The Real Deal 6
A newspaper with issues
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 2008
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Photo courtesy Leslie’s Cakes
TASTY TREAT: Products from Leslie’s Cakes can be found at The Farms on Montana Avenue.
Baking up interest BY TAYLOR VAN ARSDALE Special to the Daily Press
MONTANA AVE If you like sweets ... and who doesn’t, there’s a new confectioner in town you should know about. Leslie’s Cakes offers some of the most delectable cookies and cakes on the Westside. Owner Leslie Cohen started her business by accident. Cohen always loved baking, but for Cohen it was, “a joyful hobby” baking for her friends and family. Then, three years ago, she offered 100 warm chocolate chip cookies as an auction item for her daughter’s class at Franklin Elementary School. “People started fighting over them ... so I ended up giving the cookies to the top two winners of the auction,” she said.
It didn’t take long for word to spread. Soon mothers were asking Cohen to bake for their parties and events and Leslie’s Cakes was born. For Cohen, baking is still a hobby (she’s a fulltime practicing attorney by day), but she’s expanded her online business to include retail items at The Farms market on Montana Avenue, offering an assortment of all-natural treats that include: chocolate chip, butterscotch chocolate chip, brownies, gingery snaps and banana chocolate chip bread. A broader selection of items is available via her Web site. For more information check out her site, lesliescakes.com, or stop by The Farms. news@smdp.com
FDIC adds 54 more banks to its ‘problem list’ BY MADLEN READ AP Business Writer
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NEW YORK The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. said Tuesday the list of banks it considers to be in trouble shot up nearly 50 percent to 171 during the third quarter — yet another sign of escalating problems among the institutions controlling Americans’ deposits. The 171 banks on the FDIC’s “problem list” encompass only about 2 percent of the nearly 8,500 FDIC-insured institutions. Still, the increase from 117 in the second quarter is sharp, and the current tally is the highest since late 1995. “We’ve had profound problems in our financial markets that are taking a rising toll on the real economy,” said FDIC Chairman Sheila Bair in a statement, adding that Tuesday’s report “reflects these challenges.” Banks across the country have been hurt — and in some cases, devastated — by the collapse of the subprime mortgage market and subsequent problems across the lending spectrum. As the FDIC report shows, the number of hobbled institutions is rising at a quickening pace, a trend that has already begun to reshape the banking industry. The FDIC said total assets held by troubled institutions climbed from $78.3 billion to $115.6 billion — a figure that suggests that the nation’s top 20 banks aren’t on the list, even
though they are getting slammed, too, by the growing credit crisis. The FDIC does not reveal the names of the institutions it deems troubled. Bert Ely, a banking consultant based in Alexandria, Va., pointed out that the assets held by problem banks represent less than 1 percent of those held by all U.S. banks. “We’re still talking about a fairly small portion of the industry,” he said. And on average, only about 13 percent of institutions on the FDIC’s list end up failing. Still, banks that don’t make the list can end up collapsing anyway — the two biggest bank failures over the past year, Washington Mutual Inc. and IndyMac Bancorp, had not been on the FDIC’s list of troubled banks. Wachovia Corp., which nearly failed before it got bought by Wells Fargo & Co. in October, had not been on the list, either. Nine banks failed in the third quarter, decreasing the FDIC’s deposit insurance fund to $34.6 billion from $45.2 billion in the second quarter. This quarter, the pace appears to be picking up — nine banks have already failed since Sept. 30, including Downey Savings and Loan Association, based in Newport Beach. “To some extent, a bank failure is a regulatory failure,” Ely said. Regulators, if they address bank problems early on, can convince a troubled bank to sell off assets, raise capital or find a buyer, he said. “My hope is they’re moving faster on these problems.”