Hartford Financial Services Inc. is loaning $20 million to a Florida savings and loan to keep it afloat while it continues its efforts to get bailout money, according to a disclosure report filed with federal regulators.
Hartford is one of at least twelve insurance companies that have attempted, with various degrees of success, to buy banking institutions in order to qualify for money under the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program.
BailoutSleuth reported last week that Hartford's purchase of Florida-based Federal Trust Corp. faced a March 31 deadline imposed by the Office of Thrift Supervision. Regulators have threatened to shut down Federal Trust unless it raised more capital.
The purchase itself is contingent on Hartford and Federal Trust's ability to get TARP funds. On news of Hartford's loan, the Office of Thrift Supervision extended the deadline to June 30, giving the two companies extra time to wait for a decision from Treasury.
When the purchase was first announced, Hartford believed it could raise as much as $3.6 billion from the TARP program. Since then, however, the Treasury has moved slowly to release funds to banks and thrifts owned by insurance companies.
Another Florida-based institution, Bonifay Holding Co., found the waiting too much to bear. Last week it cancelled an agreement under which it would be acquired by insurance company Protective Life Corp.
Protective Life cited "uncertainty" about the TARP program as the reason for the cancellation.
Hartford is one of at least twelve insurance companies that have attempted, with various degrees of success, to buy banking institutions in order to qualify for money under the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program.
BailoutSleuth reported last week that Hartford's purchase of Florida-based Federal Trust Corp. faced a March 31 deadline imposed by the Office of Thrift Supervision. Regulators have threatened to shut down Federal Trust unless it raised more capital.
The purchase itself is contingent on Hartford and Federal Trust's ability to get TARP funds. On news of Hartford's loan, the Office of Thrift Supervision extended the deadline to June 30, giving the two companies extra time to wait for a decision from Treasury.
When the purchase was first announced, Hartford believed it could raise as much as $3.6 billion from the TARP program. Since then, however, the Treasury has moved slowly to release funds to banks and thrifts owned by insurance companies.
Another Florida-based institution, Bonifay Holding Co., found the waiting too much to bear. Last week it cancelled an agreement under which it would be acquired by insurance company Protective Life Corp.
Protective Life cited "uncertainty" about the TARP program as the reason for the cancellation.
published April 6, 2009, 0 Comments
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