mik123

Increased Government Investment in Banks?

If TARP states the money can not be used for acquisitions and can only be used for lending as Barney Frank stated Friday, I don't see how there will be regulatory approval on the PNC -Nat City deal. That's probably why you haven't heard of any other deals. National City can stand alone and save thousands of jobs. TARP was passed to help National City. It appears Nat City was pushed into the merger by a top treasury official that worked for PNC as an attorney until Aug. 2005. He probably will be back representing PNC after todays election. Call Latourette, Barney Frank, Sen Shumer and your local house and senate representatives and demand National Citys share of TARP. There is no way they can be denied since Citigroup and others with inferior financials to Nat Citys received funds. Prior to the merger announcement, there were 10 buy recommendations by analysts who follow the company in detail. I believe the deal has an escape clause if it doesn't receive regulatory approval. Barney Frank came out Friday and said it's illegal to use TARP money to acquire another bank. That should make the deal null and void. The top three officials at Nat City are walking away with apx. 16 million. If they accepted TARP money and stayed independent, they would be limited to $500,000 max. compensation per year. All this poses many questions.

Will Equity Markets Gain Traction as TARP Begins Implementation?

The following may explain why PNC was first. I read today most analysts were shocked that National City sold when they didn't have to. All had much higher price targets. With all the recently passed legislation, there is 0% chance of failure. Then I read that GOP Rep. Steven LaTourette is seeking Treasury Department and congressional investigations into whether Comptroller of Currency John Dugan steered $7.7 billion of taxpayer bailout money to his former client. PNC, so it could buy National City Bank. LaTourette said Dugan represented PNC as an attorney until August 2005 before starting his current position as Comptroller of Currency. He may be back working for PNC in 2-3 weeks with a new administration due January. It was reported that a week before the PNC - National City deal ,Dugan called National City CEO Raskind and said he shouldn't expect rescue money. It was reported that Dugan was heavily involved in the sale and was pushing for a deal by last Friday. LaTourette, a member of the House Financial Services Committee, wrote a letter to Paulson and Barney Frank requesting a probe. He also expressed concern that the bailout stipulated that the treasury could only give a bank 3% of its risk-weighted assets and PNC received 6%. This sale was so hurried because the treasury would look bad if they handed money to everyone else today and it became public they said no to the nations 7th largest bank. There would be public outrage because the whole purpose of the 700 billion was to rescue the banks.That's what the public was sold. There are no top 35 banks left other than National City that analysts were projecting a loss for 2009. National Citys loss projection is small at -.34 cents or apx 700 million. You can get earnings by going to smartmoney.com and put the ticker symbol in and click on earnings projections. My biggest question is why Goldman Sachs is receiving 10 billion in rescue money when they have nothing to rescue other than their share price. The biggest mistake with the 700 billion rescue plan was not having a congressional oversight committee allocate the money