US Banker articles from June 2003

US Banker archives from June 2003

At the Six-Month Mark, 2003's Still a Nail-Biter: No matter how you slice it, 2003 is a swing year. Which way it swings is what has most industry players wringing their hands-and looking over their shoulders.
June 1, 2003... No matter how you slice it, 2003 is a swing year. Which way it swings is what has bankers, regulators, economists and politicians wringing their hands-and looking over their shoulders. There are indeed encouraging signs. The war in Iraq is...

Mergers: FDC-Concord: Done Deal?: The duo would control 70 percent of PIN-based debit.(First Data Corp and Concord EFS)
June 1, 2003... Now that First Data pulled the trigger, will federal regulators stick their fingers in the barrel? In a widely anticipated move, First Data-the firm behind Western Union and the largest processor of credit card purchases in the...

Scene and Heard.(Edward Lapham is tongue in cheek about how conservative captive finance firms used to be)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2003... "I can remember when the GMAC annual report said the average term of a new car loan had gone from 30 to 31 months and this was a horrible, horrible sign of what was coming for America and for American families." Edward Lapham, editor of...

Security: Betting Students Will Be Drawn to Ethical Hacking: Eager for better info protection, banks enroll.
June 1, 2003... Regulatory enforcement of the financial privacy and safeguard provisions of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act is starting in earnest this year, and banks realize they don't have the security experts on staff to comply and, even worse, the talent...

Hits and Has-Beens.(Former Credit Suisse First Boston investment banker Frank Quattrone facing 25 years if convicted on federal charges )(Brief Article)
June 1, 2003... From pinstripes to jailhouse orange? Former Credit Suisse First Boston investment banker Frank Quattrone's facing 25 years if convicted on federal charges of witness tampering and obstructing justice in connection with the allocation of hot...

Fresh Ink.(Plumas Bank will buy five branches from Placer Sierra Bank; notes other news)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2003... 1. Plumas Bank has agreed to buy five branches from Auburn, CA-based Placer Sierra Bank. The branches are located in Quincy, Portola, Loyalton, Truckee and Kings Beach, CA. The sale is subject to regulatory approval, but is expected to close...

On-line Brokerage: Tipping the Toll-takers: Firms hang on despite still dwindling trades.
June 1, 2003... Trading activity and assets are still down across the on-line brokerage industry, but all of the major players continue to add new accounts. Although competition is still fierce and remains focused on the best and cheapest trade execution,...

Pipeline.(California consumer groups try to rein in banks and other firms that hock customers' personal financial information; notes other news)
June 1, 2003... Unhand My Information! California consumer groups are trying once again to rein in banks and other firms that hock customers' personal financial information. State attorney general Bill Lockyer okayed a ballot initiative introduced by...

Regulation: Patriot Act's Price: Dollars and Sense?: Already scrambling for resources to comply, banks could face a sequel.
June 1, 2003... Disclosing financial activities in great detail has been a way of life for institutions. The Patriot Act requires an unprecedented level of transparency in the name of fighting criminals who use the financial system to secretly move money....

Has Booze and Bad Judgement Finally Caught Up with the Street? It Seems So.('Tales from the Boom-Boom Room: Women vs. Wall Street' is reviewed)(Book Review)
June 1, 2003... Tales from the Boom-Boom Room: Women vs. Wall Street By Susan Antilla Bloomberg Press, 342 pages, $26.95 The indiscretions of Wall Street never cease to amaze. Before the investment banking scandals of late that angered investors...

Lights Out, Party's Over (For Real).(cigar stores on Wall Street; Fifth Third-Franklin Financial deal)
June 1, 2003... The Brazilians say every cigar goes up in smoke, and at One Wall Street Court, the boxes once full of pungent leaf are gathering dust. It's been a year since J&R Discount Cigars, a massive store seemingly custom-built for the massive...

Noted and Noteworthy.
June 1, 2003... There's been a lot about bank robbers in this space lately, but this one's got to be mentioned. A Boca Raton man claimed when accused of a bank job that the red ink on his hands was not from exploding dye packs, that in fact he had been...

