US Banker articles from July 2003

US Banker archives from July 2003

If Waiting were a Sport, Women Would Win: Seventy-five percent of the workforce in banking is female, yet less than 25 percent of the C-suite is women. Why that is remains the subject of some debate.
July 1, 2003... Women in corporate America have undoubtedly made strides. Many report that gender-related workplace discrimination is no longer an issue. That said, 75 percent of the workforce in banking is female, yet less than 25 percent of the C-suite is...

Unemployment Pain: In Finance? Expect a Wait.: Industry experts say more self employment is likely.
July 1, 2003... Frank Richmond isn't waiting to find out about the job market. "It's terrible," the 35-year-old San Franciscan, a 15- year veteran of the Bay Area business scene, says cheerfully. Out of work three months since risk management software...

Scene and Heard.(Chad Herrington, computer security specialist at Entercept Security Technologies, gives opinions)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2003... "If you have more than two people in your organization, then trust becomes an issue." Chad Herrington, computer security specialist at Entercept Security Technologies. "It's not going to turn on like a switch. And if you talk with...

Turf wars: Windy City's Bank Scene About to Become 'It' Spot: BofA, Wamu and Fifth Third move in.
July 1, 2003... The joke in the Chicago banking community is that there are not enough street corners to accommodate all the bank branches that out-of-towners want to open up in their city. Richard Soukup, a partner at Grant Thornton in Chicago and a...

Chicago's Deposit Market Share: Fed Banking Market: Pending Ownership as of June 2, 2003, including Bank, Savings Bank, Thrift Branches.(Brief Article)(Illustration)
July 1, 2003... Total Deposits Branch in Market Total Market Rank/Institution Type Count ($millions) Share (%) 1 Bank One Corp. (IL) Bank 166 ...

Hits and Has-Beens.(Freddie Mac replaced top three execs over accounting probe)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2003... Freddie Mac replaced its top three execs over an accounting probe that prompted restatements of income spanning the last three years. Technically, only president and COO David Glenn was fired, for "serious questions as to the timeliness and...

Fresh Ink.(Pacific Northwest Bancorp reaches deal to merge with Wells Fargo; notes other deals)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2003... 1. Pacific Northwest Bancorp has reached a definitive agreement to merge with Wells Fargo for $590 million in common stock. Seattle-based Pacific Northwest acquired Bank of the Northwest last year and has $3.1 billion in assets with 58 branches...

Pipeline.(By 2007, workers will be sending and receiving average of 100 emails per day; notes other news)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2003... Quick, Get the E-mail Shredder The average employee processes 76 e-mails-a.k.a. "pieces of incriminating evidence"-a day. By 2007 workers will be sending and receiving an average of 100, says a survey on e-mail archiving by The Radicati...

Word Is...: Tumbleweeds on the Trading Floors in the Queen City.(Wachovia's real estate problems)
July 1, 2003... A year on the market, 110,000 square feet. Vacant. Welcome to Wachovia's four-floor tale of woe. Call it a hangover from the First Union merger. When Wachovia was single, in 1999, it snapped up Interstate/Johnson Lane, brokerage and...

Noted and Noteworthy.(Don Regan, who died last month, is recalled)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2003... Former treasury secretary and Gipper chief of staff Don Regan died last month of cancer at the ripe age of 84. Regan-famous grouch and former Marine-met his match in first lady Nancy Reagan, who eased his way out of the White House before the...

Schwab, Meet Tipper. Tipper, Schwab.: What do the country's duke of discount and the former would-be first lady have in common? They both stepped into the spotlight of a children's crusade.(Common Sense Media Guide)
July 1, 2003... Charles Schwab's spokesman puts the problem best. "It may be the extent of what he wants to do publicly, is contribute to it financially," he says, explaining why Schwab won't be calling to say why it's so important for him to get in on a...

Internet Security: If Bonnie and Clyde Only Knew.: Bankers are working to shore up security efforts, particularly on-line breaches. But hacking a bank's network is too fun to forgo, making prevention that much harder.(Union Bank of California installed software from enterprise security firm ArcSight )
July 1, 2003... Ask Bob Justus about the scope of cyber security issues facing banking, and he doesn't mince words. "This whole thing is gigantic," says the svp of corporate information security at Union Bank of California. "We're deploying as many layers as...

Corporate Ethics is Not About Governance: With the seemingly endless parade of executives accused of wrongdoing-from bad behavior to outright fraud-corporate ethics have come fire. To what extent does it affect a firm's overall reputation? More than CEOs like to admit.
July 1, 2003... The corporate scandals of 2002 toppled major companies but gave way to an endless number of governance businesses, consultants, seminars and "how-to" manuals. Many would argue that good governance produces good ethics. Yet without rigorous...

