On April 8th, Rodney E. Hood was sworn in as the 11th Chairman of the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA). The North Carolina native has an extensive background in both the public and private sectors, including a previous stint on…
It’s Not Easy Banking Green
For years we have been watching as states loosened up on their respective marijuana laws. While the flux continues at the state level, marijuana remains illegal at the federal level. That has made it extremely difficult for legitimate marijuana-related businesses…
Financial Literacy is Everyone’s Business
March 29, 2019: BauerFinancial, Inc., Coral Gables, FL, the nation’s leading independent bank and credit union rating firm, would like to remind everyone that April is Financial Literacy Month. It’s never too late, or too early, to start learning your…
Community Banks: Know Thy Borrower
As a general rule, the more risky loans in a bank’s portfolio are construction, commercial real estate and foreign loans. As we have all seen though, even the seemingly safest loans (1-4 family residential) can turn sour if not underwritten…
Community Banks Putting Deposits to Work
We may have hit a wall in interest rate increases, (at least for the time being) but that hasn’t stopped consumers or businesses from taking advantage of rate hikes we have seen. From December 2016 through December 2018, the Federal…
Star-Ratings Up; Consumer Debt Falters
March 12, 2019: BAUERFINANCIAL, Inc., Coral Gables, FL, the nation’s leading independent bank and credit union rating firm announces it has newly released bank and credit union star-ratings (based on December 31, 2018 financial data) available on its website, bauerfinancial.com.…
New Credit Union Star-Ratings This Week
The National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) released mostly positive year-end 2018 financial data on Wednesday (March 6th). The aggregate capital ratio for all federally-insured credit unions increased to 11.30% – up from 10.95% a year earlier. Over 98% reported a…
All New BANK Star-Ratings This Week
By most measures, 2018 was a good year for U.S. banks. After earning $59.1 billion in the fourth quarter, net income for the calendar year was $236.7 billion. That was 44% higher than 2017 net income. However, after adjusting for…
Household Debt 6.9% Higher than 2008 Peak
At $13.54 trillion, consumer debt today is $869 billion higher than its 2008 peak of $12.68 trillion. It is 21.4% higher than its 2013 trough (see chart). Housing is not the culprit this time around. Based on a recent report…
President Lincoln Could Have Banked Here
The past couple of weeks we have been concentrating on banks and credit unions that are struggling. Between that, and the new mega-merger announcement between BB&T and SunTrust (February 7th) that we will get into later, we thought this was…