loans for new and used cars that let borrowers delay making payments for up to four months and providing record amounts of financing at 0% interest rates, sometimes for loans as long as seven years. Those deals are going to consumers with ostensibly stable jobs and high credit scores. In contrast, many companies that make car loans to drivers with lower credit scores are raising credit-score and income requirements and requiring bigger down payments.”
“Auto-financing terms are one sign of
Enough on our plate
The Federal Reserve has scrapped plans to use the $600 billion Main Street Lending Program “to promote the use of its preferred replacement for the troubled London interbank offered rate. The Fed’s retreat, in the face of opposition from some of the country’s biggest banks, highlights the challenges of shifting debt markets to a new short-term, interest-rate benchmark.”
“Regulators globally are pushing to replace Libor, which fell into disrepute after a manipulation scandal, before the end of next year. But markets have been slow to embrace the Fed’s replacement choice, known as the secured overnight financing rate, or SOFR. Regulators now face more resistance from lenders who
No sympathy
Laying off employees during the current economic crisis “has become reputationally risky” for British banks. Barclays has committed to no new job cuts until September, [while] HSBC put on ice a plan to cut 35,000 staff globally.” But “
For example, when Royal Bank of Scotland reported first quarter earnings on Friday, it “confirmed plans to shrink its investment bank this year. The effort involved firing over 100 bankers via video. And the outcry, you ask? It couldn’t be heard over the hum of the dishwasher.”
Financial Times
Push and pull
U.S. mortgage rates hit an all-time low of 3.23% last week, “the lowest rate since Freddie Mac started tracking the data a half century ago,” yet
What’s keeping rates so high relatively? High demand for refinances, which “allows lenders to pick and choose among applicants and charge premium rates. There is also uncertainty about whether borrowers will make their payments, given that the federal bailout law allows borrowers to take forbearance without penalty for up to 12 months.”
Sufficient cushion?
Banks in the U.S. and Europe “are on track to book more than $50 billion of charges on souring loans in the first quarter,
“The full extent will become clear over the course of the coming week, when banks including France’s BNP Paribas, Dutch lender ING and Italy’s UniCredit report their earnings.”
But will those reserves “
Not finished
Former ExxonMobil CEO Lee Raymond, “the most powerful force on the JPMorgan Chase board after Jamie Dimon,” is stepping down as the bank’s lead independent director,
But “climate change groups, including Majority Action and Stop the Money Pipeline Coalition,” say “their campaign is not over yet.” They want Raymond “removed from the board entirely.”
Washington Post
Rising tensions
The tension between “landlords and mortgage companies against homeowners and renters, with each side claiming it needs more assistance and fueling calls for billions in new aid for the housing sector,
Quotable
“Whenever there is a downturn,