Wis. Ends Year With $2.5B Deficit
The Wisconsin state government closed its books on fiscal year 2008 with a $2.5 billion deficit, the largest in the state’s history, according to the Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance, a nonprofit, nonpartisan group dedicated to policy research and citizen education. Read more. (12/31/08)

Farewell to Dismal Year on Wall St.
The book has closed on the worst year for Wall Street since the Great Depression, with the Dow Jones industrials losing almost 34 percent overall in 2008. Likewise, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index ended the year 38.5 percent lower, while the Nasdaq Composite Index finished 2008 down about 40.5 percent, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported. (12/31/08)

Don’t Call It a Bailout
Wisconsin's bankers hate the word “bailout,” which many people wrongly label the offer of emergency federal capital infusion program funds. Most of the state’s banks, in fact, are very healthy, far from being in danger of being brought down by the credit crisis, writes business editor Arlen Boardman in the Appleton Post-Crescent. (12/30/08)

Chicago Fed CEO, Governor to Speak
Get a true insider’s view of Wisconsin’s current and future economic conditions from Dr. Charles Evans, president and CEO, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago and Federal Open Market Committee Member, at the upcoming Wisconsin Economic Forecast Luncheon. Governor Jim Doyle will also speak at this event, planned for Jan. 15 at the Monona Terrace Conference Center, Madison. Read more. (12/30/08)

Northeast Wis. CEOs Cautious
The Nicolet National Bank Business Pulse poll taken Dec. 5-12 reflects the sentiments of about 600 CEOs in northeastern Wisconsin. According to the survey, 50 percent of CEOs view the current economic conditions as a threat; 47 percent have enacted additional internal expense controls; 42 percent have increased business development activities; and 42 percent have initiated a hiring freeze. Read more from the Small Business Times. (12/29/08)

Economy Tops Business News in ’08
Books will be written about what happened to the economy in 2008. The housing slump dragged on. Worries about mortgage-backed securities and other debt infected Wall Street, sending the stock market into a free fall. Mortgage buyers Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were taken over by the federal government. Weakened banks failed or merged. Read more about the top business story of the year in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. (12/27/08)

Chicago Fed Elects New Directors
Federal Home Loan Bank of Chicago has finalized results for the election of seven new independent directors. Effective Jan. 1, 2009, the independent directors will join the ten current Board members representing member financial institutions in Illinois and Wisconsin. Joining the board from Wisconsin are James D. Ericson, retired chairman and CEO of Northwestern Mutual Life, Milwaukee, and Leo J. Ries, executive director of the Local Initiatives Support Corporation in Milwaukee. Read more. (12/23/08)

Wells: Recession Will End in ’09
The deepest and longest recession since the 1930s will end in the second half of 2009, according to Wells Fargo & Co. economists. The third quarter of next year will be “better than expected” by many, said chief investment strategist Jim Paulsen in the Business Journal of Milwaukee. (12/19/08)

Rate Watch Service Launched
Waukesha-based Mid America Mortgage Services has launched a new Internet-based system designed to help homeowners take advantage of the current low mortgage rates. HomeLoanWatchDog.com monitors current rates and compares them to a customer’s existing mortgage to ensure they have the best rate, the Small Business Times reported. (12/23/08)

Executive Pay Analyzed
Banks that are getting taxpayer bailouts awarded their top executives nearly $1.6 billion in salaries, bonuses, and other benefits last year, an Associated Press analysis reveals. The rewards came even at banks where poor results last year foretold the economic crisis that sent them to Washington for a government rescue. Read the Associated Press story. (12/21/08)

Colleges Monitor Financial Aid Needs
Despite the alarm about volatile credit markets, financial aid directors at Madison-area colleges and universities say they haven’t heard from many students who can't get loans to cover college costs. Although some banks are no longer offering alternative student loans, students have been able to turn to other financial institutions, like credit unions, a University of Wisconsin-Madison financial aid director said in the Wisconsin State Journal. (12/20/08)

Economic Uncertainty Plagues State
Even though the state’s financial industry has fared better than that of the rest of the nation, Wisconsin banks saw profits dip 72 percent in the most recent quarter. Yet some are continuing to thrive in spite of the tougher climate. Park Bank of Madison saw its profits rise by 12.8 percent last quarter and has applied for a possible sale of between $7 million and $21 million in stock to the Treasury to keep making new loans here, President and CEO Jim Hegenbarth said in the Wisconsin State Journal. (12/20/08)

Mortgage Applications Multiply
Falling interest rates have boosted the number of mortgage applications at some Kenosha-area banks this week. Steve Steiner, senior vice president with North Shore Bank, said their mortgage business has been up three to four times, in the “tens of millions of dollars” range, compared to before. “This usually isn’t the time when people are thinking about buying or refinancing a home,” he said in the Kenosha News. (12/19/08)

