Proof Positive
Just a little glimmer that shows how prudent banks could have helped the country out a bit. This BS about subprime being forced at gun point is spin to push the blame onto stupid homeowners.
Long term planning would tell you that you are better off foregoing excessive (and clearly problematic) profits for a steady and sound stream of business. But it gets better.
Steven Pearlstein - Big Lessons in Finance From a Little Bank You've Never Heard Of - washingtonpost.com: "Citizens is among the stronger and more conservative banks in the Charlotte market. Despite setting aside $3.2 million last year for expected loan losses, the bank managed to post a profit of $3.1 million, down from $5.7 million the year before. Citizens never got into subprime lending or 100 percent loans, and for its caution lost a lot of business during the go-go years. Now, however, its reward is that its nonperforming loans are less than half of 1 percent of all its loans."
Long term planning would tell you that you are better off foregoing excessive (and clearly problematic) profits for a steady and sound stream of business. But it gets better.
By the way, Kim Price would have had no trouble meeting the Obama administration's new $500,000 salary cap for executives at banks taking bailout money. His total pay package last year was $456,146, including a base salary of $250,000; a bonus of $64,800; $63,920 worth of Citizens stock; and $33,415 in other perks, including country club membership and a company car (driver not included).
And get this: Somehow the directors of Citizens South managed to attract and retain a chief executive who turned in respectable profits during good times and bad, and yet was able to pay him only 10 times the salary of the average employee. Pretty neat, huh?
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