US Banker articles from May 2004

US Banker archives from May 2004

Scandals Lowering BofA's Higher Standards? Nah.: For corporate America, it's a case study in governance and agility. It is less about ethics than about safeguarding Bank of America's reputation.(Securities and Exchange Commission)
May 1, 2004... Ken Lewis is a decisive man. I've read his internal memos; suffice it to say he doesn't mince his words. So the question is, what does Lewis do to preserve Bank of America's image-anchored by a "Higher Standards" tagline-while simultaneously...

Philanthropy: Pumping Dollars into the Education Revolution: Finance firms help DonorsChoose.org take flight.
May 1, 2004... At 11 a.m. on school days, first graders in Cynthia Rosato's English-as-a-second-language class at PS 169 in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, earnestly sound out words from books they were deprived of just months ago. "I'm at 'Level H' reading,"...

Scene and Heard.(Maxim Group and Portales Partners)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2004... "Once the pig is through the python, the party is over." Barry Ritholtz, market strategist at Maxim Group, on the short-term impact of rate cuts. "I'm tending to shy away right now from talking too much about credit. Nobody cares." ...

Pay Packages: Stock Options Come Under the Microscope: How efficient is the market? Players will find out.
May 1, 2004... With proxy season in full swing, investors are learning that CEOs across the board cashed in billions of dollars of stock options last year while valuations were high. It may be the last big options payday for a long time as market sources say...

Hits and Has-Beens.(promotions)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2004... BankAtlantic has promoted three of its executives. Lloyd DeVaux has been named chief operating officer, formerly evp, technology and operations. Susan D. McGregor joins the executive management committee, stepping up from svp to evp. She...

Fresh Ink.(banking industry)
May 1, 2004... 1. Hawaii-based BancWest Corp., a subsidiary of BNP Paribas, will pay $1.2 billion in cash for Community First Bankshares to solidify its position in the West and push into the Midwest. The price represents a 14 percent premium to the average...

Retail Banking: Banks Think Globally But Price Locally: Compared to Europe, U.S. prices are just average.
May 1, 2004... American consumers who gripe about exorbitant checking fees and 23 percent credit card interest rates can now put their aggrievement in perspective. A new report from Cap Gemini Ernst & Young finds that when it comes to everyday banking prices,...

Pipeline.
May 1, 2004... Insuring Against Obesity The increasing prevalence of obesity is too significant for the life insurance industry to ignore, according to a Swiss Re study. Recent estimates put obesity in the developed world at around 10 percent to 20...

Politics: Committee Chairman Faces Major Issues, Draws Praise: Progress, but no GSE resolution before election.
May 1, 2004... By the second week of April the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs committee under the chairmanship of Richard C. Shelby (R-AL) had addressed the two major issues on the committee's agenda for 2004-how to regulate Fannie Mae and Freddie...

Government by Goldman.(Goldman Sachs)
May 1, 2004... With one foot in the Senate and another gaining purchase at the top rung of the Big Board, Goldman Sachs alums continue big steps through American power corridors. It's not like the elite Street firm's suddenly a Skull-and-Bones, an...

Noted and Noteworthy.(Wells Fargo's Elder Services unit unique in the business-is a small one, tailored to the firm's oldest clients.)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2004... Not to be grim, but when this outfit loses customers, it's no shame to tip a cap to the competition. Wells Fargo's Elder Services unit-practically, if not completely, unique in the business-is a small one, tailored to the firm's oldest clients....

To: Paul From: Alan Re: Wall Street: Over the last few years Washington has been a tough place to get hard information, i.e. on paper. Courtesy of the former Treasury Secretary, a few docs float to the surface.(information revealed by Paul O'Neill as quoted in Ron Suskind's book The Price of Loyalty)
May 1, 2004... Paul O'Neill sure kicked up a ruckus. But this isn't about O'Neill's star turn in The Price of Loyalty, Ron Suskind's Beltway page-turner, so those spoiling for a fight right away can calm down. I haven't read the book through yet myself...

Counterfeit Checks are The Forgotten Fraud: With all the attention on ID theft, old-fashioned check fraud is getting easier than ever. It may actually account for the majority of cases categorized as identity-related crime.
May 1, 2004... Only a few decades ago, fooling a bank into cashing a counterfeit check required forgery skills, a nomadic attitude and steady confidence. Modern technology, however, has since lowered the bar. "It's probably about 2,000 times easier today than...

