Companies face pension-plan shortfalls
Private employers that still offer traditional pension plans are getting a big shock as they assess how much more it will
cost to shoulder retirement obligations.
Banking & Finance
Articles
Government shouldn’t bail out free market system problems
Since 1913, there has been a growing reluctance from our political leaders to allow financial setbacks in our nation to occur
in banking, and that’s been a huge mistake.
Lean companies have best chance to survive
Make your business look as attractive as possible to your banker because you are competing for financing with other small
businesses.
Former Conseco director liable for some unpaid stock loans
Dennis E. Murray Sr. was declared liable in October by U.S. District Court Judge Larry J. McKinney for at least some of the
millions of dollars he borrowed to buy Conseco stock in the late 1990s.
Fed’s TARP changes adding to anxieties
Experts with the Troubled Asset Relief Program, the government’s financial bailout program, are struggling to figure out how
best to relieve America’s financial mess.
Be careful: Stock market turmoil will likely persist
Here is something I know you don’t want to hear: This bear market isn’t over.
DBSI, an Idaho company with Indiana properties, faces class-action suit
DBSI, an Idaho real estate firm with 250 properties worth $2 billion faces a class-action suit. Some of its properties and
investors are in Indianapolis.
Turbulent times spell opportunity for small businesses
Healthy banks have adopted stronger risk prevention measures for good reasons, but it’s important to know that well-performing
banks are still writing loans for small business and servicing their needs every day.
Bankers comfort customers worried about stability in wake of financial crisis
Banks launch campaigns to sooth jittery customers about the safety of their deposits, following an economic crisis that has brought down investment banks and sent stock values plummeting.
Lending, deposits increase at credit unions despite subpar economy
While many banks were getting drunk on loose lending in the last few years, most credit unions stuck to conservative lending
and other plain-vanilla banking practices.
Accounting firms preparing for new international standards
For corporations with a global presence, the transition to International Financial Reporting Standards should streamline
the world’s financial reporting system.
Bailout helping PNC take over NatCity
After a 17-year run in Indianapolis, National City’s trademark green signs are set to be replaced with the blue of Pittsburgh-based PNC Financial. The $5.6 billion deal raises questions about the government’s growing involvement in banking.
Market plunge makes investments in good firms a bargain
The stock market rout that began in September and picked up steam in October has taken some quality companies to prices that
are the cheapest they have been in decades.
Hospitals suffer from spiking bond interest rates, investment losses
Indianapolis-area hospitals have suffered a double whammy of spiking interest rates on their bonds and heavy losses in their
investment portfolios and are trying to save cash any way they can.
Plan trustees under increasing scrutiny
Times have changed and now plan trustees must ask themselves, "Am I wiling to take the chair" and defend
my actions,
or lack thereof, in a court of law?
VIEWPOINT: Throw crooks in jail, fire dummies
The $700 billion bailout of our country’s financial system may be necessary, but it ultimately will prove useless unless real change is enacted to prevent a repeat performance of this fiasco. What the American people should be demanding is for someone to give them a clear explanation of what really happened to create the financial mess. Remember, after the market crash of 2000, the Wall Street research scandal (where nearly every Wall Street firm admitted to lying to clients through…
For funding, developers may need to think outside box: Amid tight credit markets, getting a project built often takes alternative financing sources, creative approaches
Although the spigot of bank financing has slowed to a trickle, money to fund commercial development projects remains available from alternative sources. Just ask David Amick, executive director of Premier Capital Corp., a local lender that uses federal funds to help finance expansions. “We’ve got money to lend,” he said. “I’ve got that [message] hung on the door.” The fragile credit markets have nearly diminished the ability of companies to borrow. But lenders such as Amick insist the money is…
Ex-Lilly executives open ‘trials’ clinic: Centurion expects high demand from drug firms
A new clinic that is on the cusp of conducting human trials in Indianapolis could distinguish itself as a key player in drug development, not only within the state, but nationally as well. Centurion Clinical Research LLC serves pharmaceutical companies and medical-device makers that need to test their products before they can be approved for widespread use. That first phase, in which healthy people are paid to participate in the overnight studies, is critical in determining the safety and success…
BEHIND THE NEWS: Lechleiter went toe to toe with Icahn to cut megadeal
Eli Lilly and Co. had been salivating over ImClone Systems Inc. for more than two years when, on July 25 of this year, its senior executives received a formal staff recommendation to contact the company and make an overture. So it must have come as quite a jolt to Lilly brass when, just six days later, Bristol-Myers Squibb announced that it was offering to buy the 83 percent of ImClone it didn’t already own for $60 a share, or $4.5…
EDITORIAL: Lilly looks forward with ImClone deal: CEO Lechleiter taking bold steps
Lilly looks forward with ImClone deal CEO Lechleiter taking bold steps It’s premature to pass judgment on Eli Lilly and Co.’s $6.5 billion plan to acquire biotech firm ImClone Systems Inc., but the giant deal is one more sign that relatively new CEO John Lechleiter isn’t afraid to make bold moves on Lilly’s behalf. The local drugmaker agreed Oct. 6 to pay $70 a share for New York-based ImClone, maker of blockbuster cancer drug Erbitux, outbidding an earlier offer of…