While Jackson Hewitt and Republic Bank have both announced a new agreement for the funding of refund anticipation loans, there are miles to go before that relationship bears fruit. Republic still needs to get the go-ahead from the FDIC, and there is little time for Jackson Hewitt to respond if the FDIC wants to intervene.

The new agreement runs through 2012. Of note, it increases the number of locations where Republic will provide funding support for Jackson Hewitt franchisees.  It covers funding both for Jackson Hewitt’s refund anticipation loans and their assisted refund products.

Republic submitted a second 8-K on December 30th that indicated that it would be in talks with the FDIC about this new agreement.  The statement is simple, but it is hard to imagine that there isn’t something lurking behind (more…)

Sheila Bair indicates that the FDIC will require its member institutions to report on how they are using their Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) funds. The request is new and the details are not yet specified.  At this point, Bair is asking only that recipients report how they used their funds to stimulate lending.  They can make the report a part of their 10-k or their annual report.

Bair’s actions are the first from a regulator to require some kind of reporting regime.  Earlier, advocates had led in wanting some indication of how public funds were being utilized.  See the list of banks who have applied for funds here.

This is a step in the right direction, but it seems likely to produce reports that are selectively transparent.  A better plan would be to develop a systemic set of guidelines, much like the FFIEC uses for reporting on home mortgage loans or for small business (more…)