US Banker articles from June 2008

US Banker archives from June 2008

Rants and Raves: Advancing Female Leadership.
June 1, 2008... As an executive of a $400 million bank, I am pleased you are forming the Womens Leadership Council to serve as a steering committee to better serve women (25mpwib.com). I ask that you include community bankers. An inclusive network will enhance...

The Downside of Expense Management? Revenue.: Banks hit hard by writedowns are desperate for ways to shore up their financials. Aggressive management of expenses is first on the to-do list. But it often comes at the expense of profits.
June 1, 2008... Its a predictable outcome in the wake of the credit crisis. When the going gets tough, institutions start cutting expenses, particularly in headcount. In the past nine months, tens of thousands of jobs in financial services have been earmarked...

GSEs: Doing the Two-Step: As Reform Ebbs, Congress Doles Out More Rope: Agencies wrestle with losses, trimmed dividends.(Report)
June 1, 2008... Government-sponsored enterprises Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which together make up 80 percent of the U.S. housing market, are emerging from dark days to become pivotal players in resurrecting the damaged housing market. The urgency of...

Scene and Heard.
June 1, 2008... A postnup is an attempt to avoid divorce. If you have someone married 30 years and one of the parties has a midlife crisis, you dont want to throw it all away. - Stuart S. Greenfeig of Stein Sperling, on why spouses pursue postnuptual...

Customer Experience: Banks Should Seek Fans, Not Just Customers: Why customer experience really does count.
June 1, 2008... It may seem like a no-brainer that good customer service can increase revenue for a bank. Now, however, perhaps because of current economic conditions, the banking industry is finally getting the point. According to the American Customer...

Hits and Has-Beens.
June 1, 2008... Vaughan Brown (left) becomes evp of Synovus, the Columbus, GA, financial-services firm. It also elevated Samuel F. Hatcher (right) to evp, general counsel and corporate secretary. Todd Brice has been named CEO of S&T Bank of Indiana, PA....

FreshInk.(Empire Bank acquired Greene County Bank)(First Clover Leaf Financial Corp. acquired Partners Financial Holdings Inc.)(First Florida Bank acquired Synovus Financial Corp.)(Brief article)
June 1, 2008... 1. Empire Bank of Springfield, MO, which has $727 million in total assets, bought $38 million-asset Greene County Bank, which has four branches, for an undisclosed amount. 2. In a cash and stock deal, Edwardsville, IL-based First Clover...

In Careful Pursuit of Growth: Top 200 Community banks ranked by 3-Year Average ROE.(Company rankings)
June 1, 2008... They avoided the enticements of subprime mortgages. They controlled expenses and capitalizations. As a result, community banks on this years Top 200 list, based on three-year average return on equity, maintained remarkably high returns on...

How a Tiny Country Became First National Credit Casualty.
June 1, 2008... Financial disbelievers who cant fathom how the subprime mortgage virus could have infected others around the world would do well to consider the story of Iceland, which many financial-industry observers are calling the Bear Stearns of the North...

Noted and Noteworthy.(banks raise environmental awareness efforts)(Brief article)
June 1, 2008... On National Arbor Day in April, a handful of Manhattan toddlers learned how to plant a tree with the help of Citi Cards. The children at Jack & Jill Preschool at E. 16th Street took part in the second annual Plant-A-Tree event, part of the...

Upending an Idol of Globalization: The subprime-mortgage crisis has spurred a raft of economic essays on whether the free flow of capital - especially access to credit-has helped developing nations grow.
June 1, 2008... Theres nothing like a global economic crisis to draw together great minds to debate. Three recent reports dissect what the subprime-mortgage crisis has taught economy watchers about financial globalization, particularly unfettered access to...

Compliance: The Battle to Keep Compliance Talent: Top compliance executives must not only mind the details, increasingly they must be great communicators in the boardroom, and great politicians with regulators.(Report)
June 1, 2008... As financial institutions wade through an ever-deepening regulatory swamp, William J. Fox sees an escalating war for compliance talent. There isnt a day that goes by that three or four of my folks dont get called by a headhunter, says the Bank...

Budgets March Higher: Five in 10 FIs plan to spend more on GRC in 2008.(Governance, Risk, and Compliance)(financial institutions)(Survey)
June 1, 2008... In a clear indication of how much time and money financial institutions are devoting to governance, risk management and compliance (better known by its acronym GRC), in todays turbulent economy, a survey by AMR Research found that GRC budgets...

