US Banker articles from June 2005

US Banker archives from June 2005

By Day, Man of Steel. At Night? Sweating Bullets.: Philip Purcell's public assault by the Group of Eight, former Morgan execs who also wield shareholder clout, is about more than just the investment bank. It's about power, pride and the price of bad leadership.
June 1, 2005... It's the question on everyone's mind: How much sleep do you think Morgan Stanley chief Philip Purcell is getting these days? While he publicly has shown barely a crack in his veneer, Purcell must be sweating bullets at night. His fight to...

Stock Exchanges: Opposition Swells Against The Two Proposed Mergers: Detractors say valuations are out of whack.
June 1, 2005... Two lawsuits. A surprise inside takeover bid. Not to mention stock downgrades, grumbling brokers and floor traders worried they'll soon belong in the Smithsonian. In the wake of April's stock- exchange merger announcements by both the New York...

Scene and Heard.
June 1, 2005... "I wasn't expecting a detailed plan. It's not the forum." Peyton Patterson, CEO of NewAlliance Bank, on Morgan Stanley CEO Philip Purcell's remarks at the May 10 UBS conference. "How many public companies start in your community?" ...

Risk Management Banks' Counterparty Risk: Indirect lending to hedge funds prompts concern.
June 1, 2005... Credit risk managers are scrambling to keep track of multifaceted exposures to hedge funds. The industry's torrid growth has propelled assets past an estimated $1 trillion, but that's just equity capital. Most funds leverage their portfolios...

Hits and Has-Beens.(appointments)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2005... KeyCorp has named Linda A. Grandstaff (pictured) and Pamela A. Carson to top management posts. Grandstaff was named chief bank secrecy act officer and evp of the Risk Management Group, responsible for the development and enterprise-wide...

FreshInk.(Brief Article)
June 1, 2005... 1. Boston Private Financial Holdings made its first move into the Florida market with a $245 million acquisition of Gibraltar Bank. Boston Private said its goal is to have a major presence in the nation's fastest-growing regions. It's now in...

Outsourcing: Philippines Situates Itself as Alternative: 'Don't just think, India,' it says.
June 1, 2005... The Philippines is becoming a global hub for outsourcing for U.S. banks and credit card companies, and the nation isn't shy about asking more firms to come on over. According to Eugene Reyes, trade representative at the Philippine Trade &...

Pipeline: Fifty percent of small Banks to add Branches.(Brief Article)
June 1, 2005... More than half of community banks are planning to add one to five new branches in 2005 and 2006, according to a research project funded by NewGround, which also says 39 percent will maintain current branches, and two percent will decrease their...

Solving a Conundrum.
June 1, 2005... When it comes to oration, Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan is no Winston Churchill. So perhaps his memorable lines are so memorable because there have been so darn few of them for a man on the public stage for a couple decades now. His "irrational...

Noted and Noteworthy.
June 1, 2005... When it comes to dream jobs, turns out that some banks are, well, just dreamy. A recent survey of more than 4,700 MBAs at 50 U.S. schools conducted by Universum Communications, found that four financial institutions are in the top 10: Citigroup...

Bad Apples? Where's the Rot, Really?: The new bankruptcy law will likely halt some consumer abuse, but that is hardly where all the trouble lies. The credit card industry should take a hard look in the mirror.
June 1, 2005... Mothers are fond of dusting off the old aphorism that one bad apple spoils the whole bunch, and the new bankruptcy law is a warning to all McIntoshes and Granny Smiths: Those seeking to easily wipe out their debts-and serial offenders-will no...

Business Management: BofA Tackles Six Sigma: The quality-based statistical measurement has finally invaded financial services. But is it making the same difference that it did in manufacturing?(Bank of America)
June 1, 2005... With its origins deep in the shop floor of Motorola, Six Sigma is not immune to the misconception it is a process improvement program only a manufacturing company could love. But try telling that to Bank of America, which credits its 2001...

Banks are Quietly Wooing Undocumented Immigrants: Many illegal aliens are hard-working, tax-paying U.S. citizen wannabes-and banks are banking on their desire to be homeowners, too. And why not? There's no law against it.
June 1, 2005... As Washington signals a more lenient immigration policy toward the nation's eight million to 11 million undocumented aliens, U.S. banks like Fifth Third, North Shore Bank and Second Federal Savings & Loan, are quietly courting this group for...

AD Beat: Key Plays to Aspirations With Inspiring Campaign: Traveling with Key's new ads is like riding a cliche-mobile. They're making consumers smile, but will they enjoy the ride enough to choose Key for their banking needs?
June 1, 2005... When GSW Worldwide took over KeyBank's "achieve anything" campaign in 2001, it had a definite 1990s feel, says Kurt Richards, creative director at the agency. It had been pegged to "big lofty dreams" underscored by a '90s sentiment of wealth...

Purcell's (Very Public) Predicament: The bruising power struggle at the Tony Wall Street shop is taking its toll, as Morgan Stanley's stock price stalls and talent walks. The escalating conflict is weakening the No. 2 investment bank, making it ripe for a takeover. Even if CEO Philip Purcell survives, the war has rocked the firm to its core - and could signal the demise of the 1997 merger.
June 1, 2005... The rumbling of war drums circling Morgan Stanley's Philip Purcell is deafening. Since lackluster stock performance sparked a group of dissident alumni in late March to publicly agitate for corporate change, the embattled chairman and CEO has...

