* Obama urges Republicans to allow vote on bill

* Reid hopeful that Senate can act on bill next week

* Obama says he’ll call Republicans’ ‘bluff’ on deficit

(Adds Obama comments on deficit in paragraphs 9-11)

By Ross Colvin

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Barack Obama
Saturday accused Republicans of holding American small
businesses “hostage to politics” after Republican senators
refused to back a $30 billion small-business lending package.

Senate Republicans blocked the package Thursday, dealing
a fresh blow to Obama’s efforts to show Americans, in the midst
of a tough election year, that his administration is focused on
tackling stubbornly high unemployment.

With opinion polls showing eroding support for Obama’s
handling of the economy, Democrats fear voters will punish them
for the 9.5 percent unemployment rate come November, when all
435 seats in the House of Representatives and 37 of the 100
seats in the Senate will be in play in mid-term elections.

“I’m calling on the Republican leaders in the Senate to
stop holding America’s small businesses hostage to politics,
and allow an up-or-down vote on this small business jobs bill,”
Obama said in his weekly radio and Internet address.

“Understand, a majority of senators support the plan. It’s
just that the Republican leaders in the Senate won’t even allow
it to come up for a vote,” he said.

Democratic leaders failed Thursday to muster the 60
votes needed to advance the measure over Republican
objections.

Republicans are upset that Democrats shut them out during
discussions to amend the package, which they say is another
example of Obama’s overreach in government spending.

The economy is likely to be the main flashpoint in the
November elections and the ballooning U.S. deficit is another
point of contention between the two main political parties.

In an interview with CBS television, Obama challenged
Republicans to lay out their ideas for tackling U.S. debt and
deficit problems.

“Now the Republicans have said that this is their number
one concern. I’m going to call them on their bluff,” he said in
the interview, according to excerpts released by the network.

“I want to see their ideas for how we’re going to deal with
these issues. I’m going to have a bunch of ideas,” he said.

Obama also said the small business package was “as
bipartisan a set of ideas as you can imagine.” Senate majority
leader Harry Reid is hopeful that a deal can still be reached
that would allow the Senate to act on the bill next week.

But even if the Senate passes the bill, it would be too
late to get it to Obama’s desk before mid-September.

The House, which passed its version of the bill in June, is
set to begin a six-week break on Friday. It will be unable to
vote on the version passed by the Senate until then.

Obama’s comments were at least the third time in a week
that he had called on Republicans to back the bill.

The bill provides for a $30 billion fund to invest in
community banks to bolster lending. It also would provide tax
credits and a limited capital gains exemption.

Small businesses, which account for two-thirds of jobs
created in the United States, have been hit hard by the credit
crunch, making it difficult for them to expand.
(Additional reporting by Jeff Mason; editing by Mohammad
Zargham)

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AMSTERDAM -(Dow Jones)- The Basel Committee’s revised rules to make the global banking system safer and stronger may be less severe than previous proposals, but they will still have a significant impact on banks in coming years, Chairman Nout Wellink said Saturday in an interview with Dutch daily NRC Handelsblad.

Wellink said the revised rules of the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, which were presented Monday, will make banks more resilient although they may come at the expense of employees and shareholders.

“In coming years, banks won’t be able to allocate a large chunk of their profits to bonuses and dividends as they need the money to strengthen their capital buffers,” Wellink was quoted as saying. “I don’t rule out that [some banks] will have to issue new shares to raise additional capital,” he added.

Earlier this week, European bank shares rallied as investors cheered that the Basel Committee had watered down some of its proposals and that many won’t come into effect until 2018.

A final agreement is expected by November.

Wellink, who is also president of the Dutch Central Bank, told NRC that the current proposals may be less stringent but that they are still substantial. “The most important is that we have established a stricter definition of core capital. This will have a big impact on the current [capital] rations,” he said.

Wellink added that he expects banks will rapidly anticipate on the new regulations, even though they won’t come into force in the next seven years.

“It will become part of the competition between banks: which bank will be the first to claim it fully complies with Basel III?,” he said.

Wellink also told the newspaper that before the end of this year, the committee will also make up new rules on how banks should strengthen their capital positions in economic upturns and how they should convert contingent capital into core capital.