The Bank and the President: Interest rates are at a 40-year low, but they've still got room to set a record. As the president's men gear up for electioneering, perfect downward pressure will apply.
June 1, 2003... It was a cold winter with the country at war and a Texan in the White House. But rattled by official underestimates of troops needed in harm's way, this Fed hiked interest rates on Dec. 5. Right then, the winter got a lot colder. That one...

Imaging Technology: Getting Serious About Check 21-Finally: The average check is handled 12 times, so check image technology could sharply reduce error rates. But choosing a system depends on a bank's specific needs.
June 1, 2003... With federal legislation pending to give electronically imaged checks the same legal status as paper checks, more banks are looking seriously into imaging technology. The latest version of the Check Truncation Act (CTA)-known as Check 21-is...

Internet Banking: BofA's Climb to the Top Of the On-Line World: Ken Lewis is nobody's fool. With Americans pressed for time, he's betting the convenience of on-line services will pay off. So far, 5.2 million customers have proved him right.
June 1, 2003... She's worried about her kid's backpack. She thinks her kid is hungry. She's trying to fix a snack and she's trying to do it quickly. She's got a laptop on the kitchen counter where she should be preparing food. She chooses popcorn...

Name-Brand Calculus Or Imaginary Numbers?: As banks burnish their brand names and try to stand out from the crowd, consultants are trying to decode the connection to stock price. Some claim to be able to put a price on a brand, but many are still skeptical.(First Tennessee)
June 1, 2003... First Tennessee marketers think they've got it figured out. Folks there have been tracing dollar value to the bank brand for 15 years, attaching a balance sheet to the name over the front door. Most of the industry remains leery of...

Brand Equity by Industry: Q4 '02.(Brief Article)(Illustration)
June 1, 2003... Industry Avg % of market cap Avg dollar amount accounted for by brand (billions) Aerospace 10.0 $1.43 Beverages 12.5 ...

AD Beat: And Then I Went to the Bank, Yada, Yada, Yada: Julia Louis-Dreyfus thinks Commerce Bank's big shove into Manhattan is pitchworthy.
June 1, 2003... Seinfeld episode number 207 is one of Commerce Bank CEO Vernon Hill's favorites. Called "The Phone Message," it's the one where George goes through gyrations to swap tapes from the answering machine of a woman he's dating after leaving an...

Data Dumps Don't Produce. People Armed with Info Do.: Management consultant I. Barry Goldberg, founder of Matterhorn International, doesn't mince his words: If a bank wants better customer relationships, then it better change its infrastructure-starting with who's involved.(Interview)
June 1, 2003... In advising financial companies on customer strategy, I. Barry Goldberg, founder of Matterhorn International, makes no bones about telling clients that if they want successful data-driven initiatives, they had better commit to it up and down...

French Fries? Now That's Rich.: After two years on the streets, Citi's new age ads look less Sandy and more Jack Handey. A stretch, maybe, but chicks dig 'em.(Citibank)
June 1, 2003... Citibank's once lauded "Live Richly" campaign seems to be pushing the limits with outdoor ads featuring zen-lite messages such as "Every now and then, get fries with that." In case people get confused, Citi's letting them know it offers more...

Clock Ticks for Cleveland's Key: Henry Meyer plays it cool, betting he's built a team that has a chance to win. But it's not all up to him.
June 1, 2003... Actually, sitting at Henry Meyer's desk 800 feet up Key Tower means a view of the wall. Swivel the chair around, and there's the sleek flat-panel screen behind, plugged into markets and bleeping with the far-flung operations of an $86 billion...

Ratcheting Up Investments.(Separately managed account becomes indispensable investment tool in banks' wealth management strategies)
June 1, 2003... As the newest "it product," the separately managed account is rapidly becoming an indispensable investment tool in banks' wealth management toolboxes. And with assets projected to grow annually at 23 percent, SMAs are poised to become the...

Feeding Frenzy: Roving schools of activist shareholders are looking for slow-moving small fry to sink their teeth into. By the time the prey at community banks knows what's happening, it could be too late.
June 1, 2003... Small banks beware. Activist shareholders are on the prowl in packs, numbers increasing, and their success in forcing firms to sell out to the highest bidder is remarkable. For executives that just want to hold down a job and not rock the...