Town Bank Parent Gets Govt. Boost
Wintrust Financial Corp. in Lake Forest, Ill., the parent company of Delafield-based Town Bank, has received $250 million investment through the U.S. Treasury's program to boost capital levels at banks, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported. (12/19/08)

M&I Declares Foreclosure Moratorium
Marshall & Ilsley Corp. declared a three-month foreclosure moratorium on mortgages it holds for owner-occupied homes. The moratorium will allow the bank to work with struggling homeowners on loan modifications that could include extending the loan term, lowering interest rates or deferring missed payments until the end of the mortgage, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. (12/18/08)

New Rules Change Credit Practices
New credit card rules coming from the Federal Reserve and other banking regulators could cost the banking industry more than $10 billion a year in interest payments, according to a study by the law firm Morrison & Foerster in an Associated Press article. (12/18/08)

Mpls. Fed Predicts More Unemployment
The economic downturn will continue in 2009 in the Upper Plains, with unemployment rates rising and recovery in the residential real estate market expected to take more than a year, economists at the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis say. In recent surveys, business leaders in Minnesota and Wisconsin were more pessimistic than in other states, Forbes.com reported. (12/17/08)

Homebuilders Seek Economic Incentives
The nation needs a better homebuyer tax credit, a program with below-market rates for 30-year fixed mortgages and more measures to prevent foreclosure to help end the housing crisis, Wiscconsin home-building leaders said in a national conference call about the industry’s proposed stimulus plan. The builders are pushing for 30-year fixed mortgages for less than the current market rate. Read the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel article. (12/17/08)

Lower Mortgage Rates for Consumers
Average 30-year fixed mortgage rates fell to a national average of 5.18 with 1.13 points from 5.44 percent with points of 1.24 points a week earlier on 80 percent loan-to-value mortgages. But below-5 percent rates increasingly seem to be expected, especially since U.S. government policy-makers have said that's what they’d like to see, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported. (12/17/08)

Fed Cuts Rate to Record Low
By cutting the federal funds rate, one Milwaukee analyst speculates that the Fed may be trying to get 30-year fixed mortgages down to 4.5 percent. The Fed’s actions are “virtually unprecedented,” said James McKenna, chief executive of North Shore Bank in Brookfield and a member of the American Bankers Association Board. “They are trying everything and anything from a monetary as well as a fiscal standpoint.” Read the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel article. (12/17/08)

Nonprofit Lender Plans Milwaukee Office
IFF, formerly known as the Illinois Facilities Fund, plans to open a new office in Milwaukee next year. IFF is the leading nonprofit community development financial institution in the Midwest. Read more in the Small Business Times or the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. (12/16/08)

Mid America Plans Brookfield Location
Mid America Bank, a Janesville-based bank with about $45 million in total assets and three branches, will open a 1,450-square-foot loan production office in Brookfield in March, the Small Business Times reported. (12/16/08)

New Angel Network Formed
The Lake Superior Angel Network, a new angel investing group interested in making early stage investments in an area that stretches from Duluth, Minn. to Ironwood, Mich., has been established with about 25 investors and organizers, according to the Small Business Times. (12/16/08)

Survey: Wis. Companies
Hopeful Businesses in Milwaukee and Waukesha counties expect economic improvements in 2009, according to a report released this morning by Madison-based First Business Bank, Carroll University of Waukesha and the University of Wisconsin-Madison's A.C. Nielsen Center of Marketing Research. Read the Small Business Times article. (12/16/08)

Wis. Securities Law Updated
The market outlook may not look good, but the state of Wisconsin has recently adopted legislation to protect consumers and companies who deal in securities. On Jan. 1, 2009, a state-adapted version of the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws’ 2002 Uniform Securities Act will go into effect and marks the first major overhaul of the law in 40 years, the Small Business Times reported. (12/12/08)

Business Optimism Hits New Low
Small business owners’ optimism has fallen to its lowest level since Wells Fargo & Co. and Gallup began conducting their monthly small business index in 2003. The index for November was 10, a 35-point drop since last quarter and down significantly from the high of 104 points in December 2006. Still, four out of five small business owners said they do not perceive credit as difficult to obtain, the Business Journal reported. (12/16/08)

Bill Gives Retirees New Option
Congressman James Sensenbrenner is co-sponsoring federal legislation that would suspend the mandatory minimum withdrawal requirement from retirement accounts for 2008 and 2009, allowing retirees age 70½ and older to keep their money in the market if they choose. Read more in the Business Journal of Milwaukee. (12/12/08)

Family Change at InvestorsBank
The two daughters of InvestorsBank founder and chief executive officer George Schonath have taken 100 percent voting control of the bank after their father’s recent death from cancer, while Timothy Schadeberg serves as president of the $281 million-asset Pewaukee bank, the Business Journal of Milwaukee reported. (12/12/08)

