SBWire

The FED Chairman announced a future reduction of bond purchasing and the ultimate ending of Quantitative Easing. An end to excess monetary liquidity. Interest rates surged as stocks fell.

Capital City Bank announces Clayton Jeck has joined its team of bankers at the Inverness Office, located at 1500 North U.S. Highway 41. As a business banker, Clayton is charged with initiating, developing and managing business relationships through the delivery of Bank products and services and ensuring that exceptional client service is upheld.

Although there are many corporate banks available across the nation, community banks are still the preferred choice of many people looking to protect their assets. Community banks offer their customers many advantages, such as accessibility, familiarity between businesses and clients, and involvement with the community.

The FED has been purchasing $85 billion of debt securities every month, Treasuries and mortgage-backed securities. They had said that this would continue until the rate of unemployment dropped, with a target of 6.5%. Although there has been some slight improvement in the employment situation the current unemployment rate of 7.5% is still a long way from the target. The economy has not been strong. First quarter GDP showed an increase of 2.5%. That was below the 3.5% expected by many economists. That was before the negative drag that will come from the “sequester” spending cuts. My expectation has been for a 2.5% GDP growth for the year. I think that my target will be difficult to achieve.

Hundreds of leading financial institutions on Linked In have already made 2013 an eventful year for Banker Bay, a Fin-Tech firm that helps investment firms locate suitable opportunities and sell sides find interested sources of capital. Through LinkedIn Groups and a basic test Alpha portal, Banker Bay is already recording serious deal flow from leading financial institutions and corporations, two months prior to its official launch.

All of this is happening before there has been any time for the “Sequester” to hit the economy. What this suggests is that the economy is still in difficulty and unemployment will remain in the current range and could get worse.. The “Sequester” will cause job losses ahead. The bond market has reacted positively to this news. The 10 year Treasury, the benchmark for commercial mortgages has fallen to 1.73% as this is being written.

Capital Direct Funding Hard Money has ramped up their direct lending to small businesses as signs of a true economic recovery appear in the overall US economy. The climb out of the hole created by the Great Recession has been long and steep and no segment of the economy was hit harder than the small business community.

Last Friday the Labor Department released the Employment Report for February. It was stronger than was expected. Job creations increased by 236,000, better than the 171,000 that was generally expected. The Unemployment Rate declined to 7.7%. There were some revisions to prior months, January down and December up. It was an improving report and there were cheers from Washington and from the financial press. The stock market continued to climb to new highs while the ten-year bond, the benchmark for commercial mortgage interest rates, increased several basis points in yield.

A new online service, which allows merchants to compare different merchant account deals and electronic merchant services such as Point of Sale (POS), is now available to help save merchants money and time. The new online service allows users to quickly compare the prices and services of hundreds of top merchant account providers, to find the best deal for their business.

ChurchLoan.net, a leader in church financing, has developed and launched an online ‘Quick Quote’ tool to allow users to instantaneously receive a loan quote. The free ‘Quick Quote’ tool uses information such as location, loan amount requested, and credit history to allow users to view their church financing options. This new online tool will work in conjunction with ChurchLoan.net’s ‘Live Chat’ feature allowing users to instant message with company representatives. The ‘Quick Quote’ tool can be accessed on the front page of their website.

Bank of North Carolina company Carolina Bank Holdings, Inc. (CLBH) has reported record net income of $7.5 million and earnings per share of $1.85 in 2012. Net income increased 213 percent over 2011.

When a client sends us a loan package we go over the operating statements in detail. Usually we will talk to the client's controller or accountant and have the operating statements restated. Typically we will remove non operating expense items such as depreciation and amortization. We will remove capital items that are being expensed such as leasing commissions and tenant improvements and renovations. These differences occur because accrual accounting tries to reduce income and reduce tax impact. Cash flow accounting tries to establish the maximum funds that are available to service debt. The value of all commercial properties, retail, office, industrial and multifamily comes down to the capitalization of the free cash flow that the property generates.

The cost of money and the return on invested capital are the most important factors that influence the success of any business. The reason why interest costs are so low, what to expect and the action to take are critical in these unusual economic times.

MIDsource offers HIGH RISK MERCHANT PROCESSING for a wide range of industries. With an extensive network and banking relationships domestically and internationally, we pride ourselves in our ability to obtain direct merchant accounts (MIDS) and aggregation solutions for high risk merchants worldwide.

There is a lot of hype on TV and in the news from people who have no knowledge about the economics involved and the timing and gravity of the situation. It makes good headlines and captivates audiences but it really doesn't amount to much. It is not even a slippery slope said Victor Weintraub, noted economist and President of First Charter Financial Corporation.

Now is the best time to refinance commercial Real Property. The opportunity to save very important money is here now and it will not last forever. Wise property owners will take advantage of the historically low interest rates that are available today. There is the opportunity to have real cost savings for the next ten years by refinancing into a new fixed rate mortgage now.

Accountable Capital Corp. is online and offering small business owners a way to get capital funding in this difficult economy. The owners of the company are experienced in providing capital funding and understand that even if a business is successful, there are times when that business needs additional funds. They founded their company and its website to let businesses know that even after the bank has turned them down and government options have run dry there is a solution to funding. That solution is Accountable Capital.

Managing personal finances can be a difficult task, especially during an economic crisis. If financial difficulties arrive and individuals are unable to cope with them, they may find themselves in a database called ChexSystems.

