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BANKING
Florida Bank Shut Down
Regulators shut down Freedom Bank, a small bank in Bradenton, Fla. It was the 17th failure this year of a federally insured bank.
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. was appointed receiver of the bank, which had $287 million in assets and $254 million in deposits. The FDIC said the bank's deposits will be assumed by Fifth Third Bank. Its four branches will reopen Monday as offices of Fifth Third Bank. In addition to assuming Freedom Bank's deposits, Fifth Third also will acquire about $36 million of the failed bank's assets. The FDIC will retain the rest for eventual sale.
The FDIC estimated that the failure will cost the deposit insurance fund up to $104 million.
Barclays Lines Up $11.8 Billion
Middle Eastern investors will pump up to $11.8 billion into Barclays, allowing the bank to strengthen its balance sheet without resorting to aid from the British government. The investors, which include the Qatar Investment Authority, an investment vehicle led by the Qatari royal family, and a member of the Abu Dhabi royal family -- could end up owning almost a third of the bank.
ECONOMY
Bank of Japan Cuts Key Rate
The Bank of Japan cut its key interest rate for the first time in more than seven years, joining central banks around the world in trimming borrowing costs to ease the impact of the global financial crisis.
The Bank of Japan policy board voted in a rare 4-4 split decision to reduce the uncollateralized overnight call rate from 0.5 percent to 0.3 percent. Gov. Masaaki Shirakawa, who has the final say in the event of a tie, said three of the four dissenters favored a bigger cut to 0.25 percent.
LEGAL
Poulsen Convicted of Fraud
A federal jury convicted the former chief executive of a failed health-care financing company in a $1.9 billion fraud case. Lance Poulsen, 65, founder of National Century Financial Enterprises, had been on trial for the past month on charges of securities fraud and money laundering. He was convicted on all 20 counts. His attorneys said they will file an appeal. Poulsen faces up to 135 years in prison, although his actual sentence will likely be shorter under federal-sentencing guidelines.
Poulsen was convicted in March and sentenced to 10 years in prison for attempting to bribe a witness in the case.
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