US Banker articles from December 2005

US Banker archives from December 2005

If There Were a Santa, Then I Would Wish For...: Yes, death of the whistleblower provision is right up there with tighter board controls over executive compensation and protection of shareholder interests.
December 1, 2005... Ah, if solving banking's challenges and making good on its promises were only as simple as creating a Christmas wish list, things would feel more like "It was the Night Before Christmas." Fantasy? Yes, but a little whimsy around the...

Investment products: Index-Rate Annuity Sales Surge at Banks Nationwide: An opportunity to offset sales losses elsewhere.
December 1, 2005... A once-obscure product, the equity-indexed annuity, is climbing steadily in popularity-representing a major sales opportunity for banks-thanks to its higher recent returns than the traditional fixed annuity. In the first half of 2005, bank...

Scene and Heard.
December 1, 2005... "I can also probably comment on his golf swing." Randall Dodd, director of the Financial Policy Forum, on the challenges ahead for the proposed Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke. "Signage, advertising, marketing, on-hold messages...if they...

Authentication: FFIEC Commands Two-Factor ID by 2006: Better online security becomes mandatory.(Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council)
December 1, 2005... The wait-and-see attitude that many institutions had taken with regard to two-factor authentication for online banking-primarily out of concerns about expense and customer convenience-got a dose of reality last month when the Federal Financial...

Hits and Has-Beens.(Candace Fitzek joins Fifth Third Bancorp )(Derrick Cephas joins Amalgamated Bank )(Eris H. Sandler joins Colonial BancGroup )(Brief Article)
December 1, 2005... Cincinnati, OH-based Fifth Third Bancorp has named Candace Fitzek svp and head of retail banking. Fitzek, who has been in the industry for 25 years, was most recently evp of retail banking for Webster Bank of Waterbury, CT. Amalgamated...

Deposit-Insurance Reform Is Out of the Gate-Once Again.
December 1, 2005... Will federal deposit-insurance reform, an idea first floated by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. in 2001, finally find its way into law this year? Sure, go ahead and hold your breath. This summer, legislators of both chambers tweaked and...

Noted and Noteworthy.(Brief Article)
December 1, 2005... The Asian Development Bank and the International Finance Department of the World Bank became the first international financial institutions to issue bonds locally in China last month when they released the 10-year yuan-denominated panda bonds....

Two Cents for Ben Bernanke: Everybody's got an opinion, and few economists can stay silent when the question is this: What advice would you give the incoming Federal Reserve Bank Chairman? Bernanke should take note. This group's two cents actually makes real sense.
December 1, 2005... Sure, talk may be cheap, but for the proposed Federal Reserve chairman, Ben S. Bernanke, it might pay to listen. Who would have thought economists were such an opinionated bunch? Filling the enormous shoes of outgoing chairman Alan...

Compliance Automation: A Tiny Bank's Big Leap Into Protecting Itself: Great Florida Bank is growing fast, very fast. And that brings regulatory, security, consumer and employee headaches.
December 1, 2005... Great Florida Bank is a young bank in a big hurry. The Miami Lakes-based institution opened its lone branch in June 2004 with startup capital of $60 million. By this October, the bank had grown to $700 million in assets and nine branches. COO...

Bad Data: Filling In the Blanks: Bank spending for improved data quality is expected to grow up to 30 percent annually in the next two years.
December 1, 2005... When it comes to operational risk, bank executives do a lot of tossing and turning over customer data. A June 2004 survey from Cary, NC-based business analytics firm SAS noted that financial institutions felt "collating sufficient volume of...

Automated Provisioning: Giving Workers Digital Identities: By combining electronic employee ID and access, firms such as Courion, Microsoft and IBM are hoping to trim time, costs and reputational risk for bank customers.
December 1, 2005... The basic principle behind banking-that customers seek a trustworthy place to keep their money-seems obvious. But according to Chris Sullivan, vp of customer solutions at Framingham, MA-based enterprise-provisioning firm Courion Corp., many...

It's Only Rock 'n' Roll, But They Like It: First National Bank launches a marketing campaign to reach a younger demographic through local indie rock. But will young Oklahomans dance on into the bank's branches?
December 1, 2005... In the early days of the hot Nebraska summer, the suits at First National Bank of Omaha decided to chill out. Well, that's not entirely true: They were going to run the company-which, with its affiliates, has assets totaling $16 billion-as they...

AD Beat: This is Not Your Father's Campaign. Wait, Maybe It Is.: Ameriprise Financial focuses its financial-planning message at Baby Boomers, whose members begin turning 60 in January. In redefining retirement, they'll need help to fund it.
December 1, 2005... Baby Boomers include the generations of the hippie and the CEO, the idealist and the pragmatist, the workaholic and the free spirit-in short, the Americans who've become whomever they've wanted to be. The sheer number of Boomers has...

Brand Savvy Is Easy: Know Thyself: The key to better bank branding is simple: Mean what you say. And before you say anything, figure out what it will mean to the customer.
December 1, 2005... When it comes to branding, the mistake banks most often make has nothing to do with promotional materials or even budget size. The problem, says marketing guru Marcia Yudkin, is that banks simply don't give customers a reason to do business...