PaydayLoans has speeded up its payday loan application process carried out via the company’s website. Today the company offers 1 hour payday loans via PaydayLoans@ website because the growing quantity of American customers apply for the service to remain ahead of their charges in the current difficult financial times. In spite of the efforts some households may still find themselves unable to pay on bills in some cases or even face unpredicted situations which require financial support. In such cases people typically use reliable providers of loans online which might help to acquire additional cash despite having bad credit.

Europe On The Brink. The biggest risk to the global commercial banking sector remains the European crisis, with the worst-case scenario of a euro bloc breakup looming large in the background, and the health of the global banking sector hanging in the balance. Our core global economic view is that the world is not about to enter a double-dip recession, but that weak ongoing growth leaves the global economy fragile, and thus susceptible to a major shock. A disorderly eurozone breakup would have devastating consequences for core eurozone banks, given their exposure to peripheral eurozone debt. Furthermore, with sovereign bond spreads soaring, commercial banks exposed to European debt are seeing their balance sheets erode, with the effect compounded by a weak economy hurting lending conditions. The market is discounting a negative outcome for bank asset value, with European and US bank shares trading well below book value. We stress that our core scenario for the eurozone is one of 'muddle through' rather than 'meltdown'. Furthermore, the exact path of events in the eurozone is difficult to predict, with potential outcomes including a full breakup of the monetary union, to austerity-induced recession, to European Central Bank support for the banking sector. However, it is worth looking at the potential contagion risks from a European financial crisis. Looking at the commercial banking universe covered by BMI, direct exposure to the weakest links in the eurozone is fairly limited, and is (unsurprisingly) most prevalent in European states. We are also acutely aware of the potential for contagion from a European financial crisis into emerging markets. However, looking at the data, emerging market exposure is mainly concentrated in Emerging Europe, as one would expect given the significant degree of banking sector integration across the continent over the past two decades. Furthermore, emerging markets tend to be exposed to the European banking sector on the liabilities side, far more than on the assets side (in other words, they are in danger of having European banks pulling lending from their economies). The following chart shows European banks' lending as a percentage of the destination country's GDP. Unsurprisingly, major financial centres figure prominently (eg Hong Kong, Singapore and the UK), as do emerging European economies. The accompanying chart draws upon Bank for International Settlements (BIS) data, and shows crossborder bank lending to the 'PIIGS'(Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece and Spain) as a percentage of commercial banking sectors' total foreign lending exposure. Here, core eurozone banking sectors including Germany and France's, and major developed markets such as the UK, are heavily exposed.

Banking Sector Stability Assured, Headwinds Remain BMI View: While French banks' exposure to peripheral eurozone sovereign debt will remain a major headwind to growth over the medium term, we note that the breakthrough in negotiations between European policymakers in stabilizing the eurozone's sovereign debt crisis has bolstered overall stability in the banking sector. This has been evident in the massive uptick in banks' share prices witnessed in trading on October 27 2011 (see chart below). Highlights of the emergency summit agreements include a voluntary 50% haircut on Greek debt by creditors and the raising of EUR106bn of fresh capital for euro area banks with guarantees for bank bonds. While details surrounding many of the proposals outlined at the emergency summit remain lacking, there is certainly potential for French banks' share prices to perform well going forward, particularly given the extent to which the major financials had sold off in the months prior leading to many trading well below book value (see our online service, October 27 2011, 'Meltdown Scenario Averted: Relief Rally Has Room To Run'). French banks will now need to focus on building their capital base over the medium term; they have been shown to need to raise only EUR8.8bn out of the total EUR106bn in order to meet tier one capital requirements set by the European Banking Authority (EBA). In particular, BNP Paribas, Societe Generale and Groupe BPCE reportedly need to raise EUR2.1bn, EUR3.3bn and EUR2.1bn respectively.

Merchant services and payment processing firm PaymentMax has launched a new work-from-home program. PaymentMax is actively seeking full- and part-time merchant services independent sales office (ISO) agents to support the company's high service standards as the customer base expands. Established in 2004, PaymentMax has been growing steadily, building its reputation on unique offerings like 24/7 customer service, single-statement accounting, next-day funding, and iPhone processing.

ACI recently closed $16,100,000 construction financing for a $20,000,000 total project cost, 120-bed Assisted Living Facility / Memory Care development in Ocala, Florida. The total financing of $16,100,000 was comprised of $13,600,000 construction debt financing as well as $2,500,000 in mezzanine financing.

On January 3, 2012 ACI closed $26,040,000 construction financing for a student housing development in San Diego, CA. The $40,000,000 student housing development is being built adjacent to San Diego State University and expected to be complete by mid 2013.

Coldwell Banker Commercial TradeMark Properties has announced that the firm’s CEO, Billie Redmond, recently spoke at events for the Credit Suisse Veterans Network and Girl Scouts - North Carolina Coastal Pines. The Credit Suisse Veterans Network, a group invested in the community engagement of military members and their families, invited Redmond to speak at an event on Oct. 20 at the Credit Suisse campus in Morrisville, N.C., about how business and social leadership is imperative to the development and success of local communities. She was also the keynote speaker at Girl Scouts - North Carolina Coastal Pines’ “Cookie University,” an entrepreneurship-focused event on Nov. 12 at NC State’s McKimmon Center for Extension and Continuing Education in Raleigh, attended by more than 350 active Girl Scouts. Redmond spoke on successful women in sales and encouraged attendees to grow in their leadership capabilities.