Finance Space

Fitch Ratings has withdrawn the following ratings without resolving the Rating Watch Negative status for Newcourt Street Finance Limited, effective immediately:
–EUR35,000,000 class A-1 notes ‘AAA’;
–EUR45,000,000 class A-2 notes ‘AAA’;
–EUR45,000,000 class B notes ‘AA+’;
–EUR39,000,000 class C notes ‘AA’;
–EUR33,000,000 class D notes ‘AA-’;
–EUR30,000,000 class E notes ‘A’;
–EUR15,000,000 class F notes ‘A-’;
–EUR15,000,000 class G notes ‘BBB’;
–EUR12,600,000 class H notes ‘BB+’.

The issuer announced noteholder approval removing Fitch as a rating agency from certain documents of the transaction. As a result of this amendment, Fitch does not expect to receive future reporting for this transaction.

The world’s leading provider of financial services to institutional investors, announced today that David Puth has been named to a newly created position as head of State Street’s investment research, securities finance and trading activities worldwide. Puth, age 51, will report to Jay Hooley, president and chief operating officer of State Street. He will also join the company’s Operating Group, State Street’s senior-most strategy and policy-making team.

KPMG Corporate Finance LLC, a full service, independent, middle-market investment bank, today announced that it was the exclusive advisor for the privately-owned Concept Mining and The Ridge Land Group on the sale of its metallurgical coal business in West Virginia to ArcelorMittal, the world’s largest integrated metals and mining company. The transaction adds in excess of 57 million metric tons of saleable and recoverable coal reserves and resources in the Appalachian region to ArcelorMittal.

Bank of America Corp., the nation’s second-largest bank, said David Flannery is joining the company as global head of leveraged finance, starting in November.

Flannery had the same title at Deutsche Bank AG, where he has worked since 1992, according to a statement today from Charlotte, North Carolina-based Bank of America. He will report to Bruce Thompson, head of global capital markets, the bank said.

Chief Executive Officer Kenneth Lewis is expanding the corporate and investment bank, affirming his commitment to the unit after losses last year triggered a management shakeup and 650 job cuts. The unit’s profit grew 3.2 percent in the second quarter and writedowns on securities fell to $645 million from $1.47 billion in the first quarter.

Bridge Finance Group announced the completion of a $5.0 million revolving line of credit and a $2.0 million term loan to Wafer Reclaim Services, LLC (”WRS”). The Company is headquartered in San Jose, California. WRS is engaged in the business of sorting, stripping, polishing, and cleaning used wafers for semiconductor and solar manufacturers. WRS made use of the proceeds to acquire Montco Silicon Technologies which greatly enhances the existing credit by adding customer diversification, east coast operations and additional product lines to WRS’s existing business.

The U.S. Senate yesterday failed yet again to approve a measure that would extend solar tax credits, which are due to expire at the end of 2008.

As Reuters notes, a measure which would have extended the tax credits for eight years failed a key procedural vote.

In a statement, Solar Energy Industry Association president Rhonse Resch warned that a failure to extend the tax credit could damage the domestic solar industry:

Over the years, in response to growth, both organic and through acquisition, banks and financial services organisations have built separate IT systems to support the different parts of the business. In addition to this, the industry has undergone considerable consolidation, yet many IT environments remain “silo-ed” for a considerable amount of time as integrating disparate systems can be a challenging and complex task.

The US Federal Reserve, America’s central bank, has extended the run of its temporary discount window of cheap financing for investment banks until the end of January 2009.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 166.5 points to 11,564.1 following the Federal Reserve’s announcement.

The Fed’s Primary Dealer Credit Facility — known as the discount window — opened to securities firms in March in a bid to boost confidence in Wall Street banks as losses from the housing crisis snowballed, depleting their capital reserves.

Chase Auto Finance said Tuesday it will stop financing leases for Chrysler cars and trucks at the end of the month to keep its lease portfolio small amid a decline in the value of leased vehicles.

Spokeswoman Mary Kay Bean said the unit of JPMorgan Chase & Co. will continue to make loans for retail sales with Chrysler’s dealers, but it will no longer offer leases on Chrysler, Dodge or Jeep products.

Meanwhile, The Wall Street Journal reported that Ford Motor Co. is raising the price of leases on some trucks and sport utility vehicles because of the losses the automaker’s lending arm is taking.

(Omaha World-Herald (NE) (KRT) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Jul. 25–Everyone is encouraged to save, but one question people might pose: What is saving?

Is it putting money aside to buy a dishwasher, television set or iPod without having to use a credit card?

Is it money placed in a 401(k) retirement fund or the stock market?

Is it enough cash in an emergency fund to cover three to six months of living expenses in the event of job loss or disability?