Ethics Reputation Ratings.(Banking industry)(Brief Article)(Illustration)
July 1, 2003... Firm Ethics Reputation Rating Northern Trust Corp. E1 BB&T Corp. E2 Comerica E2 Fifth Third Bancorp ...

AD Beat: Reviewing the Fleet: In its broadest media campaign Fleet Bank tries glasnost-inviting consumers and businesses to think of it as warm and open. Will it fly?
July 1, 2003... Not long ago, $200 billion Fleet Bank would've been laughed out of the room for being friendly. Its aggressive growth meant the disappearance of BankBoston, a favorite Beantown brand name, and the firm annoyed customers across New England...

It's Not a Problem, Really: Have Your People Call My People: Inforte's Tom Madison, an svp and general manager at the Chicago consultancy, is not troubled by picking up the phone for a little marketing.(Interview)
July 1, 2003... Although it would seem obvious, very few banks actually contact their customers before a problem crops up, whether by using the phone or the Web. Tom Madison oversees Inforte's 30 financial services clients and offers up proactive outbound...

Sizing Up Synovus' Cult of Personality.
July 1, 2003... The die-hard loyalty of CEO Jimmy Blanchard's people-thanks to his "servant leadership" credo-is the envy of other banks. Ranked one of the 10 best companies in America five years running, Synovus is proof that people post numbers in banking....

There's Been a Party on Main Street. Is It Time to Turn Out the Lights?: As the big-time dealmaking slowed in the financial sector and the economy bogged down, local banks became a money-making bargain for far-reaching investors. Now that mergers are starting to happen again, some analysts are starting to frown.
July 1, 2003... Stocks and business cycles are always a little out of sync. After all, stock prices predict the future. These days, with interest rates so low and the stock market unable to offer much in the way of hot buys, community banks are left to eke...

Top 200 Publicly Traded Community Banks: Banks & thrifts with assets <= $1 billion. Ranked by 3-year avg. ROE.(Illustration)
July 1, 2003... (part 1 of 3) Market Total Value Assets Institution ($M) ($000) 1 Crescent Banking Co....

Marvel(ous) Arch Rivals, Banks And Credit Unions Battle: In the heated war of who-deserves-what-customer, banks still have credit unions outflanked. But credit unions are getting bigger and giving bankers a run for their money-literally.
July 1, 2003... The largest U.S. credit unions are increasing in number while smaller ones are dwindling, evidence that credit unions-like banks-are consolidating, while growing both assets and membership. Although credit unions still control only a fraction...

Hires on the Hot Seat: Inside Jobs Mean Credit Checks: Eight million credit card numbers went out the door at DPI. The cause is disputed, but security concerns about new workers across all of finance means stepped-up screening. Some say it's profiling. Is it right?
July 1, 2003... The idea of cybercriminals hacking into a computer and stealing vital personal information makes for great headlines. Experts say a bigger threat comes from within a company's own ranks-and walls. It's still a smash-and-grab world after all,...

Loans and Lease Financing? Done. Now Investments.: Now more than a decade into the great race for small business accounts, banks are coming up short. Seems they've overlooked a key segment: owners' personal financial needs.
July 1, 2003... Banks have a blind spot in their pursuit of the nation's 23 million small business owners. These people are piling up private wealth, but banks are busy building small business platforms that don't provide for owners' personal banking needs....

Can Greater Transparency Hook Investor Assets for Firms?: Brokerage firms, hit hard by the backlash from Wall Street and corporate accounting scandals, are using technology to create greater transparency and fuel investor confidence.
July 1, 2003... As the season of corporate scandals dissipates, bank brokerages and securities companies have found it necessary to make their business processes more transparent to investors in a bid to regain their confidence and woo them back to the...

Euro's Strength is a Disadvantage for European Manufacturers. If Dollar Weakens, It'll Get Worse.: What will hold the dollar's slide in check? The future economic growth of the U.S., which will attract foreign investment and bolster the currency. There are serious consequences if that doesn't happen.(European Central Bank lowered interest rates 50 basis points on June 5)
July 1, 2003... In the face of a strengthening euro, not to mention anemic economic activity in the European community, the European Central Bank finally relented on its tough, hold-the-line approach and on June 5 lowered interest rates 50 basis points....

U.S. Banker Advertising Contacts.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2003... GROUP PUBLISHER Jay Berfas Thomson Media One State Street Plaza New York, NY 10004 Tel: 212.803.8690 Fax: 646.264.6800 Outside the U.S. Please contact the Publisher U.S. BANKER ACCOUNT REPRESENTATIVES...

New Patriot Rule Coordinates Fight Against Terrorist Financing.
July 1, 2003... While terrorists threaten to infiltrate the U.S. Financial system, our most important anti-terrorist legislation, the USA Patriot Act, imposes anti-terrorist obligations on individual American financial institutions. Few mechanisms have...