American Banker back issues from March 2001:
3 Years Later, Wamu Still Issue in Calif. Elections.(Brief Article)
Mar 01, 2001; ... Three years after its acquisition of H.F. Ahmanson & Co., Washington Mutual Inc. is still carrying some political baggage. With Ahmanson, the Seattle thrift inherited a decade-old dispute over a Los Angeles-area real estate development project. Now, it is Washington Mutual's ...
Irwin of Ind. Sees Hire And Build as Way to Grow.(Irwin Union Bank and Trust Co.)(Statistical Data Included)
Mar 01, 2001; ... Irwin Union Bank and Trust Co., using a deliberate and opportunistic formula, has been on an expansion tear. From its hometown about 50 miles south of Indianapolis, the $1.2 billion-asset bank monitors metropolitan areas around the country with populations above 100,000. Irwin ...
Newlyweds Bank Abandoned: Pure-play virtual blues give Synovus cold feet.(online bank cancelled)(Brief Article)
Mar 01, 2001; ... The relationship was over before it began for pointpathbank.com, an Internet-only bank that Synovus Financial Corp. intended to use to court business from newly engaged and recently married couples. The bank, originally planned for a launch last summer, was to deliver products ...
Investment Bank Outlook Gets Worse.(Brief Article)
Mar 01, 2001; ... The already subdued earnings outlook for the investment banking sector got a little gloomier Wednesday as leading Wall Street analysts sharply cut back profit estimates on the group's major firms. Judah S. Kraushaar, an equity analyst with Merrill Lynch & Co., slashed his ...
FDIC Asset Sales on Net Outdo Traditional Auctions.(Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.)(Brief Article)
Mar 01, 2001; ... The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.'s use of the Internet to sell assets inherited from failed banks is attracting more buyers and netting higher proceeds. Holding its third online asset sale Wednesday, the agency auctioned auto loans made by a failed bank in Mississippi. While ...
In Brief: Fleet Expects Capital Market Revenue Dip.(FleetBoston Financial Corp.)(Brief Article)
Mar 01, 2001; ... FleetBoston Financial Corp. said revenues from capital markets activities, already under pressure from declining markets, will not match 2000's levels this year. In its annual filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, made Wednesday, the company said revenues from ...
In Brief: Boston Private Closes Adviser Purchase.(Boston Private Financial Holdings acquires E.R. Taylor Investments Inc.)(Brief Article)
Mar 01, 2001 ... Boston Private Financial Holdings said Wednesday that it has completed its purchase of E.R. Taylor Investments Inc., a 17-year-old value-style investment advisory that targets wealthy investors. E.R. Taylor, which manages $535 million of assets for high-net-worth individuals in ...
Finova Tells More on Restructure.(Finova Group Inc.)(Brief Article)
Mar 01, 2001; ... The deeply indebted Finova Group Inc., which announced Tuesday that it had arranged a $6 billion loan commitment from Leucadia National Corp. and Berkshire Hathaway Inc., provided more details about its restructuring plan on Wednesday. The Scottsdale, Ariz., financial services ...
Banks Give Bush Social Security Plan Thumbs-Up.(letting Americans invest a portion of their Social Security taxes in the private sector)(Brief Article)
Mar 01, 2001; ... Trying to make good on a campaign promise favored by bankers, President George W. Bush unveiled a federal budget outline Wednesday that calls for letting Americans invest a portion of their Social Security taxes in the private sector. "Personal retirement accounts, which would ...
Economists at Banks Call Recession Fears Overblown.(Brief Article)
Mar 01, 2001; ... Despite slower consumer spending and issues such as credit quality deterioration, bank economists on Wednesday said they are not girding for a recession just yet. Echoing recent optimistic assessments by some heads of the regional Federal Reserve Banks, several of these ...
