Today's National City Conference Call

Instead of trying to rehash the thing, perhaps it's best to just link to National City's press release and note a few highlights. Off the top:

• Net Loss of $1.8 Billion Driven By Actions to Increase Loss Reserves on Liquidating Loan Portfolios; Includes $1.1 Billion After-Tax Non-Cash Goodwill Charge Related to Previous Acquisitions -- No Effect on Regulatory Capital
• Excluding Unusual and Non-Operating Items, Pre-Tax Pre-Provision Operating Earnings Were $610 Million, Up 19%
• Tier 1 Capital $7 Billion over Well Capitalized Minimum; 11.1 % Tier 1 Capital Ratio Highest of All Major U.S. Banks
• Net Charge-Offs of $740 Million, Predominantly in Liquidating Loan Portfolios Versus $1.6 Billion Provision for Loan Losses; Nonprime Delinquencies Down
• Solid Progress in Actively Managing Liquidating Loan Portfolios, Which are Isolated, Contained, and Performing in Line with Expectations
• Aggressively Re-Focusing on Core Businesses, Which Remain Profitable; Deposits Continue Solid Growth Trend
• Enhanced Leadership Team Intensely Focused on Managing Risk, Controlling Expenses and Improving Profitability

A lot more can be found in the press release, which is definitely worth reading.

Despite the country's mortgage meltdown and how National City got involved in it and how it is probably going to suffer for it for a long time, I don't think it's too soon to predict that National City and its management will have a lot to be proud of. They've seen the error of their ways and are taking steps to rectify it. Of course, that seven billion helped a lot in calming people's nerves.