Monthly Archives: October 2011
HSBC Restarts Foreclosure Activity
HSBC Bank USA and HSBC Finance Corp. have restarted some of their mortgage foreclosures in New York State and certain other markets, about 11 months after the bank suspended home seizures in the wake of national controversy industrywide over improper foreclosure paperwork. Spokesman Neil Brazil said foreclosures have “resumed on a limited basis in certain geographies where we are satisfied that enhanced procedures are correctly in place.” He said those geographies included New York State but didn’t specify other areas of the country. “HSBC has a strong commitment to home preservation and regards foreclosure as a last resort,” Brazil said. […]
FASB Weighs ‘Going Concern’ Self-Test for US Firms
U.S. accounting rulemakers are expected to revisit soon a 2008 proposal that would address the knotty issue of “going concern” warnings, seeking to better assure that alarms are sounded before companies fail. At issue are the standard warnings that auditors are required to include in annual reports when they have substantial doubt that a company will survive. With lucrative audit fees on the line, auditors have been accused of failing to flag going concern doubts, though some proposed changes could create new frictions between auditors and managers, some experts have said. The 2008 Financial Accounting Standards Board proposal contemplates making […]
Mets Ruling Used Within Days as Weapon in Fighting Madoff Trustee Suits
A judge’s ruling that slashed a billion-dollar claim against the owners of the New York Mets three days ago is already being used as a weapon by other defendants in lawsuits brought by the liquidator of Bernard Madoff’s firm. Safra National Bank of New York yesterday asked a bankruptcy judge to dismiss a suit by trustee Irving Picard, citing U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff’s Sept. 27 ruling. Rye Select Broad Market XL Portfolio Ltd., based in the Cayman Islands, separately asked a federal district judge to take its Madoff suit out of U.S. bankruptcy court, citing Rakoff’s decision in the […]