The Green Revolution: Are banks sacrificing profits for activists' principles?
December 1, 2005... Sure, adopting environmentally and socially responsible banking practices is the PC thing to do these days. But as activists' aggressive tactics force more banks to adopt policies they may not be ready to abide by, some industry observers...

De Novo Banking Rises Among Niche Audiences: Continuing M&A activity will keep de novo bank growth going strong into 2006, say analysts. And at the forefront is niche banking, particularly in ethnic and faith-based areas.
December 1, 2005... There's no doubt about it: For the de novo banking sector, 2005 was a very good year. According to SNL Financial of Charlottesville, VA, 2005 is on track to see the creation of 118 de novos, higher than any of the previous four years, though...

Managed Accounts in the Bank Channel: In-depth Research On How Banks Package and Distribute Managed Accounts.
December 1, 2005... Separately managed accounts are a rapidly growing segment of the financial industry, encompassing an estimated $620 billion in assets under management as of mid-2005, according to the Money Management Institute of Washington, D.C., a nationwide...

How Far Is Your Platform from Perfection?
December 1, 2005... More and more, clients are demanding a comprehensive investment platform, giving them the ability to access both your bank's asset management capabilities as well as external solutions. A recent study by 3C Financial Partners, entitled Platform...

When Opportunity Knocks Banks Can Answer: Enhance organic growth and improve profitability by adding wealth management solutions to your bank investment program.
December 1, 2005... There are two pools of potential investors that could seriously influence the popularity of bank investment programs today. First, we are on the cusp of what will be the biggest wave of retirement in the history of the United States. On January...

The Competitive Landscape: The Money Management Institute has identified bank trust divisions as one of the main distribution channels driving growth in separately managed accounts, or SMAs. Trust divisions have established relationships with high net worth customers, extensive distribution networks, and dominant control over investable assets.
December 1, 2005... But even though banks are well positioned to distribute SMAs, they still face barriers to entering and expanding in the market. They must successfully navigate key obstacles, such as the positioning of proprietary investment management, legacy...

The Infrastructure Puzzle ... Supplement Rather Than Replace: Bankers say infrastructure is the most significant obstacle they face in adopting a non-proprietary model for separately managed accounts.
December 1, 2005... 60% of those who responded to the Money Management Institute/Dover Financial Research survey cited infrastructure as the No. 1 or No. 2 barrier to growth in the SMA market. The problem until recently has been that SMA platforms have been...

Pricing: Banks' Biggest Challenge, or an Opportunity?: Declining fees and a growing demand for fee transparency are bringing significant changes to the pricing of separately managed accounts (SMAs), according to the Money Management Institute.
December 1, 2005... In its 2005 report "The State of SMA Pricing Through Bank Trust Divisions," the Washington-based institute says that as more banks adopt open architecture platforms and begin to offer non-proprietary investment management, they are likely to...

Progress, But Hurdles Remain.
December 1, 2005... The separately managed accounts industry has made significant progress on a variety of fronts in recent years that has enabled it to expand quickly. But more changes are needed to drive further growth among banks. Nearly half (47 percent)...

On the Christmas Wish List: Gift-Card Sales Growth: Banks' share of the $72 million gift card sales pie is dwarfed by in-stores sales. But analysts expect banks to make big gains over the next two years. This holiday season will be a good test.
December 1, 2005... Few doubt that gift cards are becoming a major factor in the payments arena, but how much of a factor banks will be remains to be seen. So far, banks' share of the market has been a pittance: Estimates put the industry's share at less than...

Women Are Big Factor In Small-Business Growth: Women launch businesses at a faster pace than the average small-business owner, but they don't often seek bank financing. For banks, the opportunity looms large.
December 1, 2005... Women-owned business startups have been outpacing the rate of startups for years, and now the financing options are catching up. A disparity in women's access to capital compared to that of men has long plagued this market, but banks and...

U.S. Banker Advertising Contacts.(Directory)
December 1, 2005... GROUP PUBLISHER David Cleworth 27700 Pine Point Drive Wesley Chapel, FL 33543 Tel: 813.929.6907 Fax: 813.929.6908 Outside the U.S. Please contact the Publisher U.S. BANKER ACCOUNT REPRESENTAITVES ...

Why Banks Should Push Planning With Wealthy: Union National Community Bank in Mount Joy, PA, has designed a strategy for serving HNW customers that it hopes will build many bridges. The first step: realizing that affluent Boomers really are different.
December 1, 2005... When it comes to serving wealthy clients, there is a serious disparity between the way most banks describe their approach and what their approach really is. That, at least, is the opinion of Mike Frey, and he's determined that at Union National...

Stop Free Checking's Free Fall.
December 1, 2005... Free checking has spread through the banking industry like wildfire, leaping from bank to bank until it engulfed the market. It was an exciting trend, but the aftermath is not exactly pretty for the dozens of major institutions now saddled with...