By Francesco Guarascio BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European Union diplomats agreed on Wednesday to soften draft rules on the money banks should set aside to cover potential losses on new loans, in a move aimed at helping countries such as Italy that have huge piles of bad debt. A decade on from the 2008 financial crisis, bad loans are still curbing many euro zone banks' ability to lend and so support economic growth. Their shares have dropped more than 20 percent <.SX7P> this year amid signs the global economy is cooling, with Italian banks down more than 25 percent <.FTIT8300> as a eurosceptic government took office in Rome in June. The deal agreed on Wednesday unexpectedly softens legislative changes proposed in March by the executive European Commission, but it still needs approval of the EU parliament. Under the proposal outlined in an EU statement, banks will have more time to set aside money to cover potential losses from new loans. States backed extending to three years, … [Read more...] about EU states soften draft rules for banks’ bad debt
Bad debts entry
Germany’s Commerzbank gets the boot from the DAX index
FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Commerzbank <CBKG.DE>, still partly owned by the German government after a bailout, will be expelled from the blue-chip DAX index to make room for a rising technology star, underscoring the declining fortunes of the nation's top banks. The German stock exchange operator Deutsche Boerse <DB1Gn.DE>, which compiles the index, made the announcement late on Wednesday. The change takes affect on Sept. 24. Commerzbank's exit from the benchmark index paves the way for the entry of Wirecard <WDIG.DE>, a payments company founded in 1999 whose market value is now double that of Commerzbank. Deutsche Boerse periodically reassesses the composition of the index using trading data to measure market value and trading volume as a basis for deciding which companies to include. It also announced a shakeup of the composition of three key indexes that affects technology stocks. Commerzbank, the nation's second-largest lender, was one of 30 founding members of the … [Read more...] about Germany’s Commerzbank gets the boot from the DAX index
With home prices in metro Denver up 65 percent, renting long-term may not be a bad option
When it comes to buying homes, young adults are moving at a turtle’s pace compared to earlier generations. But the decision to keep renting isn’t necessarily a bad one. “The choice is more complex than people think,” said Teo Nicolais, an instructor at the Harvard Extension School who specializes in real estate. “From a purely financial standpoint, the correct move is to rent the apartment or home you need in your 20s and 30s.” Millennials, he advises, would do well to pocket the savings renting generates versus owning and set it aside for a larger home in a location that better fits future needs, i.e. the family home out in suburbs. In 2006, about half of 31 year olds owned their own homes. But in 2016, the age where half of adults owned their homes had risen to 36, according to Chris Porter, demographer with John Burns Real Estate Consulting. Several things are driving the five-year lag in ownership. Young adults shoulder a large portion of the … [Read more...] about With home prices in metro Denver up 65 percent, renting long-term may not be a bad option
EU lawmakers face opposition to softening bank rules on bad loans
By Francesco Guarascio LUXEMBOURG (Reuters) – A vote by European Union lawmakers to soften capital rules for banks that offload large amounts of bad loans is meeting resistance and could be ditched, officials said, in what would be a blow to Italian lenders profiting from the planned reform. Under a proposal adopted by the economic affairs committee of the European Parliament last Tuesday, EU banks that carry out “massive disposals” of non-performing loans, covering at least 15 percent of all defaulted debt, would be allowed to set aside less capital against losses. The move is a “deviation from international standards” aimed at reducing banking risks, one European official told Reuters. The Parliament’s vote amended a banking overhaul proposed by the European Commission that had been endorsed by the Council of EU finance ministers in May. To become law, a final deal is needed among the three EU institutions, under trilateral talks due to begin in … [Read more...] about EU lawmakers face opposition to softening bank rules on bad loans
Documentary: Hobart woman may have fed dismembered lover to neighbors at barbecue, killed up to nine people
A forthcoming documentary suggests a Hobart woman who's serving a life sentence in prison for her role in two killings may have been a serial killer who also fed the remains of her dismembered lover to neighbors at a barbecue in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.Investigation Discovery, a crime-themed cable network that reaches 85 million U.S. households, will air the true crime thriller "Dead North" about Kelly Cochran, a Northwest Indiana woman who pleaded guilty to the 2016 murder of her husband, Jason Cochran, at their home on the 7100 block of Mississippi Street of Hobart. Cochran told Hobart police she injected her husband with heroin and smothered him with a pillow as revenge for the murder of her lover Christopher Regan, who she lured to her other home in Iron River, Michigan, with the promise of sex. Her husband burst out of the basement and shot Regan in the head with a .22 caliber rifle during the act, which the couple had plotted after making a "pact to kill off … [Read more...] about Documentary: Hobart woman may have fed dismembered lover to neighbors at barbecue, killed up to nine people