After Saddam: Rebuilding Iraq's Tattered Financial Sector.
June 1, 2003... Once upon a time in a land far, far away lived a ruler who sired humankind's first written code of laws, laying the groundwork for the globe's modern financial and legal systems. But Baghdad is no Babylon, and President Bush is no King...

American Enterprise, Wall Street Expertise.(Small business loans packaged into bonds and sold through investment banks are bargains)
June 1, 2003... Small business loans packaged into bonds and sold through investment banks are little-known bargains, a Wachovia analyst says. The deals may be hard to find, but they're a steal. Small business loans have always been one of the lesser...

Tapping the Jet Set Before They've Hit the Big Time: Twenty years ago, trust services were offered to the privileged few who possessed more than $1 million in investable assets. With affluence rapidly rising worldwide, the rules are changing.
June 1, 2003... Convergence of financial sectors is spurring fierce competition in wealth management, particularly for trust services. The frenzy to acquire more assets under management is prompting some companies to target less affluent investors, while big...

A Penny Saved Is a Penny Earned: Customers are socking away for a rainy day which is here already. Eyes are on whether they'll take a hammer to the piggy bank when and if the heady stock market returns, or whether they'll stay put.
June 1, 2003... Deposits zoomed at the nation's banks and thrifts over the last year-up an average 11.3 percent at the top 20 firms-as consumers in a long bear market looked for a safe haven for their money. The big question for banks is this: can they...

Revisiting Technology In Canandaigua: Instant messaging is trickling down into smaller bank systems. It stands to help them better cater to customers and face down competition from big bank rivals.(Canandaigua National Bank & Trust )
June 1, 2003... About four years ago, executives at Canandaigua National Bank & Trust decided to dump the bank's customer relationship management system because returns on the investment were meager. But as competition from bigger rivals ramps up, the upstate...

Investment Banks Find Strength And Liquidity in Numbers: With corporate bonds helping offset some of the market volatility, hyper-competitive investment banks have put aside differences and banded together to spur liquidity through a shared platform.
June 1, 2003... One of the few bright spots in the capital markets this year has been corporate bonds; not only has bond trading driven revenue at many Wall Street firms, it's been a good year for investors, who have seen prices continue to climb as interest...

Putting the Bustle On a Row of Hedge Funds: A few years after Meriwether made the secret world of hedge funds plain for the world to see-and almost brought Wall Street down while at it-there's sudden respect.
June 1, 2003... Once an obscure part of Wall Street, hedge funds have quickly become almost mainstream as institutional and retail investors strive to find investments that can beat the grinding bear market. As if to boldface this to the hoi polloi, several...

Economy Held Hostage By Saddam? In Reality, It's Plagued by Ongoing Fundamental Problems.: It could be argued the weakness in the U.S. economy was the result of pre-war tension. With fears of a drawn out conflict laid to rest, the nation must cope with consumer and corporate America's stunning lack of confidence.
June 1, 2003... Now that the "shock and awe" in Iraq is over, it's Americans who seem a bit shocked and awed-not by bombs, but by a sluggish economy that continues to flounder. After all, many predicted that economic weakness in the U.S. stemmed from...

Making the Practice of Business Impact Management Matter.
June 1, 2003... Executives in financial services are being challenged to justify future increases in technology investments after being on the short end of unfulfilled vendor promises. Unless technology initiatives provide significant return on investment...

U.S. Banker Advertising Contacts.
June 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...

Web Fraud Undetected? Not for Long.(Bank robbery no longer requires actual presence of the thief)
June 1, 2003... Bank robbery is still big business in America. From Jesse James to John Dillinger and Willie Sutton, bank robbers have always been among America's most infamous figures, and holdups still make the evening news every time. But surveillance...

Trends In Information Technology: The buzz phrases are as familiar as the names of baseball teams, yet not quite as popular. CRM. Business process outsourcing. HR management. Web services. So how does a bank keep up with innovation and produce results?
June 1, 2003... Many industry players have learned the hard way over the past few years that it's not how much technology a bank buys, but what it does with it that matters. With a number of market forces hitting them at once-consolidation, broader...