Copyright © 2010 Dow Jones Newswires

* Obama calls for up-or-down vote on small business bill

* Reid hopeful that Senate can act on bill next week

By Ross Colvin

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Barack Obama
Saturday accused Republicans of holding American small
businesses “hostage to politics” after Republican senators
refused to back a $30 billion small-business lending package.

Senate Republicans blocked the package Thursday, dealing
a fresh blow to Obama’s efforts to show Americans, in the midst
of a tough election year, that his administration is focused on
tackling stubbornly high unemployment.

With opinion polls showing eroding support for Obama’s
handling of the economy, Democrats fear voters will punish them
for the 9.5 percent unemployment rate come November, when 435
seats in the House of Representatives and 37 of the 100 seats
in the Senate will be in play in mid-term elections.

“I’m calling on the Republican leaders in the Senate to
stop holding America’s small businesses hostage to politics,
and allow an up-or-down vote on this small business jobs bill,”
Obama said in his weekly radio and Internet address.

“Understand, a majority of senators support the plan. It’s
just that the Republican leaders in the Senate won’t even allow
it to come up for a vote,” he said.

Democratic leaders failed on Thursday to muster the 60
votes needed to advance the measure over Republican
objections.

Republicans are upset that Democrats shut them out during
discussions to amend the package, which they say is another
example of Obama’s overreach in government spending.

Senate majority leader Harry Reid is hopeful that a deal
can still be reached that would allow the Senate to act on the
bill next week.

But even if the Senate passes the bill, it would be too
late to get it to Obama’s desk before mid-September.

The House, which passed its version of the bill in June, is
set to begin a six-week break on Friday. It will be unable to
vote on the version passed by the Senate until then.

It was at least the third time in a week that Obama had
called on Republicans to back the bill.

The bill provides for a $30 billion fund to invest in
community banks to bolster lending. It also would provide tax
credits and a limited capital gains exemption.

Small businesses, which account for two-thirds of jobs
created in the United States, have been hit hard by the credit
crunch, making it difficult for them to expand.
(Editing by Jackie Frank)

WASHINGTON -(Dow Jones)- U.S. regulators closed five more banks in four states Friday evening, as a still-weak economy continues to batter the banking industry.

Federal regulators said banks in Georgia, Florida, Washington and Oregon have failed, bringing the 2010 total to 108. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. said the five failures would cost its insurance fund nearly $335 million.

The largest failure occurred in Oregon, where Eugene-based LibertyBank was seized by regulators. The bank had total assets of $768.2 million and total deposits of $718.5 million as of the end of March.

The FDIC said Home Federal Bank, based in Nampa, Idaho, agreed to assume all of the failed bank’s deposits and purchase approximately $419.7 million of its assets.

Also out west, regulators closed the Cowlitz Bank, in Longview, Wash., which had $529.3 million in assets and $513.9 million in deposits as of the end of March. Cowlitz had nine branches, including two in Oregon and three in Washington operating under the name Bay Bank.

Regulators said that Olympia-based Heritage Bank had agreed to assume all of the deposits and purchase $329.5 million of the failed bank’s assets. The FDIC will retain the rest of the assets from the failed bank, to sell later.

Two banks in Florida failed, with Centennial Bank, of Conway, Ark., agreeing to assume all of the deposits and essentially all of the assets of both.

The Florida Office of Financial Regulation seized Panama City Beach-based Coastal Community Bank, which had $372.9 million in assets, $363.2 million in deposits and 11 branches.

The Office of Thrift Supervision seized Port Saint Joe-based Bayside Savings Bank, which had $66.1 million in assets, $52.4 million in deposits and two branches. OTS said that Bayside Savings Bank was closed because it was “undercapitalized, with no reasonable prospect of becoming adequately capitalized.”

Regulators also seized NorthWest Bank and Trust of Acworth, Ga., which had approximately $167.7 million in assets and $159.4 million in deposits as of March 31.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. arranged for Macon-based State Bank and Trust Co. to assume all of the failed bank’s deposits and essentially all of its assets.

Separately, the FDIC announced Friday that it sold securities backed by $471.3 million of performing single-family mortgages from 16 failed banks. The agency said the pilot program is the first time it has sold assets in a securitization “in the current financial crisis.”

The FDIC has been looking for ways to unload the assets it has acquired from taking over hundreds of failed banks since 2007. The regulator has been eager to tap the securitization market, especially given the robust demand for such issues from investors looking for higher yields and safe investments.

Copyright © 2010 Dow Jones Newswires