Colonial BancGroup Inc, whose banking unit was shut down by the government and sold to BB&T Corp earlier this month, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
The the Montgomery-based real estate lender listed debts of US$380 million and assets of just US$45 million in its filing on Tuesday in US Bankruptcy Court in the Middle District of Alabama. A list of creditors holding the 20 largest unsecured claims shows that Bank of New York Trust Co has a US$253.7 million claim and Bank of New York Trust Co of Florida, a US$104.1 million claim.
With about US$25 billion in deposits, Colonial Bank represents the largest US bank failure so far this year, and the sixth-largest in US history. The FDIC sold most of its deposits, 346 branches in five states and about US$22 billion in assets to BB&T.
Colonial Bank’s collapse is expected to cost the insurance fund US$2.8 billion.
Colonial BancGroup remains under criminal investigation by the US Justice Department over alleged accounting irregularities at its mortgage warehouse lending unit in Orlando, Florida. It also was the subject of a Securities and Exchange Commission investigation related to its bid for federal bailout funds and its accounting for loan loss reserves.
The company posted losses for several straight quarters, as it wrote off millions in residential construction and mortgage loans, most tied to hard-hit markets in Florida. Delinquencies on commercial real estate loans remain a hot spot of potential trouble for many regional banks, as many companies have shut down in the recession, vacating shopping malls and office buildings financed by the loans.
Taylor, Bean & Whitaker Mortgage Corp, one of the US’ biggest independent mortgage bankers, said on Monday it filed for bankruptcy protection in the wake of Colonial Bank’s failure. Colonial had been Taylor Bean’s primary bank.
The Taipei MRT is open all night tonight following New Year’s Eve festivities, and is offering free rides from nearby Green Line stations. Taipei’s 2025 New Year’s Eve celebrations kick off at Taipei City Hall Square tonight, with performances from the boy band Energy, the South Korean girl group Apink, and singers Gigi Leung (梁詠琪) and Faith Yang (楊乃文). Taipei 101’s annual New Year’s firework display follows at midnight, themed around Taiwan’s Premier12 baseball championship. Estimates say there will be about 200,000 people in attendance, which is more than usual as this year’s celebrations overlap with A-mei’s (張惠妹) concert at Taipei Dome. There are
LOOKING FOR WHEELS: The military is seeking 8x8 single-chassis vehicles to test the new missile and potentially replace the nation’s existing launch vehicles, the source said Taiwan is developing a hypersonic missile based on the Ching Tien (擎天) supersonic cruise missile, and a Czech-made truck has been tentatively selected as its launch vehicle, a source said yesterday. The Ching Tien, formerly known as Yun Feng (雲峰, “Cloud Peak”), is a domestically developed missile with a range of 1,200km to 2,000km being deployed in casemate-type positions as of last month, an official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity. The hypersonic missile to be derived from the Ching Tien would feature improved range and a mobile launch platform, while the latter would most likely be a 12x12 single chassis
UP AND DOWN: The route would include a 16.4km underground section from Zuoying to Fongshan and a 9.5km elevated part from Fongshan to Pingtung Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) yesterday confirmed a project to extend the high-speed rail (HSR) to Pingtung County through Kaohsiung. Cho made the announcement at a ceremony commemorating the completion of a dome at Kaohsiung Main Station. The Ministry of Transportation and Communications approved the HSR expansion in 2019 using a route that branches off a line from Zuoying Station in Kaohsiung’s Zuoying District (左營). The project was ultimately delayed due to a lack of support for the route. The Zuoying route would have trains stop at the Zuoying Station and return to a junction before traveling southward to Pingtung County’s Lioukuaicuo Township (六塊厝).
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday vowed to investigate claims made in a YouTube video about China’s efforts to politically influence young Taiwanese and encourage them to apply for Chinese ID cards. The council’s comments follow Saturday’s release of a video by Taiwanese rapper Chen Po-yuan (陳柏源) and YouTuber “Pa Chiung (八炯)” on China’s “united front” tactics. It is the second video on the subject the pair have released this month. In the video, Chen visits the Taiwan Youth Entrepreneurship Park in Quanzhou in China’s Fujian Province and the Strait Herald news platform in Xiamen, China. The Strait Herald — owned by newspaper
RSS