Slightly Altered Bankruptcy Bill Clears Senate Committee.(Senate Judiciary Committee)(Brief Article)
Mar 01, 2001; ... The Senate Judiciary Committee cleared the bankruptcy overhaul bill Wednesday, eliminating one sticking point but leaving several others for Thursday's anticipated floor action. The legislation appears headed for passage in both chambers. "They're not going to stop ...
Executive Changes.(Brief Article)
Mar 01, 2001 ... SOUTHWEST Texas Capital Bank in Dallas has hired Tim McKinney as its executive vice president in charge of relationship management and private client services. He is based in Fort Worth. Mr. McKinney was the Fort Worth president and senior bank executive at Bank of ...
In Brief: Troubled W.Va. Bank Picks a New CEO.(Brief Article)
Mar 01, 2001; ... City Holding Co. of Charleston, W. Va., said it has selected Gerald R. Francis to head the struggling company, but it still needs approval from regulators before he can take office as president and chief executive officer. Mr. Francis will consult the bank as special assistant ...
In Brief: Seven Fleet, Summit Branches Get Buyer.(FleetBoston Financial Corp., Summit Bancorp branches purchased by Richmond County Financial Corp.)(Brief Article)
Mar 01, 2001; ... Richmond County Financial Corp. in Staten Island, N.Y., plans to expand its 15-branch network by seven. The $3.2 billion-asset company announced late Tuesday that it has agreed to buy two branches on Staten Island from FleetBoston Financial Corp. and five in Atlantic County, ...
Banks Find the Rich Are Indifferent to Web Advice.
Mar 01, 2001; ... Despite vast increases in the availability of investment advice online, affluent investors continue to use advisers and shun the Internet. Bankers and analysts say that though wealthy clients do visit bank Web sites, they still want, and often need, individualized attention ...
448% Rise Sets Fund Inflow Record.(mutual fund inflows for January, 2001)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
Mar 01, 2001; ... January was the best month ever for mutual fund inflows, with money funds gathering most of the cash. Net inflows totaled $137 billion, 448% more than in December, the Investment Company Institute reported Tuesday. Last week the New York consulting firm Strategic Insight Mutual ...
Hartford Life Reorganizes Wholesaling to Suit Bank.(Brief Article)
Mar 01, 2001; ... Though life and annuity companies have been wholesaling their products through banks for at least 10 years, most still have trouble answering the marketing question, "What do banks want?" It turns out that banks want -- and for the most part are not getting -- something ...
ATM Direct Eyes PIN-Based Debit For Online Buying.(Brief Article)
Mar 01, 2001; ... A company called ATM Direct Inc. is developing a software-based system to let people use PIN-based debit cards for Internet purchases and is in discussions with bank card processors and electronic funds transfer networks that might buy it. The Dallas company, founded in 1999, is ...
Comments: Strategy, Structural Flaws Are Stifling Smart Cards.
Mar 01, 2001; ... Many industry analysts propose that smart payment cards are finally poised to change the future of payment and financial services aggregation. By combining a secure and portable payment platform with a selection of payment, financial, and nonfinancial applications, the smart ...
Dissent Appears on Prospect for Stable 7% Rate.(mortgage rates)(Brief Article)
Mar 01, 2001; ... Breaking from the consensus that mortgage rates would stay around 7% for most of 2001, one analyst is now saying he expects the broader economy to rebound in the second half, bringing rates up with it. "We still have pain to endure, but the building blocks for economic ...
In Brief: Applications Dipped 2.7% Last Week.(home purchase and refinance loans)(Brief Article)
Mar 01, 2001; ... Nationwide application rates for home purchase and refinance loans dipped 2.7% last week, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association of America weekly survey, released Wednesday. The market composite index of mortgage applications slipped to 562.6 for the week that ended Feb ....
In Brief: Microsoft, Forbes In Web Listings Deal.(Brief Article)
Mar 01, 2001; ... Microsoft Corp. announced Wednesday that its HomeAdvisor.com will be the exclusive provider of nationwide home listings, mortgage information, home-buying tools, and editorial content for Forbes.com's new Lifestyle section. HomeAdvisor.com will provide a nationwide database of ...
