Business Blog

What do Mississippi school districts spend on each student per year? Find your district on the map of Mississippi public school districts’ 2007-2008 Total Current Operating Expenditure per Pupil in Average Daily Attendance. Be sure to look for the upcoming MBJ analysis of public school budgets! Note: There are 152 public school districts in Mississippi. [...]

By Amy McCullough More than half of metro area banks across Mississippi have experienced a decrease in troubled or problem assets during the most recent quarter (ending June 2010), according to data from the Bank Tracker website. A “troubled asset ratio” compares the sum of troubled assets with the sum of Tier 1 Capital plus [...]

By Ted Carter Been wondering just how the federal government plans to divvy up the assets of the Too-Big-to-Fail financial institutions if they go wobbly again? It will do the resolution assets the same way it handles those of much smaller institutions, FDIC Chairman Sheila C. Bair told the National Conference on the Securities Industry [...]

By Ted Carter Sheila Bair, the FDIC chair, says the agency thinks a healthy balance can be achieved in standards for setting aside loan-loss reserves. “In that regard, we support moving from a probable-loss measurement of impairment to an expected-loss threshold,” she says. This, she says, will ensure that financial institutions maintain appropriate resources on [...]

By Stephen McDill It seems like just yesterday we were all lining up at the shopping mall to check out the new app-loaded Android smartphones, nifty e-readers, and paper-thin netbooks. This holiday season look for much of the same merchandise along with a few newcomers in the hardware and software world. Tech analysts are calling [...]

By Ted Carter Columbus-based JTS & Co. Mortgage Brokers has opened a Reverse Mortgage Department headed by Ken Freshwater. The firm is offering homeowners 62 years and older an opportunity to use the equity in their primary residence. They agree to cede ownership of the house in exchange for regular payments that continue until their [...]

By Ted Carter The FDIC has let it be known it’s conducting 50 criminal investigations of former executives, directors and employees at U.S. banks that have failed since the start of the financial crisis. Penny Crosman, a writer for Banks Systems & Technology, says indications are it’s the little guys the feds are after. Most [...]

By Amy McCullough What are the largest sectors of Mississippi’s economy? * Government 17.5% * Manufacturing 15% * Retail 8.2% * Real Estate, Rental & Leasing 8.2% * Health Care & Social Assistance 7.3% For the first time, the MBJ has added “manufacturing” to its beat system. We look forward to exploring and analyzing the [...]

By Ted Carter Mississippi homebuyers could have another mortgage option this spring. The $1.7 billion Cadence Bank departed the mortgage market as the home lending crisis worsened. But with its planned acquisition by Houston banking investment group Community Bancorp, Cadence is mulling a revival of its mortgage business. “Yes, we hope to return to that,” [...]

By Ted Carter Renasant Bank is telling the Great Recession “you’re not the boss of me.” In fact, the recession hasn’t called many shots at all in the Tupelo boardroom of Renasant. The $4.2 billion banking company is ignoring the banking sector slowdown as it completes an acquisition and branch tri-fecta for the year. Renasant, [...]