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Atlantic International Partnership Headlines: MONTGOMERY: Madrid to head economic development panel

MONTGOMERY — The Montgomery Township Economic Development Commission elected fellow commissioner Daniel V. Madrid as its chairman for this year on Jan. 24.

Mr. Madrid, an attorney in the Princeton office of Fox Rothschild LLP, started serving the commission in 2008 when he was appointed by former Mayor Cecilia Birge. He is excited to serve the Montgomery business community in his new role. 

”I want to help define the township’s goals in terms of economic development,” said Mr. Madrid. “I want to help promote the businesses in town and make things easier for them to succeed.”

He plans on helping to build the business community by being a sounding board for complaints, a resource for information and a forum for networking and the general exchange of ideas. Mr. Madrid intends to accomplish this by continuing to develop the Montgomery newsletter and through the use of technology to increase personal contact with the businesses.

He added that the commission should cultivate relationships with local groups such as Shop Montgomery and Rotary in addition to regional groups such as Somerset County Business Partnership.

Through a thorough analysis of the existing business environment in Montgomery, he believes the Commission can determine the appropriate strategies for business growth and development.

He also wants to have more communication between the commission and the Township Committee. Mr. Madrid’s wife, Christine Madrid, was recently appointed to the committee at the January reorganization meeting.

Township attorney Kristina Hadinger said their relationship would not create any conflicts of interest because the Economic Development Commission is strictly an advisory body. Commissioners are unable to enact ordinances or sit in judgment of applications.

Mr. Madrid emphasized the importance of upholding the wants and needs of the community. His can-do attitude also includes goals to achieve more tax ratables and lower the property taxes.

”I want to find an appropriate balance between the two — keeping communities the way they are and attracting new businesses to help take some tax burden off of home owners,” said Mr. Madrid. “It’s tricky because people don’t want to see major shopping centers — it has to be the right types of development in the right places.”

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atlantic international partnership: Atlantic International Partnership Headlines:Group...: Lightbank, the seed fund created by Eric Lefkofsky and Brad Keywell, is investing $1.5 million in Benzinga.com, a Michigan-based real-time ...

Atlantic International Partnership Headlines:Groupon Founders Turn To Financial News With Benzinga Investment

Lightbank, the seed fund created by Eric Lefkofsky and Brad Keywell, is investing $1.5 million in Benzinga.com, a Michigan-based real-time financial news site with trading tips, as well as aggregated content from other sites such as TheStreet.com and WSJ.com, parent site of this blog.

“We like the proposition of an actionable trading information network, and we like the entrepreneurs behind Benzinga,” said Lightbank partner Paul Lee, who joined the fund earlier this year. “We think there has to be a certain brand connotation with these kinds of sites and we see that in Benzinga’s founder.”

Atlantic International Partnership Headlines: Royal Bank of Scotland to fight US mortgage action

The Royal Bank of Scotland says it will vigorously defend itself against US government claims it misrepresented the quality of mortgages it sold.

The US Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) has filed lawsuits against 17 banks, including RBS, Barclays and HSBC, over mortgage-based investments.

Values plunged during the financial crisis and a bailout of mortgage firms cost US taxpayers billions of dollars.

RBS says it has “substantial” legal and factual defences to the US claims.

A spokesman said: “We believe we have substantial and credible legal and factual defences to these claims and will defend them vigorously.”

HSBC and Barclays declined to comment to the BBC on the legal action.

‘Improper actions’

Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, Deutsche Bank, Nomura, Citigroup, and Societe Generale are among the other banks facing legal action from the FHFA.

BBC business correspondent Joe Lynam says it is believed the financial institutions are being sued for a sum in the tens of billions.

The FHFA said in a statement that there had been “improper actions by the firms and individuals”.

“Based on our review, FHFA alleges that the loans had different and more risky characteristics than the descriptions contained in the marketing and sales materials provided to the Enterprises for those securities,” the statement said.

The FHFA oversees mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which act as guarantor for most home loans in the US.

The two firms lost more than $30bn (£18.5bn), partly because of their investments in sub-prime mortgages, and were bailed out by the US government.

Since the rescues, US taxpayers have spent more than $140bn to keep the firms afloat.

Alistair Heath of the financial newspaper City AM told the BBC the importance of the FHFA’s lawsuits against the financial institutions should not be downplayed.

“Regardless of the validity or otherwise of these allegations, a lot of these big banks are likely to end up paying billions of dollars in compensation to the US government.

“So it’ll be quite a costly settlement at best for these firms and it comes at quite a difficult time for the banking industry.”

Major banks are already negotiating with the attorneys general of all 50 states to settle mortgage abuse claims.

The banks were looking for a comprehensive deal that would protect them from future litigation.

But the FHFA’s action may complicate attempts to reach a deal with the states.

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atlantic international partnership: Atlantic International Partnership: Services Retirement Planning In today’s economic climate retirement is becoming an important concern for all of us. On average we are livi...

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atlantic international partnership: Atlantic International Partnership Headlines: On t...

atlantic international partnership: Atlantic International Partnership Headlines: On t...: Tent-city activists hold live video chat with Madrid’s ‘May 15’ protesters, jointly prepare for next month’s int. anti-bank ‘Day of Rage’. ...