Taylor, Bean & Whitaker Mortgage Corp., a competitive wholesale mortgage lender in Connecticut\’s purchase market, abruptly closed up shop last week after federal agents raided its offices and federal agencies pulled the company from their approved seller and servicer lists. The sudden collapse left mortgage lenders and consumers searching for new funding for deals already signed and in the pipeline.


HSA Bank, a subsidiary of Waterbury’s Webster Bank that specializes only in health savings accounts, has beefed up its Web site, offering a cleaner design, more content and easier navigation, the company said.

The state’s banking commissioner hit troubled lender Taylor, Bean & Whitaker Mortgage Corp. with a temporary cease and desist order and a notice to revoke its mortgage lender licenses, the Department of Banking said today.

The average 30-year mortgage rate in Connecticut inched up 1.5 percent last week to 5.37 percent, about even with the national average of 5.36 percent, according to online mortgage tracker Zillow.

Ricky Otey has been appointed Northeast region market executive for Capital One, and will be responsible for the company’s national sales delivery, customer experience, distribution strategy and business analysis for New York, New Jersey and Connecticut.

A $625 million fund established by Boston investment banking giant State Street Corp. in 2007 to pay out litigation costs and settlements related to investments has only $193 million remaining, an amount that may not be enough should the SEC and/or Massachusetts authorities pursue monetary recourse in the wake of previously disclosed regulatory violations, according to a company filing with the SEC.

The parent company of Stamford’s Patriot National Bank has reported a net loss for the second quarter of $4.6 million, a loss the company blames on a 445 percent increase in its provisions for loan losses and declining interest income resulting from a higher level of non-accrual loans.

JPMorgan Chase has brought its total number of Chase branches and ATMs in Connecticut to 46 and 77, respectively, part of a regional effort to re-brand 223 former Washington Mutual branches in the Tri-State area.

Two Meriden branches of Castle Bank and Trust Co., which was acquired by Naugatuck Savings Bank’s parent company, Nutmeg Financial, in 2006, will be re-branded as Naugatuck Savings Bank branches, effective Monday.

Banks these days don\’t feel like locked-down places. Retail-like open spaces, friendly niceties such as candy dishes – the atmosphere is meant to be inviting. 


Banks throughout the nation – some of them in Connecticut – saw more bad loans added to their books during the first half of 2009 as the deep recession lingered and the weakened real estate market continued to take its toll.

Two months’ work bagged M. Susan Elliott a bonus of $25,000 for her term as interim president and CEO of the Federal Home Loan Bank of Boston.

The parent company of Hudson Valley Bank, which recently opened a branch in Milford and plans to open another branch in Stratford this year, has reported earnings of $6.9 million for the six month period ended June 30, a more than 57 percent drop compared to the same period last year.

The former part-owner and a salesman at a Branford car dealership have received prison sentences for a credit fraud scheme.

Sen. Christopher Dodd, head of the Senate Banking Committee, questioned whether the Obama administration’s reform proposal calls for enough consolidation among bank regulators.

An increased FDIC special assessment and costs associated with the June acquisition of Apple Valley Bank & Trust pushed Enfield’s New England Bancshares, the holding company for New England Bank, to a $181,000 net loss in the second quarter.

Shares in Swiss banking behemoth UBS, which has a large presence in Stamford, soared today after reports said the bank would not pay a fine and would pass on fewer client names than expected in a settlement of U.S. tax litigation to be finalized later this week.

Second quarter net income at SBT Bancorp, parent company of The Simsbury Bank & Trust Co., fell almost 40 percent year-over-year, a drop the company attributes to increased loan loss provisions, higher FDIC premiums and a one-time benefit last year that artificially inflated results.

The Federal Reserve Board is proposing a ban on incentive payments to mortgage originators that are based on a loan’s interest rate or other terms, and revisions to loan disclosures provided to consumers that would include factoring in the cost of settlement services such as title insurance.


New Haven’s NewAlliance Bancshares Inc., the holding company for NewAlliance Bank, has reported net income of $10.1 million in the second quarter, stung by a $2.6 million FDIC special assessment that brought net income down more than 14 percent compared to the same quarter last year.