Word: interfirst
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When petroleum was still a pricey commodity, Texas oil barons had little trouble getting loans. But as the value of oil has plummeted in recent months, the state's banks have watched in alarm while many borrowers were unable to make payments. Last week InterFirst of Dallas, the third- largest Texas bank holding company, said that it expects second-quarter loan-related losses of at least $260 million...
...problems may stem partly from questionable policies. One of InterFirst's subsidiary banks gave an $80 million loan to former Director Edwin Cox Jr., a wealthy Texas rancher. Cox resigned last month after the value of his collateral became inadequate. Banking regulators are studying whether InterFirst broke a U.S. law that puts restrictions on loans to bank directors...
...banks also have a major stake in the ongoing energy slump. Many loaned heavily to oil and gas firms while prices were rising, and are now awash in bad debts. Nonperforming assets at Dallas-based InterFirst Corp. equaled a full 35% of equity capital-which can be thought of as its cushion against losses-at the end of last year. Oil-and gas-related loans in total came to 252% of equity. The largest bank holding company in Texas, Inter-First, said its earnings fell about one-third during the first quarter. In Houston, Southwest Bancshares expects a 40% first...
...lenders at the high end of this range have now decided to give their customers a bit of relief. The Bank of New York, for example, said last week that starting May 1 the rate it charges Visa and MasterCard holders will drop from 19.8% to 18%. InterFirst Corp., a holding company that operates 51 banks in Texas, announced that on April 20 it will lower its bank-card interest from...
...Chicago and BankAmerica, hold Harvester loans of $125 million or more. A Harvester bankruptcy would thus generate huge losses. Moreover, bankers nervously wonder how many other major corporations will be in jeopardy if the economy does not pull strongly out of the recession. Says Elvis Mason, chairman of the InterFirst Corp., a bank holding company in Dallas: "It's the bankrupcty I have not yet anticipated that worries me most...