Is there a relationship between these two articles? I’m not saying- I’m just asking.
Here we have the performance of M/I Bank:
Burdened with souring real estate construction and development loans in Arizona and Florida, Marshall & Ilsley Corp. said Thursday it expects to post a loss when it reports second-quarter financial results later this month.
Milwaukee’s M&I, the biggest bank based in Wisconsin, predicted a loss of $1.50 to $1.60 a share, largely because it needs to boost reserves to cover potentially bad loans as the housing slump continues. That compares with a profit of 83 cents a share in the second quarter of 2007.
M&I said it will add up to $900 million in the quarter to reserves for bad debt. That is nearly 35 times more than the $26 million loan-loss provision in the same period last year, and up from $146 million in the first quarter of 2008. Adding money to loan-loss reserves cuts directly into a bank’s profits.
And here we have the performance of one of it’s bankers:
Jonathan Batt, 31, is the youngest banker ever to hold the position of vice president and controller at M&I Bank in Arizona.
He’s charged with managing and expanding the multibillion-dollar company.
That’s not what caught The Buzz’s attention about the Phoenix resident.
The bass-guitar player, a member of a band called Help Me Rhonda, jammed on the same stage as Blondie; Pat Benatar; Earth, Wind & Fire; and Creedence Clearwater Revival last weekend.
The occasion was Milwaukee’s Summerfest, which is billed as the world’s largest music festival.
So does this mean bankers should focus more on their day job? That some bankers are worried about their day job and exploring other things? Maybe they need to de-stress from the day job? Maybe next we’ll see Pat Benatar in banking?
It’s just a little too wierd for me to make sense of on a Saturday morning.
In 2005-2006 M&I BOUGHT 5 banks in FL and AZ in order to expand from the “boring” midwest markets. What timing! The banks they bought in Florida were dripping with construction loans back in 2006. These banks probably would have failed by now if they had not been purchased by M&I. M&I only does 70% LTV owner occupied construction now. No spec homes in these markets.
Tobby-
Two years ago I remember driving around the SE Valley in custom neighborhoods and noticed the huge number of signs that said “This project financed by M/I Bank”. I thought at the time that this was liable to get them in trouble.
I’ve gone back since then and seen a number of these projects that have stopped in the middle. I’m assuming they were cancelled by the prospective buyers.
When I read about M/I’s chargeoffs and downgrade, I wasn’t surprised.
anyone get his autograph? Surely playing music isn’t as lucrative as banking?