US Banker articles from December 2006

US Banker archives from December 2006

This Month.(small business loans)
December 1, 2006... 30 Cover Story: Inside India's Outsourcing Sector India's GDP will jump 25 percent by 2009, thanks exclusively to outsourcing-and the biggest piece of the business comes from U.S. financial services firms. But behind this billion dollar...

Deepening Ties Within Communities of Practice: Women execs operate as a community of practice where sharing experiences and exchanging information are strong bonds that tie them together professionally. But they aren't banking's only prospective group.
December 1, 2006... The adage about there being strength in numbers doesn't address the satisfaction associated with being part of a group that shares a cause, an objective and a common practice. Banking, in this regard, is a community of practice, defined as...

Layoffs: Pink Slips Abound in '06, But Next Year May Improve: Institutions lay off 19,000-plus-so far.
December 1, 2006... Although 19,000-plus employees were laid off at Washington Mutual, PNC Financial, Ameriquest and Countrywide Financial this year, financial industry analysts and consultants predict pink slips will be a rarity in 2007. "We've been through...

Scene and Heard.(Quotation)
December 1, 2006... "It's an age-old argument: where to house small-business loans-retail or commercial? It goes back and forth. There's no right answer, really." -Bob Seiwert, svp of America's Community Bankers, on which side of the house owns the...

Hits and Has-Beens.(new appointments)(Brief article)
December 1, 2006... BB&T Capital Markets hired Patrick A. O'Shea as senior managing director and head of equity transactions. He was formerly with Deutsche Bank Alex. Brown for 13 years. Bruce P. Steinberger has been named president of Commercial Bankshares...

Sovereign CEO's Resignation Won't Deflate $44M Parachute.(chief executive officers)(Sovereign Bancorp)
December 1, 2006... The banking industry said goodbye to one its most controversial characters with the resignation of Sovereign Bancorp chairman and CEO Jay S. Sidhu, who will earn $44.4 million in severance and other payments. Although Sidhu initially claimed...

Noted and Noteworthy.(MasterCard International Inc.'s text messaging services for locating ATM)(New York Stock Exchange Inc.'s Richard A. Grasso fined )(American banks strong credit ratings)
December 1, 2006... Gotta find an ATM? Customers can access MasterCard's new Worldwide SMS service and request the location of the nearest machine to be sent via text message to their cell phones. MasterCard lists nearly one million ATMs around the world. The...

New Law has Directors Seeing Red: Thanks to the new regulatory reform law, bank directors can be held personally liable if their institutions begin to go belly up. But did they really sign on for this?
December 1, 2006... There has never been a more difficult time to be a bank director, nor to recruit one. One of the overlooked provisions of the newly signed Financial Services Regulatory Relief Act-banks would like to believe it's so overlooked it'll soon be...

Risk Mitigation: KeyBank's Safety Tools: Alerts, Authentication: KeyBank had an innovative idea: Why not just tell customers what's happening in their accounts every time something happens? This deceptively simple strategy is a win on several levels.
December 1, 2006... Cleveland-based KeyBank decided to open up communication with its online customers this year. When an account funds transfer occurs or a new payee is added to a bill-pay list, Key now sends out an e-mail alert. If a PIN, password or address...

Hudson Transforms Data Into Sales: Deploying enterprise content-management software was a key step in turning every customer interaction into a data trail. And that can mean improved cross-sales performance.
December 1, 2006... When a company decides that every en-counter with a customer can be a sales opportunity, it helps to give the employees the tools of the trade to do their jobs. For Hudson Savings Bank, these tools make an electronic paper trail of each...

AD Beat: BoNY Looks Forward With a Backward Glance: The bank's new private-banking ad campaign aims to capitalize on its 222-year history of serving HNW clientele. Yes, back to the time before ATMs and direct deposit.(Company overview)
December 1, 2006... At The Bank of New York, the old is new again. The bank's new advertising campaign is laying claim to a legacy no other U.S. bank can: A 222-year history of handling the financial affairs of the wealthy. Founded in February 1784 by Alexander...

Inside the Outsourcing World of India.
December 1, 2006... Infosys Technologies' 77-acre headquarters of provocative architecture, pristine roadways and manicured lawns is an oasis of efficiency and order in this nation of inefficiency and disorder, a potent symbol of how the offshoring explosion has...

The Tax Man Cometh.(Morgan Stanley's legal case in India of double taxation)
December 1, 2006... (And He Sports an Indian Accent) In an Indian Supreme Court case that portends major implications for U.S. banks with captive outsourcing facilities in India, that nation's income-tax authorities are appealing a tax ruling that Morgan...

Tiny Massachusetts Bank Aims for a Legacy of Growth: Legacy Bancorp of Pittsfield, MA, is looking for growth in a 50-mile radius of its current market, but its first challenge is to spend a little excess cash. Actually, a lot of excess cash.
December 1, 2006... Legacy Bancorp, a 175-year old institution in western Massachusetts, finds itself in a new situation: It desperately needs to grow. And it has the money to do it. Its immediate problem-looking for ways to spend $93 million from a recent...

Learning to Serve Retirees In the Final Stages of Life: The retirement market is prompting banks to rearrange internal structures, with new retirement czars at the helm and new products on the offer. After all, customers don't want to outlive their money.
December 1, 2006... Banks across the country are making concerted efforts to capture their share of the expected onslaught of retirement business, as the first of the Baby Boomers stop working. There have been some tweaks to existing financial products...

Credit Quality Looms In Portfolio Segmentation: No longer content to use small-business loans as an inroad to a big customer group, banks are trying to gain more from the loans themselves. But they face age-old obstacles.
December 1, 2006... Banks have long talked about the importance of small-business loans, often as a long-term play to gain a foothold into a growing customer base that will need more sophisticated banking services as it matures. But now, there is growing buzz...

Mid-Tiers Find Value In What Lies Beneath: Real estate is the current boom for banks. Real estate can account for five percent of a mid-tier's total asset-and it doesn't generate income. It may be time to go.
December 1, 2006... Banks have searched high and low to find better ways to put their cash to work. Now they're cashing in on what traditionally has been the most illiquid asset they own: the land beneath their own buildings. A confluence of market trends has...

It's Time for Mortgage Lenders To Reevaluate IT Strategy.
December 1, 2006... During the recent mortgage-lending boom, lenders extensively focused on increasing their loan portfolios and market share rather than addressing technology investments and innovations. The Mortgage Bankers Association projects originations to...

Parting Shot.(Most Powerful Women in Banking )
December 1, 2006... The Most Powerful Women in Banking - 2006 The gala celebration of The 25 Most Powerful Women in Banking, held in New York City on October 23 at The Pierre, had honorees and guests buzzing with enthusiasm and eager to take stock of the...