The Changing Faces Of College Students: Banks salivate at the thought of college students as customers but don't always understand this evolving demographic. The upside of effective marketing is huge.
June 1, 2008... As the demographics of college students continues to change, so do the ways banks are trying to market to this potentially valuable segment. Still, it can be daunting to reach out to this group because college students are so varied in their...

AD Beat: Tepid Applause Echoes For WaMu's 'Whoo Hoo!': Washington Mutual's new campaign has some clever TV spots and straight-forward display ads that should connect with consumers. Yet it lacks the edge of past efforts.
June 1, 2008... Washington Mutuals new ad campaign suggests the bank is so outstanding people want to cheer or shout: Whoo hoo! The creative is at times clever, distinctive and consistent with the banks customer-friendly brand. But the ads also lack the...

The Lesser Two Evils: With a fire sale looming, troubled National City turned to a big private-equity-led bailout to retain its independence. The $7 billion capital injection gives CEO Peter Raskind the chance to plot a recovery from the mortgage mess on his own terms. But inviting in private equity comes at a steep price to many existing shareholders, and may only delay an eventual sale.
June 1, 2008... Itd be easy to pity Peter Raskind. The 29-year industry veteran finally got his shot at the big time last July when he was named CEO of National City Corp., the nations 10th-largest banking company. A week later, the subprime-related liquidity...

Select List of Private-Equity Capital Infusions.(Table)
June 1, 2008... Institution/Date Infusion Source and Sum CITIGROUP January 15, 2008 Capital Research, Capital World: portion of $5.6 billion April 30, 2008 Undisclosed PE fund, portion of $7 billion E*TRADE November...

When Big Banks Retreat Small Banks Rush In: Many community bankers expect to increase single-family lending in 2008, according to an American Bankers Association survey, despite industry-wide declines. Why are they so optimistic?
June 1, 2008... With many big banks cutting back mortgage lending for single-family homes, Main Street banks are looking to gain ground in their local communities by grabbing the business left on the table. City Bank of Lynnwood, WA, has seen several...

Overdraft and ATM Fees Rise, As Economy Slumps: Upping overdraft and ATM fees has become the new strategy for many banks caught in the downward economy. Is it worth the bad taste it leaves in consumers' mouths?
June 1, 2008... Consumers are always wary of being nickel-and-dimed to death, and thanks to the current economic malaise, more banks are heading in that direction. Many of the biggest banks are raising fees for ATM usage and overdrafts, which analysts say isnt...

A Small-Company Value: Caring About the World: Small-business owners are accelerating the move to socially responsible investing, whether it's sending money to entrepreneurs abroad, or it's giving employees access to certain mutual funds.
June 1, 2008... Small-business owners often can remember that first person or company who helped them start their businesses. With social responsibility on many tongues these days, countless small-business owners are looking to give back. Executives at...

Credit Freeze Spreads Beyond Loan Market: Banks scrutinize every commercial and industrial borrower. Even if a business is credit-worthy and enjoying an "up" cycle, lenders are leery about tying up capital.
June 1, 2008... The credit crunch has spread from prospective homeowners to credit-card holders to the commercial-loan market. Now its freezing up commercial credit lines, letters of credit and revolving credit. Sears, Talbots and E*Trade are the public faces...

Following a Vow of 'I Do' With 'OK, Now Sign Here': Postnuptial agreements are becoming more common as the level of wealth among married American couples rises. But there's nothing ordinary about these mid-marriage events.(Survey)
June 1, 2008... For Alton L. Abramowitz, a lawyer specializing in matrimonial issues at the New York City firm of Mayerson Stutman Abramowitz Royer, postnuptials used to be as rare as earthquakes in Chicago. Twenty-five years ago one hit his desk every four or...

Quest For Talent Is Driving Evolution in Outsourcing.
June 1, 2008... The competition for talent among major global financial institutions is rapidly escalating and is one of the most profound challenges facing senior management. When combined with the ever-present spectre of regulatory risk and the challenge of...

FASB Lobs a Balance-Sheet Bombshell: Look out: Securitized investment vehicles, collateralized debt obligations and other exotic investment products are headed for bank balance sheets if FASB has its way. But is reform happening too fast?(Financial Accounting Standards Board)
June 1, 2008... Losses tied to banks off-balance-sheet subprime-mortgage investments have reached into the hundreds of billions of dollars and caused some real soul searching among the nations top accounting group, The Financial Accounting Standards Board,...