Holding on to Those: Banking California's wineries can be both profitable and glamorous. It's Small wonder why banks are pouring into this business. Newcomers are pushing the pricing envelope, but luring business is no guarantee of Success in a niche requiring specialized know-how.
June 1, 2005... Robert McMillan admits that he balked when Silicon Valley Bank's management dispatched him to the Napa Valley in the early '90s to launch a wine lending business. Brought up in the Santa Clara, CA-based bank's hard-driving tech culture, an...

Going Private: Public community banks, facing an expensive and growing raft of regulations, are rethinking their trading status. As the CEO of Nicolet Bankshares says, the analysis leads to one inescapable conclusion: reverse course.
June 1, 2005... It seemed like a good idea at the time. Like many community banks, when Nicolet Bankshares was founded in 2000 it decided to go immediately public, and did so for basically two reasons: to create a sense of ownership of the bank within the...

For the Enterprising, Health Savings Funds Are Anything But Bitter Medicine: The number of health savings accounts could hit 6.3 million by 2008, but only a few banks are making a genuine effort to cash in on the boom. Is yours?
June 1, 2005... Health-savings accounts are expected to grow 1,500 percent over the next three years-and banks are scrambling to get a piece of the pie, though with mixed results. Such accounts are projected to hit 6.3 million by 2008, up from today's...

Bad Loans + Private Equity = Germany: A vibrant new market prompts both challenges and opportunities for U.S. private-equity players.
June 1, 2005... The shiny glass towers of downtown Frankfurt can wink like Dallas or Houston, and lately the resemblance is even more striking. Frankfurt is presiding over an emerging marketplace of a mountain of bad debt, a good bit of it from...

De Novo Banks Draw Interest From IRA Investors: As investors continue to seek out alternative investments, the gains at de novo banks have not gone unnoticed. It's illiquid, long-term and tailor-made for IRA funds.(Individual retirement accounts)
June 1, 2005... As San Clemente, CA-based Pacific Coast National Bancorp prepares to open for business on May 16, it has tapped into an obscure, but growing, source of startup capital: individual retirement accounts. IRA investments made up about 25...

2005 Best Picks: Middle-Market Targets in Tech Sector: Mathematical models show that inefficient firms are likely takeover targets. Why? Inefficient use of resources, which makes it easier for the buyer to find post-takeover cost savings that increase profitability.
June 1, 2005... What if you could predict which firms would be the targets of acquisition offers this year? Could you make a bid for one of them in advance of the competition? Or would you simply invest in the shares of the target firms in the hopes of...

Best Pick: Cellular-Equipment Manufacturers.(Brief Article)(Illustration)
June 1, 2005... Market Share SMBL Company Name Sales Cap return JDSU JDS Uniphase Corp 675.90 2846.03 -61.50 GILTF Gilat Satellite Networks Ltd 190.18 156.24 -27.70 HLIT ...

Best Pick: Network/PC Manufacturers.(Brief Article)
June 1, 2005... Market Share SMBL Company Name Sales Cap Return ETS Enterasys Networks 414.54 315.78 -45.70 MRVC MRV Communications 238.98 388.76 -4.50 EXBT ...

Most Likely Buyers in the Tech Sector.(Brief Article)
June 1, 2005... Market Share SMBL Comapny Name Sales Cap Return PC/Network Manufacturers CSCO Cisco Systems 22,045.00 75.00% -25.54 ELX Emulex Corp. 364.40 ...

U.S. Banker Advertising Contacts.(Brief Article)(Directory)
June 1, 2005... GROUP PUBLISHER Jay Berfas Thomson Media One State Street Plaza New York, NY 10004 Tel: 212.803.8690 Fax: 646.264.6800 U.S. BANKER ACCOUNT REPRESENTATIVES Southeast/Mid-Atlantic Publisher David...

The De Novo Branch Trap.(Banking industry)
June 1, 2005... The financial services industry is caught in the de novo branching trap, and the walls may be quickly closing in. According to Tom Brown, a banking analyst at bankstocks.com, the estimated population growth in the United States between 2003...

The U.S. Hispanic Community: One Market or Many?
June 1, 2005... Hispanics are the most rapidly growing ethnic group in the United States. And because they're also becoming increasingly affluent, their importance to financial services marketers has never been greater. To tap into this burgeoning consumer...

Large U.S. Hispanic Markets.(Brief Article)
June 1, 2005... Hispanic Descent-Highest Market Population Concentration Los Angeles 7.8 Million Mexican New York 4.3 Million Puerto Rican Miami 1.8 Million Cuban Houston 1.8...

Markets With High Concentrations Of Hispanics.(Brief Article)
June 1, 2005... McAllen, TX 95% El Paso, TX 88% San Antonio ,TX 60% Fresno-Visalia, CA 50% Source: U.S. Census, Advertising Age Hispanic Fact Book, 2004 (c) 2005 U.S. Banker and SourceMedia, Inc. All...

U.S. Hispanic Population As Compared to Entire Country.(Brief Article)
June 1, 2005... Hispanic U.S. Demographics Consumers Population Median Adult Age 37 47 Median Household Income $34,000 $45,000 Average Household Size ...

Following decades of pretty much status quo, banking has become a business marked by change.
June 1, 2005... Products and services that were just pie-eyed dreams of futurists a generation or two ago have become indispensable tools for customers and bankers alike, and often must coexist with seemingly inconsistent demands. Consider, for example,...