In Brief: Radian Expected to Ink Deal For Enhance.(Brief Article)
Mar 01, 2001; ... Radian Group Inc. on Wednesday was expected to close its acquisition of Enhance Financial Services Group Inc., a New York provider of credit-based insurance and financial services. The companies announced on Wednesday that their respective stockholders had approved the purchase ...
In Brief: LandSafe Offering Master Valuations.(Brief Article)
Mar 01, 2001 ... LandSafe Appraisal Services Inc., a unit of the real estate closing service provider LandSafe Inc., has begun offering Fannie Mae-approved "Form 2045" master appraisal valuations. Under the Form 2045 valuations, appraisers determine the values of houses in a subdivision by ...
In Brief: GSEs Take Rating Pact a Step Further.(corporate credit rating)(Brief Article)
Mar 01, 2001; ... Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae announced Tuesday that Standard & Poor's has assigned them each an AA-minus corporate credit rating for the risk they impose on the government. The mortgage financiers both said that the ratings will be maintained on a continuous "surveillance" basis, ...
In Brief: B of A, Morgan Chase to Join E-Marketplace.(Bank of America Corp. and J.P. Morgan Chase and Co. contract with FinancialOxygen)(Brief Article)
Mar 01, 2001 ... Bank of America Corp. and J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. have allied themselves with FinancialOxygen to offer their capital markets products on its electronic marketplace. The companies have also invested $5 million each in FinancialOxygen's second round of financing. The ...
In Brief: Digital Signature's Certificate Policy Backed.(Brief Article)
Mar 01, 2001 ... The American Bankers Association has approved Digital Signature Trust's policy governing the issuance, use, and management of the latter's Trust ID certificates, paving the way for financial institutions to begin issuing the digital certificates. The policy regulates the use of ...
In Brief: Procter & Gamble Taps BillingZone's EBPP.(electronic bill payment and presentment service)(Brief Article)
Mar 01, 2001 ... Procter & Gamble Distributing Co. will use BillingZone's business-to-business electronic bill payment and presentment service, the billing company and its joint venture partner, PNC Bank, have announced. P&G, which markets consumer goods such as Tide detergent and Crest ...
In Brief: B of A Alliance to Speed Card Applications.(Bank of America Corp. contract with Capital Stream)(Brief Article)
Mar 01, 2001 ... Bank of America Corp. has signed a three-year agreement with Seattle-based Capital Stream to provide real-time credit applications and approvals for its small-business clients. In the first phase of the implementation, Bank of America's two million small-business customers will ...
In Brief: Jones Advice Firm Picks CheckFree E-Billing.(Edward Jones)(Brief Article)
Mar 01, 2001 ... Edward Jones, the St. Louis financial advice firm, said it would make electronic billing and payment services available to its five million investor customers through an agreement with CheckFree Corp., the leading provider of electronic billing services. The service, CheckFree's ...
In Brief: VirtualBank Offers Information Storage.(Brief Article)
Mar 01, 2001 ... VirtualBank, an Internet bank, signed an agreement with enfoTrust Networks to let its customers organize and store personal information online. The enfoTrust software will let customers organize general, medical, financial, career, education, and travel information and store ...
Wells, Fleet to Test Web Small-Biz Payment System.(technology offers business buyers and sellers instantaneous, guaranteed payment )(Brief Article)
Mar 01, 2001; ... Wells Fargo & Co. and FleetBoston Financial Corp. will be the first customers to test a new online payment system for small and midsize companies from two-year-old Virtual Purchase Card Inc. The banking companies plan to begin testing Virtual Purchase Connection this month with ...
