US Banker articles from July 2008

US Banker archives from July 2008

This Month.
July 1, 2008... 24 Cover Story: Building Democracy in a Cellular World Can the lowly cellphone be a stealth weapon in the war on poverty? Many banks believe so. Bringing the unbanked into the formal economy through mobile banking is a key initiative of...

Splitting Chair, CEO Roles Is a Matter of Governance: The separation of the chairman and CEO roles is about the importance of communicating strong internal governance practices and demonstrating an unwavering commitment to investors.(Kerry Killinger )
July 1, 2008... Washington Mutual chief executive Kerry Killinger is the latest in a string of CEOs forced to surrender his chairman title. This follows on the heels of Wachovias Ken Thompson and Citigroups Charles Prince, both of whom also were eventually...

Leadership: To Split or Not to Split: That is the Top Question: The growing push to separate chairman, CEO jobs.
July 1, 2008... Had Ken Thompson been Wachovias CEO and Lanty Smith the chairman instead of Thompson holding both roleswould the bank still have leapt feet-first into the overheated mortgage market and bought Golden West Financial at the height of the housing...

Scene and Heard.
July 1, 2008... Theres a lot of experimentation and a lot of noise among all the players. Theyre creating an echo system that is maturing, but its slow. -Andi dervishi, an investment officer with the Global Information and Communication Technologies...

Hits and Has-Beens.(Merrill Lynch & Company Inc. appoints Peter Kraus)(JPMorgan Chase & Co. appoints Peter Scher)(Bank of America Private Wealth Management appoints David Edwards )(Brief article)
July 1, 2008... Merrill Lynch hired Goldman alum Peter Kraus as evp and management-group member. Peter Scher, a former Clinton administration official, has been named evp in charge of global government affairs for JPMorgan Chase. TriState Capital Bank...

Fresh Ink.(Financial Bancorp merge with Harleysville National Corp.)(Ohios First Place Financial Corp. aquires Camco Financial Corp)(CSB Bancorp Inc. aquires Ohio bank Indian Village Community Bank)(Brief article)
July 1, 2008... 1. King of Prussia, PA-based Willow Financial Bancorp will merge into Harleysville National Corp. The deal was for $162 million in common stock. Willow has $1.6 billion in assets. 2. Ohios First Place Financial Corp. grew its footprint in...

No Sex, But Lies and Videotape Abound in International Spy Thriller.(Credit Suisse Group)(American Express Bank Ltd. (New York, New York))
July 1, 2008... Is all fair in love, warand, ah, business? Just ask American Express Bank. In a case reminiscent of a Robert Ludlum thriller, AEB is suing Credit Suisse, claiming the Swiss bank sent an employee, posing as compliance officer, to AEBs Santiago...

Noted and Noteworthy.(Merrill Lynch & Company Inc.)(Morgan Stanley)(Brief article)
July 1, 2008... Finding a guilty party to sue over losses in the mortgage market and the credit crisis is easy. Winning in court is more difficult. Retail and institutional shareholders are accusing UBS, Merrill Lynch, MBIA and Morgan Stanley of hiding...

Repairing Libor's Credibility Crisis: The interbank rate set by the British Bankers' Association is being threatened. Can this venerable benchmark, on which markets have depended for 22 years, be saved?(London Interbank Offered Rate)(British Bankers' Association)
July 1, 2008... The credit crunch is highlighting the cracks in the foundation of Libor, illuminating how a benchmark dependent on participants trust unravels when fear dominates the market. To help restore confidence, the British Bankers Association is...

Core banking: Suddenly, SAP: For a company whose clients include 21 of the world's 30 largest banks, SAP doesn't get much respect in North American banking circles. But the German firm may be near a breakthrough, thanks to the ambitious plans of a Canadian institution to change its core banking platform for $100 million.
July 1, 2008... Ken Caseys $100 million job, replacing the vital core banking platform at the heart of his institution, is a pressing matter under the broad prairie skies of Alberta. Answering that call is a German enterprise -application giant. That this...

Phishing: PayPal Tosses Line To Snarl the Biz Model: Tactics by PayPal have greatly reduced the amount of phishmail targeteding eBay and PayPal users. The company has issued a frank paper outlining its success.
July 1, 2008... The saying goes, If somethings not working, try something else. And clearly, when it comes to the financial services and retail industries response to phishing, somethings not working. Unique phishing attacks reported to the Anti-Phishing...

FNBO Taps Savers' Inner 'Spielberg': First National Bank of Omaha has a 150-year history, but it's diving into the 21st century with a vengeance, launching a Web-based savings "challenge" to build its direct bank.(First National Bank of Omaha)
July 1, 2008... Sure, First National Bank of Omaha may predate the Model-T Ford and modern baseball, but this hoary, Midwestern bank knows how to adapt to the times. The bank has been around for 150 years, but its not looking to coast on its reputation....

AD Beat: Discover's Loyalty Play: Online Paydown Planning: Discover wants to be consumers' best friend with a campaign highlighting its Paydown Planner. Another new tool details how long it will take to pay for that spiffy plasma TV.
July 1, 2008... Officials at Discover Financial Services had a bright idea with a new advertising campaign designed to help customers with one of their thorniest problems: high credit-card debt and an often no-clue attitude about how to pay off the balance and...

