US Banker articles from December 2007

US Banker archives from December 2007

This Month.
December 1, 2007... 30 Cover Story: Life Beyond Banking for Those Who Follow Their Instincts Many would consider it sheer lunacy to give up a plush corner office to follow one's inner voice. Stories of those who have given up their six- and seven-figure jobs...

The Other Meltdown? Accountability of CEOs.: What if these writedowns were to hit $500 billion, as Royal Bank of Scotland Group chief credit strategist Bob Janjuah argues could happen?(cief executive officers)
December 1, 2007... The chaos raining down on the financial industry in the wake of tens of billions of dollars of writedowns at some of the industry's largest shops-Citi, Merrill, Countrywide, Morgan Stanley and Washington Mutual thus far-is just the beginning of...

ATM Fees: Do Larger Surcharges Spell Opportunity?: Wachovia, U.S. Bank join BofA in charging $3 fees.(Bank of America Corp.)
December 1, 2007... Perhaps as a matter of punishment, perhaps as a matter of reaction, perhaps as a matter of customer convenience, high ATM surcharges are not only here to stay, but will continue to rise. Bankrate.com reports that banks will collect $4.4 billion...

Scene and Heard.(Quotation)
December 1, 2007... "It's a painful play, but it is a good play because it costs real money." Edward Woods, senior analyst for Celent, on why the increase in banks' ATM fees makes sense. "If you can make the cell phone emulate the ATM, the home PC, then...

Employment: Financial Industry Rates High on Diversity Issues: Citigroup, JPMorgan earn perfect GLBT scores.
December 1, 2007... Gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender issues have been advanced in corporate America, thanks in part to efforts in the financial-services industry. The Human Rights Campaign Foundation's annual Corporate Equality Index showed that the...

Hits and Has-Beens.(Stanley O'Neal retiring from Bank of America Corp.)(Gene Taylor leaving from Merrill Lynch & Company Inc.)(Vikram S. Pandit appointed as the new CEO of Citigroup Inc.)(Brief article)
December 1, 2007... Merrill Lynch CEO E. Stanley O'Neal is retiring after 21 years, replaced by interim nonexecutive chairman Alberto Cribiore. A CEO search committee has been formed. Gene Taylor, the top executive in the investment-banking unit of Bank of...

Fresh Ink.(acquisition of Pavilion Bancorp by First Defiance Financial Corp.)(acquisition of First Horizon National Corp by Sterling Bancshares)(acquisition of land by Sterling Bancshares for office buildings)(Brief article)
December 1, 2007... 1. First Defiance Financial Corp. will acquire Pavilion Bancorp in a cash-and-stock deal worth for $55.7 million. Pavilion's unit, Bank of Lenawee, has eight banks in southeastern Michigan with a total of $290 million in assets and $230 million...

Opposition Grows Against Rules To Trim Shareholder Rights.( www.SaveShareholderRights.org)
December 1, 2007... The Securities and Exchange Commission is expected to decide before year's end whether to approve any of the five controversial proposals that would curb the rights of shareholders to file resolutions and participate in choosing corporate-board...

Noted and Noteworthy.(Brief article)
December 1, 2007... Banks aren't the only ones interested in the underbanked. The Chicago-based Center for Financial Services Innovation has created the CFSI Catalyst Fund, a private-equity limited partnership to cultivate new financial-services companies and...

The Further Economic Isolation of Iran: The new U.S. economic sanctions on Iran, including on three more state-owned banks, follow months of behind-the-scenes diplomacy. Will this new move turn the dial?
December 1, 2007... Washington's ongoing campaign to persuade financial institutions to break ties with Tehran twisted another notch tighter with tough economic sanctions against three state-owned Iranian banks, companies and military organizations. Designed to...

Cards: Alt-Plays In Market: Dividing Friend From Foe: Online alternatives like PayPal, Bill Me Later and Google are a challenge to the card firms-even when they are on the same page. But they're finding their strengths.
December 1, 2007... As a percentage of total U.S. online payments volume, non-card transaction options still comprise only 12 percent of the entire Web-based purchase market. But like Pearl Jam in its platinum-selling heyday, it's hard to label PayPal as...

