Despite all the government's efforts to thaw frozen credit and the billions of dollars pumped into the system, banks are still reluctant to lend. President Obama assembled executives from the nation's twelve largest banks for a face-to-face at the White House Monday. The objective: to encourage these lenders to loosen their grip on credit for consumers and small businesses. The president called the meeting "productive," but banks and their regulators have been warning for some time now that lending is likely to remain tight well into next year.
Citigroup announced Monday that after weeks of negotiations, regulators have approved the bank's plan to pay back the $20 billion it owes to the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP). As part of the exit strategy, the New York-based lender will also lose the government's guarantee to shield it from any excessive losses incurred on a $250 billion portfolio of troubled real estate and credit card assets.
JPMorgan Chase sold $500 million in mortgage bonds last week in the previously dormant secondary market for commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS). The New York-based lender's issue represents only the third successful CMBS deal since mid-2008. It was met with strong investor demand and sold without support from the Federal Reserve's Term Asset-Backed Securities Loan Facility (TALF).
As part of its financial reform package, the House of Representatives also approved Congressman Chaka Fattah's $3 billion Homeowners Emergency Mortgage Assistance (HEMA) plan. The congressman says the plan is already a proven success at preventing foreclosures in his home state of Pennsylvania. HEMA draws on unused bailout money to provide home-saving emergency loans to unemployed and financially distressed homeowners with prime mortgages.
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