Key to Home Lending is In Multicultural Markets: Financial firms are ramping up efforts aimed at emerging markets and anticipate a deluge of new mortgage business. Community outreach and education are crucial.
May 1, 2004... Economists and bankers predict that ethnic groups, particularly immigrants and other first-time homebuyers, will be a booming segment for new mortgage business, even as interest rates rise. Banks several years into multicultural marketing...

AD Beat: The Quiet Midwesterner Speaks at Last: One of the largest non-New York-based brokerage firms pipes up after more than a century of silence with an inaugural national campaign preaching ethics and devotion.
May 1, 2004... After 117 years of low-key, referral marketing, St. Louis-based A.G. Edwards is launching its first mass media campaign. Less saucy than Charles Schwab, but more so than Morgan Stanley, the $20 million national print, television and on-line...

Rekindling the Magic, One Campaign at a T[bar]me: Mad Ave.'s been turned upside-down. John Staffen landed at Arnold Worldwide, New York and says imagination is the ad industry's missing link.(Interview)
May 1, 2004... Like banking, the advertising industry is increasingly dominated by a handful of large conglomerates. And just as on Wall Street, Madison Avenue has seen many changes in its executive suites. Arnold Worldwide, owned by the smallest of the "big...

One If by Land, Two If by Sidhu: The blustery Nor'east may not own the blues. But it's been the crossroads for many over the last few years, showing what can happen when mid-size players get caught in the middle. Sovereign's Jay Sidhu, among others, hopes to get his due by getting word out to the countryside.
May 1, 2004... Fifteen years of hard work and deal-making have brought Jay Sidhu to an intriguing crossroad. His Philadelphia-based Sovereign Bancorp is a frequent subject of takeover talk. At least one source close to the thrift says Sidhu, the chairman and...

A House Strong as Its Weakest Link?: Top returns this year again echo Greenspan's interest rates. Flagstar, Fremont, TCF benefit. Can it continue?
May 1, 2004... Let the arguments over size and real estate continue, as USB's annual tea-leaf reading of bank and thrift performance provides a wide variety of results. First is that Flagstar, heading a surprising phalanx of home lenders, continues to...

Top 100 Publicly Traded Banks: Banks & thrifts with assets of $5.5 billion and up. Ranked by 3-year average ROE.(Illustration)
May 1, 2004... (part 1 of 3) Institution 1 Flagstar Bancorp 2 Hudson United Bancorp 3 Mellon Financial Corp. 4 North Fork Bancorp 5 Fremont General Corp. 6 Doral Financial Corp. 7 First...

In Farm Country, Chief Banks And Bottle Washers: Population loss in small-town America changes the rules and rhythms of daily life, turning the local bankers into much more than people who count money.
May 1, 2004... On a recent April day Terry Jorde, president and CEO of $37 million Country Bank in Cando, ND, spent the morning sifting through applications to help select a new CEO for the local hospital. After a brief time in the bank to get some work done...

A Little Extra in the Pocket This Month: A new initiative through the Independent Community Bankers Association lets member banks profit from mortgage reinsurance by spreading the risk. It's a boon for community banks, but don't forget to read the fine print.
May 1, 2004... The Independent Community Bankers of America has launched a mortgage reinsurance program in conjunction with Mortgage Insurance Guarantee Corp. that allows its members to earn insurance premiums they previously couldn't. ICBA is the first...

Loan Muscle Wears a Tie Now, Works Phones, Makes $$: Market shakeout leaves 20 agencies as major players, and with little bank competition, they're going after a mountain of late debts. First order of business, set up shop in India.
May 1, 2004... These are good times for the bill collectors. This year marked the first time that consumer debt excluding mortgages topped $2 trillion and fully $150 billion of that is estimated to be in the hands of a collection agency. That would be...

Building Shares and Wealth For the Masses: Fifty bucks a month may not seem worth messing with, but a co-branded Web site is making smaller investors profitable to banks by capturing and keeping their equity investments.
May 1, 2004... There's nothing worse than turning away a customer, but most banks have little to offer people with an extra $50 to $75 a month who want to invest in the stock market. It's a missed opportunity for both, especially since someone interested in...

U.S. Banker Advertising Contacts.(Brief Article)(Directory)
May 1, 2004... 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...

Offshore, On Strategy.
May 1, 2004... 2004 is expected to be the year of the offshore con-tact center. Manufacturers have successfully operated offshore for years. But contact centers are not factories: they deal directly with your customers. That's of special concern in the...