Multifactor Race Nears Finish Line: The industry has reached near ubiquitous compliance for stronger authentication procedures in online banking. Now, it's on to mobile and IVR.
December 1, 2007... Everybody's finally in the pool. Nearly a year after half of all U.S. institutions missed the deadline to adopt stricter Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council guidelines for online authentication, analysts say that banks have...

Being All Things to All People Isn't So Profitable: Finding and keeping profitable customers takes more than demographic insight, which some consider a "blunt instrument". Banks may find behavioral science a better tool.
December 1, 2007... The use of demographics has long been central to the marketing strategy at financial institutions. It's the "birds of a feather flock together" approach. Other banks try to appeal to as many consumers as possible in the hopes that the...

AD Beat: Will VW Buses and Diners Lure Rich Baby Boomers?: BofA's newly acquired U.S. Trust division has launched a $25 million campaign aimed at affluent Boomers. But connecting with this diverse group won' t be easy.
December 1, 2007... When Bank of America completed its $3.3 billion purchase of U.S. Trust from Charles Schwab in July, the Charlotte, NC, behemoth set its sights clearly on widening its sphere of influence in wealth management. BofA CEO Kenneth Lewis went as far...

A Tough Act 2 Follow: The stories of those who rise to the top of banking are well known. But what about bankers who burn out, choose to pursue another passion and leave banking altogether? Yes, there is life beyond the corner office.
December 1, 2007... Rachel Thebault couldn't have been more nervous on that late August day in 2003 when she walked into Joel VanDuesen's office at Bank of America, ready to announce to her boss and the investment-banking world the conclusion she had taken a long...

The Volunteer Banker.(charitable activities by Harris Berger)
December 1, 2007... Harris Berger recalls the admonition he got before he embarked on his first volunteer mission to Egypt: "Don't tell them you're Jewish," he was warned. Well, on the very first morning the Egyptian bankers he was training in credit-risk...

Institutional Investors Shun Investments in De Novos: The high premium of de novo banks has begun to dissipate, as large institutional investors lose interest. But with only 150 de novos this year, the marketplace is less robust than in past years.
December 1, 2007... Institutional investors that have aggressively plowed money into de novo banks since 2002 have soured on this market since spring, according to market participants. Investors had been lured to the de novo market by the potentially outsized...

Retirement Dreams Are Fueling Soaring Sales: With Baby Boomers entering their 60s, mutual-fund and annuity income is surging at banks. Banks are retooling their strategies to snag as much investment income as possible.
December 1, 2007... As the Baby Boomers move into their 60s, mutual-fund and annuity sales and services are thriving, and with a good two decades worth of Boomers nearing retirement, the long-term forecast seems good for banks. The first half of 2007 saw...

Taking Small Business To the Web...Again: As more and more banks zero in on small-business owners, their Web sites are getting facelifts. BofA is even offering a separate site. But are banks still missing the point?
December 1, 2007... It's no secret that the small-business segment of America has been an ineffectively tapped market. Banks, both large and small, have aggressively pursued consumer-banking customers, as small-business owners have been forced to survey the field...

In Pursuing HNW Investors, Banks Ignore Mass Affluent: Banks' mantra calls for more attention to serving the rich, but that strategy doesn't really play to banks' strength. Institutions may be better off pursuing the mass affluent instead.
December 1, 2007... Too many banks are doing themselves a disservice by focusing too much on the high- net-worth and ultra high-net-worth segments, and not enough on the mass affluent. That may sound like heresy in an industry that has routinely stressed the...

Parting Shot.
December 1, 2007... Five/25: The 25 Most Powerful Women in Banking The 5th annual Black Tie gala celebrating "The 25 Most Powerful Women in Banking," held on October 22 at The Pierre, was all at once serious and seriously fun. More than 400 guests gathered to...

Building a 'Transformed' Bank: Partner and Director of Banking & Investment Strategy, CGI.
December 1, 2007... The financial services industry has been trying to improve its cross-sell performance for more than a quarter century. During this time, billions of dollars have been spent on customer-focused initiatives. Yet there is little to show for these...