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Associated Bank lender gets LaSalle team together

By Becky Yerak
| Mark Sander, the former longtime LaSalle Bank commercial lender who in
September 2009 joined Associated Bank in Chicago, is putting together
some of his old team.

Associated, which is based in Green Bay but which earlier this year said
it wanted to boost its commercial banking ranks in Chicago
by nearly 30
percent, has hired Peter Bulandr as a specialized financial services
market manager. He’ll be based in Chicago and will lead a group of
bankers that’ll serve the insurance industry.

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Ex-Midwest Bank executives join Cornerstone

By Becky Yerak | Jay Fritz, a former high-level executive at failed Midwest Bank, has joined Cornerstone National Bank & Trust Co. of Palatine along with four other Midwest managers.

Cornerstone, which has assets of $399 million and has been profitable, was founded in 2000. It has branches in Palatine, Crystal Lake and Lake Zurich.

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Community First Bank Chicago looks for capital

By Becky Yerak | Community First Bank Chicago, a 4-year-old bank that was told to shape up by regulators in February, has launched a stock offering to help raise capital. It has been inviting community members in Rogers Park, one of the neighborhoods in which it operates, to invest. It’s trying to raise at least $5 million.

The February order didn’t specify a capital target that the $60 million-asset bank needed to reach, but as of March 31, it had fallen below “well-capitalized” status.

Nearly 12 percent of its loans were seriously delinquent as of March 31, up from almost 5 percent in the year-ago period.

Goldman subpoenaed by ‘meltdown’ panel

Reuters | A government commission investigating the 2008 financial crisis has
issued a subpoena to Goldman Sachs Group Inc, saying the bank failed to
comply with a request for documents and interviews in a timely manner.

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Arcola Homestead Savings joins list of failed banks

By Becky Yerak |
Arcola Homestead Savings Bank, which had $17 million in assets and $18.1
million in deposits, was closed today by state and federal banking
regulators.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. was unable to find another financial
institution to take over the banking operations. Checks to the retail depositors for their insured funds will be mailed
Monday.

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Investors to raise First Chicago Bancorp stakes

By Becky Yerak |
The California-based investors in troubled First Chicago Bancorp plan to
boost their stakes in the $1.14 billion-asset bank to 85 percent from
46.6 percent, according to Federal Reserve records.

The bank couldn’t be reached for immediate comment, but, last month,
First Chicago Bancorp, parent of First Chicago Bank & Trust, said it
expected to complete a second offering of stock this quarter to raise
needed capital.

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WaMu to meet with shareholders on bankruptcy

Associated Press | Washington Mutual Inc. has agreed to meet with
shareholders seeking information in the company’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy
after a judge threatened to reconsider her decision denying the
appointment of an independent examiner in the case.

With renewed talk of an examiner, a WaMu attorney on Thursday withdrew a
motion to establish discovery procedures in the case and said he would
be willing to meet with parties wanting information.

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JPMorgan fined record $49M for client money use

Reuters | U.S. investment bank JPMorgan Securities Ltd has been
fined a record $49.12 million in Britain for failing to protect
billions of dollars of client money over almost seven years.

Issuing a stark warning to other banks operating in Britain, the
country’s Financial Services Authority said on Thursday that JPMorgan
had failed to adequately protect client money of between $1.9 billion
and $23 billion between November 2002 and July 2009.

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Builders Bank told to raise $14 million

From Crain’s Chicago Business | State and federal regulators have given Chicago-based Builders Bank, hard-hit by the downturn in commercial real estate,  four months to raise at least $14 million in capital.

Read the full story: chicagobusiness.com

Citi reorganizing US consumer finance business

Associated Press | Citigroup Inc. is closing 330 branches of its U.S. consumer finance business as part of a restructuring aimed at finding a buyer for the unit, the bank said Tuesday.

The branch closures at CitiFinancial will result in about 500 to 600 job cuts across 48 states, the bank said.

The U.S. business of CitiFinancial will also be split into two parts, one offering personal, home equity and refinancing loans and the other handling loan modifications and restructuring, Citigroup said.

Get the full story: Citi reorganizing US consumer finance business.

SEC takes another look at BofA settlement

Dow Jones Newswires | The inspector general of the Securities and
Exchange Commission, David Kotz, has expanded his investigation of the
agency’s civil-case settlement with Bank of America Corp. over the
company’s acquisition of brokerage Merrill Lynch & Co., CNBC reports
Tuesday.

In his semiannual report to Congress, Kotz also will recommend
disciplinary action against two attorneys on the staff of the SEC’s
enforcement division for their role in the release of unauthorized
information to a Federal Bureau of Investigation agent. CNBC says the
agent was working on an investigation in conjunction with an imprisoned
former short seller the cable network identified as Anthony Elgindy.

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Northern Trust execs plan expansion, acquisitions

Reuters | Financial services company Northern Trust Corp is actively planning to expand and is considering acquisitions, executives said Wednesday.

The executives, speaking at the company’s investor day in New York, said Northern Trust will expand on both U.S. coasts and will look at acquisitions to expand its geographic reach and capabilities.

“We have tons of capital,” said Chief Executive Officer Frederick Waddell. He said the shake-up in the market has produced attractive assets for sale.

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ShoreBank names new managers

By Mary Ellen Podmolik | ShoreBank Corp. announced a new management structure led by financial industry executives who have been assisting the company with its capital-raising effort and restructuring.

The company named William Farrow, who most recently served as executive vice president and member of the Chicago Board of Trade’s office of president, as its president and chief operating officer. Eileen Kennedy, previously executive vice president and global chief financial officer for Gartmore Asset Management, was named chief financial officer of ShoreBank Corp. and ShoreBank. The appointments are subject to regulatory approval.

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Massachusetts state fund chief to join Chicago firm

Reuters | The executive director of Massachusetts’ $44 billion state pension fund,
one of the first to make big bets on hedge funds, is resigning and
moving to a Chicago-based asset management firm.

Michael Travaglini, 47, who has headed the state fund for six years,
will join Grosvenor Capital Management LP in July as a managing
director. He will market the firm’s portfolios to public pension funds.

Grosvenor, a fund of hedge funds firm that helps select a portfolio of
hedge funds for clients, is one of a handful that Massachusetts uses to
make its bets in the loosely regulated $1.6 trillion hedge fund
industry. Hedge fund investments have significantly boosted the state
fund’s returns over the last few years.

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Feds tell Union National Bank to shape up

From Crain’s Chicago Business | Union National Bank, a 106-year-old Elgin-based lender with $479 million in assets, is interviewing investment bankers to help it raise capital needed to comply with a recent consent order with federal regulators.

Get the full story: chicagobusiness.com.