In Brief: Legg Mason Analyst Touts 3 Calif. Banks.(Brief Article)
Mar 01, 2001; ... Adam C. Barkstrom, an analyst at Legg Mason Wood Walker in Baltimore, initiated coverage on Wednesday for City National Corp. of Beverly Hills and Greater Bay Bancorp. of Palo Alto, Calif., with "strong buy" ratings and of Westamerica Bancorp. of San Rafael with a "buy." In his ...
In Brief: State Bancorp. of N.Y. Buys Leasing Firm.(Brief Article)
Mar 01, 2001 ... State Bancorp., the parent of State Bank of Long Island, on Wednesday announced that it has bought Studebaker Worthington Leasing Corp. of Jericho in a cash-for-stock transaction. The terms of the transaction were not ...
In Brief: Fleet to Install Talking ATMs for Blind.(FleetBoston Financial Corp.)(Brief Article)
Mar 01, 2001; ... FleetBoston Financial Corp. and the Disability Law Center of Boston announced on Wednesday plans to install 1,420 talking automated teller machines in the Northeast to help visually impaired customers. Greenspan Backs Checking Interest Bill Robert Hedges, senior vice president ...
New Brand Challenge: Fund Sales In Europe.(Brief Article)
Mar 02, 2001; ... As European banks and insurance companies, traditionally loath to sell anything other than proprietary products, open their doors to third-party mutual funds, U.S. banking companies seeking to capitalize on the opportunities are faced with a major decision on branding. Very few ...
TODAY'S NEWS.(Brief Article)
Mar 02, 2001 ... Merrill Lynch plans to open an office in California that will target people who have $10 million to invest. Page 2 National City has agreed to sell its interest in a Kentucky investment advisory boutique to an Amvescap unit. Page 2 WASHINGTON The House ...
The New Title Contenders.(Brief Article)
Mar 02, 2001 ... Thanks to Gramm-Leach-Bliley and changes in state laws, banks are entering the lucrative title insurance agency business, and mom-and-pop ...
Net-Only Bank Believer Undergoes a Conversion.(Mitchell Caplan of E-Trade)
Mar 02, 2001; ... Now that he is at the helm of the country's largest Internet bank, Mitchell Caplan is king of the nontraditional financial services world he created 11 years ago when he started a modest venture called Telebank. But he still smarts when he recalls his experience in the early ...
Chastened Bankers Try To Share Laundering Blame.(Brief Article)
Mar 02, 2001; ... Bankers acknowledged at a congressional hearing Thursday that they had not gone far enough to combat money laundering in past years, but emphasized that the industry has toughened standards and that banks are now doing a better job of policing themselves. One executive also said ...
Will U.S. Debt Paydown Mean Deposit Boom?(Brief Article)
Mar 02, 2001 ... Could President Bush's promise to continue paying down the nation's debt bring an unexpected benefit to banks? According to Alex J. Pollock, president and chief executive officer of the Federal Home Loan Bank of Chicago, it may. As Treasury debt -- currently the closest thing to ...
Nat City Selling Its Stake In Ky. Advisory Boutique.(National City Corp., National Asset Management Corp.)(Brief Article)
Mar 02, 2001; ... National City Corp. said Thursday it has an agreement to sell its interest in a Louisville, Ky., investment advisory boutique to a wholly owned subsidiary of Amvescap PLC, a London asset management company, for an undisclosed price. National City of Cleveland said it would ...
Merrill Lynch Plans Office for The Superaffluent.(Brief Article)
Mar 02, 2001; ... Merrill Lynch & Co. plans to open an office in Century City, Calif., by late spring that will target people with investable assets of at least $10 million. About 350,000 households in the United States qualify for this "ultra-high-net-worth" label. Merrill expects the market ...
Executive Changes.(appointments and selections in the financial industry)(Brief Article)
Mar 02, 2001; ... MIDDLE ATLANTIC Salomon Smith Barney in New York has hired Elise Wang as the managing director covering the biotechnology sector in its U.S. equity research department. She came to the Citigroup Inc. unit from PaineWebber Inc., where she was most recently a ...
