Answer: They are ALL Banks, or Bank Holding Companies. Or I should say they have all made application to become Bank Holding Cos to the Office of Thrift Supervision.
Hmmm, you may have thought they were all Ins Cos... (well I just threw Amex in there, even though not Ins co), since they have recently taken the bait too on the conversion.
They have all had trouble qualifying for the bailout funding, so in order to posture themselves into a better position for qualifying, they are each converting into Bank Holding Cos. There is some strange stuff going on here folks, and some crisis mgmt being implemented, and I sure hate to see that on the level of these companies. It causes one to have a bit of a quesy feeling about their potential future(s); and the good name of insurance companies in general.
They are each buying banks; (shell or troubled banks) see below:
Hartford is purchasing Federal Trust Corp in Sanford, FL., for 10 mil. Fed'l Trust is in financial trouble. Hartford's long shot here is... (yep, you could call this a Hail Mary pass), that they will buy this company for 10 mil, then be able to qualify for between 1.1 and 3.4 BILLION DOLLARS from the TARP bailot funding...
FEDERAL TRUST BANK ( Federal Trust Bank) Current Rating: E- ( Very Weak )
Does that sound strange to anyone else here...? Like unstable thinking... Really, think about this. This antic reminds me of a goofball idea of someone buying a seasoned shelf Corp (little or NO assets) for lots of money because it has been around for a while and a bank will loan you lots of money because your corp has been around for 20 yrs. Not happening quite as billed.
Then there is Genworth Financial... buying Inter Savings Bank of MN. It is in trouble also, and again, one of the lowest ratings for a Bank, yet still breathing. Oh, and Genworth wants to get 1.2 Bn+...
INTER SVGS BK FSB ( Inter Savings Bank)
Current Rating: D- ( Weak )
Then Lincoln Financial... buying Newton County Loan & Savings from Goodland, IN.
NEWTON CTY LOAN & SVGS FSB ( Newton Cty Loan & Savings) Current Rating: D ( Weak ) Duh, in 2006 here were their stats... 8 mil in assets, 3.7 mil in deposits... one office, no branches.
Now these could be coy, niche plays, that allow these insurers to tap into the TARP funding, but I've got to say, if this works... our Treasury Dept (Uncle Hank, et al) are more lame that I thought. These moves by these heretofore "well healed insurers, look to be nothing more than DESPERATE moves,
IMO. I am simply shocked at what I am finding within these insurers... the more I dig the worse it seems.
Their investment mgmt was lame, and that is being kind, and borders on the equivilent of insane, if not downright dereliction of professional duties (or fiduciary responsibilities to be more accurate).......... I am embarassed by the association and what these lame folks may do to the reputation of all insurers as sound financial institutions, before this is over. Geesh, time for a beer, out of disgust.
What does Hartford, Genworth, Lincoln National and Amer Exrpess have in common?
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