The streak is dead

Add comment March 16th, 2009

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. did not take over a bank on Friday. It was the first Friday since Jan. 9 that the FDIC didn’t take over at least one bank. The FDIC seized 25 banks in 2008 — out of about 9,400 that it oversees — and has taken over 17 so far this year. Three of the 17 are from Illinois.

More bank notes.

The story about AMCORE’s retention bonuses for its five top executives generated more than 40 comments on rrstar.com and about a dozen phone calls and direct emails. Several were AMCORE employees complaining that the company cut several benefits — including suspending the 401(k) match, freezing wages, eliminating profit sharing and canceling year-end bonuses.

Those are common practices at thousands of companies in this economy. The Register Star eliminated the 401(k) match last year and froze wages for all of 2009. Still, the cuts rankle in light of finding out the five top executives qualified for $1.2 million in bonuses in January.

We haven’t written about the employee benefits yet because we don’t have any documentation to verify them and the company hasn’t confirmed that they happened. So if you are looking for a story on it that’s why it hasn’t appeared.