House OKs Bankruptcy Bill; Senate Next.(Brief Article)
Mar 02, 2001; ... The House approved bankruptcy overhaul legislation Thursday on a 306-to-108 vote. Personal bankruptcies topped one million in the mid-1990s after averaging around 300,000 in the previous decade, Rep. James P. Moran, D-Va., said during the debate over the bill. "Something is ...
Commercial Break in Wash.: State's big-bank consolidation opens the door for midsize banks.(Washington banking industry provides possible opportunities)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
Mar 02, 2001; ... Several midsize banks in Washington are jockeying for commercial banking supremacy in the state in the wake of buyouts of its largest banks. Longtimers including Seafirst Bank, Rainier Bank, and Puget Sound National Bank were purchased by or merged with giants such as Bank of ...
Wesbanco Pushing to Grow Outside Home Market.(Brief Article)
Mar 02, 2001; ... Increasingly reluctant to have its fortunes tied to the fates of the waning steel and coal industries, Wesbanco Inc. of Wheeling, W.Va., is broadening its push beyond the state's borders. Its $77 million deal last week for American Bancorp. of Wheeling, which has branches in ...
In Brief: Community 1st Buys Wyoming Agency.(Community First Bankshares Inc., C.R. Motis Insurance Agency)(Brief Article)
Mar 02, 2001; ... Community First Bankshares Inc. has bought C.R. Motis Insurance Agency Inc. in Casper, Wyo. The deal was closed Thursday through Community First's affiliate, Community First Insurance Agencies Inc. The bank now owns 46 agencies. C.R. Motis also has offices in the ...
In Brief: Dalbar Issues 2000 Web Site Rankings.(Brief Article)
Mar 02, 2001; ... Dalbar Inc. has released its life insurance and annuity provider Web site rankings for 2000. The company tracked 25 life insurance and annuity provider Web sites and graded their service of consumers and financial professionals in four key areas: functionality, usability, ...
In Brief: Skandia Unveils Shorter-Term Annuity.(American Skandia)(Brief Article)
Mar 02, 2001; ... American Skandia is offering a new variable annuity with a shorter surrender period. AS Apex, announced Thursday, carries a four-year surrender period, compared with seven or eight years for most annuities. It also lets contract owners make additional payments to an annuity without ...
In Brief: Hancock Revamps Term-Life Portfolio.(John Hancock Life Insurance Co.)(Brief Article)
Mar 02, 2001; ... John Hancock Life Insurance Co. has streamlined and redesigned the term life portfolio that it sells through all its intermediaries. The revamped Signature Term Series offers its intermediaries, which include agents, banks, brokerages, and financial planners, one complete ...
Allstate P&C Policies Will Be Added to InsWeb Site.(property and casualty)(Brief Article)
Mar 02, 2001; ... Allstate Insurance Co., which has been inviting requests for term life quotes on InsWeb Corp.'s Internet portal for two years, says it will start doing the same for property/casualty products this month and actually sell through the site next year. The plans may help Allstate ...
In Brief: B of A, JPM Chase Back Software Firm.(Bank of America, J.P. Morgan Chase and Co., FinancialOxygen)(Brief Article)
Mar 02, 2001; ... Bank of America and J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. are investing $5 million each in second-round financing of FinancialOxygen. FinancialOxygen, of Walnut Creek, Calif., makes software for the trading of wholesale products such as federal funds, repurchase agreements, and ...
In Brief: BlueSuit Buys Stockwalk Unit.(BlueSuit Inc. acquires Online Brokerage Solutions)(Brief Article)
Mar 02, 2001; ... BlueSuit Inc., a provider of brokerage and related financial services to community financial institutions, has purchased Online Brokerage Solutions Inc. from Stockwalk Group Inc. Stockwalk Group, of Minneapolis, is to receive an undisclosed amount of cash and preferred ...
