ABI Blog Exchange

Upcoming Committee Formation Meeting: Thursday, October 18, 2018 10:00 AM

Case Name: 18-12221 (KJC)

Location: Office of the US Trustee 844 King Street, Room 3209, Wilmington, DE 19801

Notice of Formation Meeting for Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors can be found here. See the petition for relief.

Contact Norman L. Pernick, G. David Dean or Myles R. MacDonald for more information regarding this matter.

The crisis in affordable housing has its roots in the high cost of building entry-level single-family homes. But why does it cost so much to build a house? And what did previous generations do to build affordable housing?

Fannie Mae has appointed Hugh Frater, a member of its board of directors, to serve as its interim chief executive officer after Timothy Mayopoulos steps down next week, the company said in a statement on Monday.

By: Donald L. Swanson

The U.S. Sixth Circuit “moved to random selection” of cases for mediation because “cases that appeared to be amenable to mediation were not actually more likely to settle than any other case.”

Sixth Circuit Appellate Blog, April 6, 2012.

In my line of work, I see people frequently who are under an extreme amount of financial stress.  These people handle the stress in one of two ways, there are those who could care less if collectors are calling but just want to get their finances under control and then there are others who are scared and stressed that they have collectors calling because they don’t have the income to pay the debts.  It is how one views the stress that determines whether that stress will have an impact on their health.

Stress and the Impact on Your Health

Last week, I had the pleasure of hearing Kelly McGonigal speak regarding stress and how it impacts your health.  Ms. McGonigal is a health psychologist and lecturer at Stanford University.  In her speech last week, she focused on how stress impacts a person’s health and well-being.  One thing that I learned from her is that extreme periods of stress is not bad for all.  In fact, some people tend to live longer and healthier if they tend to thrive on stress.  On the other hand, others who do not view stress positively and think that it is causing them harm to their health tend to have health problems from the stress.

Citing concerns of climate change’s impact on the financial sector, California passed SB 964 last week requiring the country’s two biggest pension funds to publicly disclose and analyze their climate-related investment risks. Under the new law, The California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) and California State Teachers’ Retirement System (CalSTRS) must review and report “climate related financial risks” that are “material” to the stability of their public market portfolios. Such “climate-related financial risks” include “intense storms, rising sea levels, higher global temperatures, economic damages from carbon emissions, and other financial and transition risks due to public policies to address climate change, shifting consumer attitudes, changing economics of traditional carbon-intense industries.” SB 964’s obligations, which will take effect on January 1, 2020 and continue every three years until 2035, also require the funds to report on their alignment to the Paris climate agreement, California climate policy goals, and any long-term climate-related financial risks.
Continue Reading

Wells Fargo is planning its first post-crisis offering of bonds tied to U.S. home loans without government backing, according to people familiar with the matter.

Speaking at an industry conference Thursday, two tech executives and a community banker said that community banks should be allowed to experiment with new products without worrying about running afoul of regulators.

The heavy workload is not limited to implementing the financial regulatory reform bill enacted last spring, as the agencies also work to craft reforms of the Community Reinvestment Act and adjust key capital measures for the biggest banks.