Money Talk: Cong.-elect French Hill Named To Financial Services Committee

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FRENCH HILL ON HOUSE FINANCIAL SERVICES COMMITTEE: As reported earlier by Talk Business & Politics, Cong.-elect French Hill, R-Little Rock, has been assigned to the Financial Services Committee by the House Republican Steering Committee. The newly-elected Second District Congressman and long-time banker was one of three Republican freshmen assigned to that committee. The others were Rep.-elect Mia Love of Utah and Rep.-elect Bruce Poliquin of Maine. Cong. Jeb Hensarling, R-Texas, chairs the House Financial Services Committee. Hill will take office in early January.

NEW BANK BOARD MEMBER: In the latest round of appointments from Gov. Mike Beebe, he named a new board member to the State Banking Commission. Lana Hampton of Springdale was chosen for the spot on the State Banking Board. Her appointment expires December 31, 2018. Hampton replaces Charles Smith in the post.

STERNE AGEE BULLISH ON SIMMONS FIRST EARNINGS POTENTIAL: Simmons First National Corp. management continues to earn the respect of banking analysts at Sterne Agee who recently initiated coverage on the Pine Bluff-based financial institution. The analysts rate Simmons First shares as a “buy” citing a target price of $52.50 and strong return on assets (ROA) projections well into 2016.

“We believe that management will be successful in achieving an ROA of 1.25% on the company’s pro forma asset base of $8 billion in 2016,” notes Sterne Agee analysts Peyton Green, Kenneth James and Maxwell Neely.

For 2014, Stern Agree expects Simmons First to earn $2.33 per share, which is one cent higher than Wall Street consensus. The analysts expect the recent mergers of Community First, Liberty Bancshares, Delta Trust and Metropolitan National to boost earnings per share to $3.20 in fiscal 2015. Read more here.

FEDS MINUTES DEBATE LANGUAGE REGARDING INFLATION: Minutes from the October Fed’s Open Market Committee highlighted concerns from officials about low inflation.

The minutes showed that all but one FOMC member wanted to keep “considerable time” language in the Fed’s monetary policy statement, while some wanted to eliminate the phrase from the statement. Some members of the committee were concerned that keeping “considerable time” would suggest that the Fed’s decision on rate hikes wouldn’t depend on incoming data.

This phrase centers on the amount of time the Federal Reserve Bank expects to elapse between the end of its bond-buying Quantitative Easing (QE) program and the beginning of interest rate hikes. Read the Fed’s full statement here or access this CNBC report on the subject at this link.