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First Niagara Financial Group raised to $1.1 billion the amount of the goodwill impairment charge it recorded in the third quarter, as the Buffalo, N.Y., company cuts the value of assets acquired since 2009.
November 10 -
The company's $800 million goodwill impairment charge may reflect macroeconomic factors, but also likely resulted from a purchase of HSBC branches two years ago. Other banks are unlikely to face the exact same issues, observers said.
October 24 -
First Niagara Financial Group in Buffalo, N.Y., reported a massive quarterly loss that had a number of large writedowns.
October 24 -
First Niagara Financial in Buffalo, N.Y., plans to close 17 branches and two drive-through locations in January.
October 17
First Niagara Financial Group Inc. climbed as much as 4.6 percent, the best performance in the KBW Bank Index, after senior managers, including Chief Executive Officer Gary Crosby, bought shares of the lender this week.
Crosby acquired 10,000 shares of the Buffalo, New York- based firm for $7.76 each and Chief Financial Officer Gregory Norwood bought an equal number for $7.60 apiece, according to regulatory filings yesterday. Executive Vice President Joe Saffire acquired 10,000 shares and board member Carlton Highsmith bought 15,000 shares, according to the filings.
A recent pickup in deals among regional banks, including BB&T Corp.'s Nov. 12 agreement to buy Susquehanna Bancshares Inc., is focusing attention on lenders that have underperformed. Even with this week's gains, First Niagara remains the worst- performer in the 24-company KBW index this year and reported a third-quarter loss of $657.2 million.
First Niagara's share price reflects "the positive views on M&A following the Susquehanna deal and the belief that other regional banks may start to dip their toe in the game," Matthew Kelley, an analyst at Sterne Agee & Leach Inc., said today in a phone interview. "The other thing is clearly the insider buying."
First Niagara advanced 3.5 percent to $8.09 at 2:28 p.m. in New York after earlier climbing as high as $8.17. The shares have declined 24 percent this year, compared with the 5 percent increase for the KBW index.
The lender cut its profit forecast for the fourth quarter last month and increased its reserves by $45 million to address a "process issue" that affected some deposit accounts. First Niagara has also said expenses will rise as it spends money to improve its technology systems.