Mortgage Mediation Proposed
A lender would have to offer mediation to homeowners in default on their mortgage before foreclosure could proceed, under legislation state Sen. Lena Taylor said she will propose. Her Mortgage Mediation Act would let borrowers negotiate remedies such as adjusting the interest rate or principal, extending the repayment period, or modifying loan terms, according to a story in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. (12/12/08)

Associated is Biggest SBA Lender
Associated Bank once again is Wisconsin’s top Small Business Administration lender, making 400 SBA loans totaling $30 million in the 2008 fiscal year, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported. (12/12/08)

Milwaukee Home Sales Fall 30%
Sales of existing homes in the four-county metropolitan Milwaukee area sank 30.5 percent in November 2008 compared with November 2007, according to the Wauwatosa-based Multiple Listing Service Inc. Read the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel story. (12/10/08)

List Your Bank in Directory
BizTimes Media LLC is collecting entries for its Access To Capital directory. The directory will include key information on financial service agencies such as banks, credit unions, leasing companies, M&A firms, private equity groups, accounting firms, law firms that offer financial services, venture capital and angel investing groups, valuation firms and leasing companies. There is no cost; information must be submitted by Jan. 14, 2009. See www.biztimes.com/capital. (12/9/08)

M&I Signs on for FDIC Programs
Milwaukee-based Marshall & Ilsley Corp. will take part in two of the FDIC’s Temporary Liquidity Guarantee Programs – the Debt Guarantee Program and the Transaction Account Guarantee Program, the Small Business Times reported. (12/9/08)

Market Rebound in Mid-2009?
Robert W.Baird & Co. Inc. chief investment strategist Bruce Bittles said he expects the stock market to rebound and the economy to stabilize by the middle of 2009. Read more in the Small Business Times or the full report. (12/9/08)

Freddie Mac Influence Came at a Cost
Internal Freddie Mac budget records show $11.7 million was paid to 52 outside lobbyists and consultants in 2006, and power brokers such as former House Speaker Newt Gingrich were recruited with six-figure contracts, according to an Associated Press analysis. (12/7/08)

Refinancing Activity Rises
Mortgage refinancings surged over the past week at some southeast Wisconsin banks and mortgage lenders, thanks to interest rates at or near 5.5 percent for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage, according to the Milwaukee Business Journal. (12/5/08)

Baylake Names President, COO
Joseph L. Hoffmeyer has been named president and chief operating officer of Baylake Bank, based in Sturgeon Bay. Hoffmeyer will also be responsible for directing and managing the $1.1 billion bank’s Wealth Services Division, according to a news release. (12/5/08)

Foreclosure Decline May Not Mean Much
Foreclosure filings fell almost 18 percent in Wisconsin in November, but experts said to not read too much into the one-month decline. Read the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel article. (12/3/08)

Dane County Firms Pessimistic
More than 40 percent of businesses in Dane County reported they were unable to meet or exceed expectations for 2008, a trend expected to continue in 2009, according to survey results released by First Business Bank, Madison, at its invitation-only First Business Economic Forum. Read the news release. (12/3/08)

Heinemann: Financial Rescue Necessary
State Department of Financial Institutions Secretary Lorrie Keating Heinemann says the national financial bailout plan was necessary. “Had we not acted, liquidity would have been seriously tightened,” she said in part 2 of an interview with Wisconsin Technology Network. (12/3/08)

DFI Leader on Venture Capital.
Wisconsin Department of Financial Institutions Secretary Lorrie Keating Heinemann have proposed setting aside a portion of each securities fee paid by investment brokers as a way to connect companies with capital, according to a Wisconsin Technology Network story. (12/1/08)

Recession Official – and Not Over Yet
The nonprofit National Bureau of Economic Research has pegged the start of the recession to a year ago, which already makes it longer than the 10-month average of recessions since the end of World War II. Precisely when a rebound will occur is difficult for economists to say, but many now forecast an upturn for roughly the middle of next year, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel wrote. (12/1/08)

U.S. Bank Poised for Growth
Richard Davis, CEO of Minneapolis-based U.S. Bancorp says he refused to underwrite or securitize subprime credit created by mortgage brokers and underwriters that was often packaged with debt and exotic financial instruments. Davis says he supports FDIC Chairwoman Sheila Bair’s plan for $25 billion to help homeowners, the Minneapolis Star-Tribune reported, and he’s looking for acquisitions throughout U.S. Bank’s 24-state territory and beyond. (12/1/08)

Community Banks Go For TARP
Back in October, a survey by financial services firm Banc Investment Group showed that 66 percent of the community banks responding were unlikely to participate in or strongly opposed the idea of accepting Troubled Assets Relief Program capital. Just 8 percent said they’d take the money. In a survey completed in late November, 56 percent said they would apply for the program, and 3 percent had been approved, according to U.S. Banker. (12/2008)

Read November's news articles