Bankruptcy Blogs

Morning Scan: Banks Keep Branches; P2P Lending Not a Threat

05/23/16

Wall Street Journal

Enough with the big bank-small bank divide, says First National Bank of Dennison chairman and chief executive Blair Hillyer. Competition between differently sized banks is better for customer experience and better for business, he says. It's difficult when all banks are operating "with Washington as our co-CEO," but nevertheless it is important "to work together if we're going to remain relevant in this brave, new financial world." His comments came in a letter...

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Now Begins Marketplace Lending's Maturity Chapter

05/23/16

The nascent industry's early success will mean very little if these new companies don't take necessary steps to position themselves for the long term.

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Consumer Product Company Phoenix Brands Enters Chapter 11

05/23/16

The company behind brands like Fab laundry detergent and Rit dye, Phoenix Brands LLC, filed for chapter 11 protection to sell its business. The Wall Street Journal has the Daily Bankruptcy Review article here.

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Nortel Avoids (First) Appeal -- U.S. Edition

05/22/16

After extensive briefing and hearings, the U.S. District Court presiding over the appeal (foreign readers: general trial judges in the U.S. federal court system sit in an appellate capacity over the specialized bankruptcy courts) from the U.S. Nortel proceedings punted this week.  More precisely, the judge, almost resignedly, acknowledged that the appellate appetite of the parties showed little sign of abatement and so has recommended that the appeal go straight to the U.S.

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PROMESA and the Recovery Act

05/22/16

It has become something like conventional wisdom that the pending SCOTUS case involving the Recovery Act is no longer relevant. After all, the giant interest payment due July 1 is largely attributable to GO bonds, and the Commonwealth itself is not even subject to the Recovery Act.

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Here's Where Jamie Dimon and I Disagree

05/20/16

I bear no hard feelings for the JPMorgan Chase CEO, but our disagreement underscores a rift between how Wall Street firms and community banks view the post-crisis landscape.

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How Tech Innovators Can Influence Their Own Regulatory Fate

05/20/16

Banks and nonbanks should accept that more fintech regulation is inevitable, but how far regulators go will depend in part on how well companies demonstrate they are managing risk.

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Next Week in Bankruptcy

05/20/16

On Thursday in Richmond, Va., a bankruptcy judge will hold a preliminary hearing on Alpha Natural Resources Inc.’s multibillion-dollar debt-repayment plan.

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Banks Are at the Mercy of Regulatory Absolutism

05/20/16

Regulators have abused their role of implementing law to actually make financial policy, usurping the role of Congress in a tripartite system.

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Morning Scan: Lending Club's Morgan Stanley Ties; Credit Cards Soar

05/20/16

Wall Street Journal

As Columbia Law School professor Robert Jackson noted in an op-ed on Thursday, there needs to be a source of real competition for the credit-card pushers, namely online marketplace lenders, so consumers with below-average credit scores can have access to credit at somewhat reasonable rates.

Because there's clearly demand. Credit card balances in the U.S. could hit $1 trillion this year. That would be near the $1.02 trillion peak posted in July 2008. The...

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