Big Calling: How mobile banking is eradicating poverty in emerging economies.
July 1, 2008... Cellphone banking is emerging as an important link that could bring the most basic financial services to the globes billions of unbanked cellphone users. Bringing the unbanked into the formal economy is a key initiative of various...

CheckSpring Community Bank Checks (Out) the Bronx: With a vast number of unbanked immigrants, the South Bronx may seem an unlikely place to open a new bank, especially in a shaky economy. Limited competition, though, may spell profit.(Company overview)
July 1, 2008... Back in 1982, New York National Bank was founded in the Bronx. But regulators say its been 25 long years since another de novo has dared the same feat in this New York City borough of 1.3 million residents. But CheckSpring Community Bank is...

The Year of Living Dangerously: Banks Cope with Fallout: Originations have fallen through the basement, and that lost business has had serious consequences. More than 200 lenders of subprime and Alt-As either eliminated the product or closed up shop.
July 1, 2008... Theres no pretty way to state the obvious: Subprime-origination volumes were hammered last year after concerns about delinquencies, credit quality and declining home values ravished the market. According to figures compiled by National...

Top Residential Originators.
July 1, 2008... As of December 31, 2007 (dollars in millions) Origination Volume % % Rank Organization Name 2007 2006 Change Market Share Mkt Shr % pt. +/- 1 Countrywide Financial Corp. (1) Calabasas, CA $408,234 $460,387 -11%...

Top Residential Servicers.(Company rankings)
July 1, 2008... As of December 31, 2007 (dollars in millions) Servicing Volume ($MM) % % Rank Organization Name 2007 2006 Change Market Share Mkt Shr% pt. +/- 1 Countrywide Financial Corp. (1)...

As Some Flee Mortgage Mess, Others Seizing the Day: Eventually, the mortgage marketplace will rebound. And when it does, institutions such as Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase and ING plan to be ready to catch the upside.
July 1, 2008... As tough a year as 2007 was and 2008 is shaping up to be, some banks see a rare opportunity to grab market share: Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase and ING have made moves, some long planned, others more reactive to current events, but all with...

Residential Jumbo Lenders.(Company rankings)
July 1, 2008... As of December 31, 2007 (dollars in millions) Servicing Volume ($MM) % Rank Jumbo Lender 2007 2006 Change 1 Wells Fargo San Francisco, CA $61,844 $73,116 -15% 2 Countrywide...

Top GNMA Issuers.(Government National Mortgage Association)(Company rankings)
July 1, 2008... Reflects annual issuance volume, As of December 31, 2007 (dollars in millions) Servicing Volume ($MM) % Rank GNMA Issuer 2007 2006 Change 1 Countrywide Calabasas, CA $20,691 $11,991...

Small-Company Failures May Cause Big Migraines: As the economy worsens, small businesses are failing at a quickening pace. Banks are worried, as well they should be, because the failure of small-business loans are certain to follow.(Survey)
July 1, 2008... Oil has topped $139 a barrel. Food prices are skyrocketing. Utilities are pricier than ever. Inflation is on the march. Its no wonder that small-business owners are none too confident about their future. Indeed, no matter where one turns,...

Low-Cost Financing In a High-Risk World: A growing number of Fortune 1000 companies and their suppliers are turning to Orbian's and PrimeRevenue's supply-chain-finance platforms to access cheaper financing than is possible through conventional banking relationships.
July 1, 2008... Crises often create opportunities; todays credit crunch is doing just that for supply-chain finance companies whose technology allows buyers and sellers across the globe to track invoices and settle commercial trade transactions in a highly...

A Baby Boomer Stampede May Prove Just a Trot: Wealth-management advisors might have to prepare themselves for fewer Baby Boomers-and fewer assets-than has been so often been projected. And competition among banks will be fierce.
July 1, 2008... As Baby Boomers move into their 60s, banks wealth-management divisions have reason to be excited. At least, thats what conventional wisdom has held for years now. But what if that oft-cited number of 78 million Boomers, retiring in the next...

The Ten Commandments Of Integrating an Acquisition.
July 1, 2008... JPMorgan Chases recent acquisition of Bear Stearns has put the question of effective integration in the spotlight. Given that further industry consolidation is inevitable, due not only to the need for additional capital, but also because the...

Avoiding a Marketing Meltdown.
July 1, 2008... As traditional marketing campaigns falter in a soft market, leading players are embracing targeted initiatives based on priority locales, customers and products. Even in the best of times, retail-bank marketing teams face loads of performance...

A 'Radical' Answer to Credit-Ratings Conflict: The conflicts of interest in the credit ratings business is a dilemma 75 years in the making. There is, however, a surprisingly simple solution.
July 1, 2008... Old crimes cast long shadows. The scene of this particular crime is the financial collapse in the 1930s, when shell-shocked bank regulators decided to enshrine a handful of ratings agencies with the de facto regulatory power to judge the...