Industry gains Sen. Reid as TAG advocate.Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has introduced a bill to extend unlimited FDIC coverage for noninterest-bearing checking accounts, which otherwise will expire at the end of the year. Dated Nov. 26, the Nevada Democrat's bill, S. 3637, would keep the Transaction Account Guarantee alive for another two years. There is concern, however, that Sen. Reid will combine the TAG extension with legislation to increase the cap on business lending by credit unions. Earlier this year, Sen. Reid promised a vote on the bill to double the business lending cap to 27.5 percent of assets at credit unions. Sen. Mark Udall (D-Colo.) already has suggested a bill combining TAG and the credit union business lending cap. Banking industry advocates have said such a combination is unacceptable. .Banks look to buy.The number of banks looking to acquire other banks' assets, branches, or business lines has increased by 5 percent since last year, according to a recent survey of 224 bankers conducted by Crowe Horwath, LLP. Released Nov. 27, survey results show 57 percent of the respondents said they hoped to make some form of acquisition in 2013, which is up from 52 percent in last year's survey. Of those, 46 percent want to buy a healthy bank, 21 percent are interested in branches, and 17 percent seek to make acquisitions through the FDIC. This is a marked change from last year when only 37 percent were interested in buying healthy banks and 24 percent were interested in acquisitions through the FDIC. The study, however, does not assure a wave of M&As; while a large number of bankers said they are looking to acquire, a larger portion (89 percent) said they are not interested in selling..Number of bank branches declining.Banks in the Midwest have closed 51 more branches than they have opened in the third quarter, according to SNL Financial. Of the 14 states in NorthWestern Financial Review's coverage area only three had a net increase in branches. Michigan gained three branches while Wyoming and South Dakota each gained one. Nebraska had no net change in its branches; Wisconsin, North Dakota, Montana and Kansas each lost one branch, Iowa lost three and Minnesota lost five branches. The largest net losses were seen in Indiana, Illinois and Colorado, which lost 13, 12 and 11 respectively. Across the country, banks closed 352 branches in the third quarter, but opened 241 for a net decline in the number of branches by 111..Drought didn't dampen farmland values.The summer's drought didn't slow the rise in farmland values in the third quarter, according to a survey by the Federal Reserve Banks of Kansas City and Chicago released in November. In the Chicago district, agricultural land values increased 13 percent over third quarter 2011 and 5 percent over second quarter. In the Kansas City district, cropland values moved nearly 3 percent higher in the third quarter while ranchland values gained 2 percent. Compared to a year ago, non-irrigated cropland prices rose nearly 25 percent above year-ago levels, and irrigated land values remained more than 20 percent higher than 2011 levels. In addition, ranchland values gained 14 percent during the past year. With farmland value gains slowing, however, about three-quarters of bankers responding to the Kansas City Fed's survey felt that farmland values would stabilize at high levels heading into 2013.