In Brief: Franklin Templeton Web Site Addition.(Brief Article)
Mar 02, 2001; ... Franklin Templeton Investments' Web site has added aggregation-type features for investment advisers. The addition lets the advisers keep tabs on the number of accounts they work with and their total dollar ...
In Brief: MetLife Unit to Offer Web Pension Plan.(Nathan and Lewis Securities partners with ExpertPlan)(Brief Article)
Mar 02, 2001; ... Nathan & Lewis Securities Inc., a unit of MetLife Inc. of New York, announced that it has formed a partnership with ExpertPlan of Cranbury, N.J., in an effort to create an online retirement plan for its independent brokers. Nathan & Lewis, which offers mutual funds, securities, ...
In Brief: Merchants Get Help In Visa Safety Effort.(Brief Article)
Mar 02, 2001 ... Visa U.S.A., which has set a May deadline for online merchants to comply with 12 card data security guidelines developed last fall, said Wednesday that it has begun giving the merchants additional compliance help. The company is offering training sessions, interactive reviews, ...
In Brief: Firms' One-Card Use On Rise, Study Says.(corporations continue consolidation of coporate card programs)(Brief Article)(Polling Data)(Statistical Data Included)
Mar 02, 2001 ... A study conducted by Deloitte & Touche LLP for MasterCard International concluded that corporations are starting to consolidate their corporate card programs in "one card" systems, with a single product functioning as a purchasing card, fleet card, and travel and entertainment card, the ...
Student Loan GSE Slams Card Company Marketing.(Nellie Mae Corp.)(Statistical Data Included)
Mar 02, 2001; ... Card companies are putting more credit cards into the hands of college undergraduates, who in turn are using them to amass more debt, according to figures compiled by the student loan company Nellie Mae. The government-sponsored enterprise, which like Sallie Mae is owned by SLM ...
So Long, Mom-and-Pops; Banks Eye Title Agent Biz.(title insurance)(Brief Article)
Mar 02, 2001; ... Turned loose by the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act of 1999 and changes to state laws, banks in several states are eyeing the lucrative business acting as agents for title insurance companies. Title insurance agency is now mostly a mom-and-pop business; there are thousands of title ...
Ocwen in Deal for New Century Servicing.(Ocwen Federal Bank )(Brief Article)
Mar 02, 2001 ... Ocwen Federal Bank of West Palm Beach, Fla., said Thursday that it has agreed to buy part of the servicing portfolio of New Century Mortgage Corp., a wholly owned subsidiary of New Century Financial Corp. In announcing the deal, New Century canceled a subservicing arrangement ...
Key to Sell Equity Lines on TD Waterhouse Site.(TD Waterhouse Group Inc. website to accept KeyCorp. applications)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
Mar 02, 2001; ... KeyBank is using the Internet to reach new markets for its home equity loans. This week the KeyCorp subsidiary started offering home equity lines of credit to customers of TD Waterhouse. Applications can be made by phone or through a cobranded site that can be reached only from ...
Attention to Fundamentals Will Let Small Banks Survive Industry Change.(Brief Article)(Column)
Mar 02, 2001; ... Few consumers have been able to escape the industry's wave of mergers; it is very likely that a customer's current bank has a different name than it did when that person opened the account. Though some mergers have been carried out seamlessly, with high levels of customer ...
Fed May Wind Up Regulating Nonbank Financial Businesses.(Federal Reserve Board)(Brief Article)
Mar 02, 2001; ... Over the last two decades the Federal Reserve Board has been evolving into a Ministry of Finance, an overseeing generalized policy regulator for all facets of the financial services industry. This has been done with the consent and authorization, albeit sometimes after the fact, of ...
Congress Should Dump Ratio For Deposit Insurance Funds.(Brief Article)
Mar 02, 2001; ... Recent articles about rapid deposit growth at some banks and thrifts have sparked fears about higher deposit insurance premiums. However, there is absolutely no rational reason why deposit growth should trigger premium hikes. The threat of higher premiums is driven by ...