US Banker articles from November 2005

US Banker archives from November 2005

Finding the Country's Next Alan Greenspan: Alan Greenspan's stewardship of the economy has taken on an almost biblical meaning. Succeeding, never mind outperforming, him will be anything but easy.
November 1, 2005... His reign as chairman of the Federal Reserve, which ends in January, is legendary. Following in his footsteps could be hell. I don't envy Alan Greenspan's successor, nor the road that lies ahead. Greenspan's stewardship of the economy has taken...

Branch Expansion: Katrina Opens the Door For Iberiabank's Growth: Bank opens 12 mobile units to address need.(Hurricane Katrina 2005)
November 1, 2005... When Hurricane Katrina slammed into the Gulf Coast, financial institutions within and outside the affected areas took advantage of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.'s recommended relaxation of lending regulations to garner old-fashioned...

Scene and Heard.(Brief Article)
November 1, 2005... "Compensation will always be a lightening rod. There's such a difference between what middle America earns and what CEOs earn." MICHAEL P. KELLY, president of Michael Kelly Associates, an executive search firm, on why a growing number of...

MMDA: Banks Seen Losing Out to Mutual Funds: MMDAs now stand at $3.5 trillion, a high note.(money market deposits accounts)
November 1, 2005... Banks are losing their grip on their most basic depositors: those seeking money market savings accounts. Banks' assets in these accounts have soared 75 percent in five years, while its main competitor-the money market mutual fund-has declined...

Hits and Has-Beens.(appointments and promotions at banking industry)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2005... Barclays PLC has tapped Thomas L. Kalaris, now head of its investment banking activities in the Americas, to head its wealth-management unit in January. The London-based bank, which has announced plans to expand into other countries, is the...

Fresh Ink.(banking industry)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2005... 1. First Community Bancorp agreed to buy Cedars Bank for $120 million in cash. Cedars, which will be merged into First Community's Los Angeles unit, Pacific Western National Bank, will strengthen its Southern California footprint. First...

Security Breaches: Banks' Enemy Lies Deep Within: Deloitte findings reveal a spike in internal incidents.
November 1, 2005... The amount of attention the press has given to ID theft, data breaches and phishing suggests these are the greatest security threats faced by institutions. But while these external dangers can't be discounted, other hazards-notably attacks...

In Contract Breach, $436 Million Awarded to Astoria Federal.(Astoria Federal Savings and Loan Association)
November 1, 2005... After a 16-year battle with the U.S. government, Astoria Federal Savings Bank (successor to Long Island Savings Bank) of Lake Success, NY, was awarded $436 million in damages from the U.S. Court of Federal Claims on September 15 in a...

Wading Through HMDA-Data Muck: What does the new HMDA data show about banks' lending practices when it comes to racial, ethnic and gender differences? It's clear what it says, but it's not clear what it means.(Home Mortgage Disclosure Act)
November 1, 2005... The Federal Reserve's final release of aggregate Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data on September 13, presumably disclosed to spur more lenders to lend fairly to racial and ethnic minorities and by gender, may do much to further the cause of fair...

Federated Identity: Uncle Sam Comes Knocking: The U.S. government's interest in having banks help it form networks of federated identity is obvious. But so far, only four banks have signed on to Uncle Sam's E-Authentication Federation. Others may follow, but what's in it for them?
November 1, 2005... By some accounts, banks can accurately denote "who's who" of 90 percent of the U.S. population from a trove of authenticated identities. Reams of documents and data from customers have been compiled through "know-your-customer" regulations and...

Wireless Processing: Primerica Experiment In Insurance Pays Off: The insurer processes up to 35,000 policies a month, with over half coming in the last four days of the month. That crush prompted a need for a faster method.(Primerica Financial Services Inc. launches wireless insurance industry software)
November 1, 2005... When it comes to a new product rollout, any IT group would savor the kind of success that Primerica Financial Services has recently had. Primerica officials recently introduced wireless software that the IT staff had written to run on the...

Payroll Cards: City National Removes Branch Clutter With E-salaries: Salary debit cards create a safe, quick way for the unbanked to get paid. But liability issues loom that could hinder rapid adoption.(City National Bank of Florida uses payroll-card technology from Metavante to provide better service to its business customers)
November 1, 2005... City National Bank of Florida could see a potential problem from the traditional methods some of its business customers were using to pay their largely unbanked employees. These payroll methods required the bank to dispatch tellers to...

Turning Students Into Lifetime Clients: A new "family banking" product from Corillian allows parents to manage their teens' finances. The upside for banks? A foot in the door to future customers who need their own bank.
November 1, 2005... What is the best way for a bank to capture teen and young adult loyalty? Corillian Corp. hopes to convince institutions they can start with constraints on the purse strings. Keeping spendthrift college students away from their cash doesn't...

AD Beat: Banknorth Campaign Seeks Converts From the Inside: The recent spate of acquisitions by Portland, ME-based TD Banknorth has prompted a brand-awareness campaign across New England. Its biggest target? Bank employees.
November 1, 2005... In late September, Hudson United Bank of New Jersey sent a letter to its customers outlining the bank's recently announced acquisition by TD Banknorth. The Portland, ME-based bank, with assets of $31.5 billion, "is strongly committed to...

Executive Compensation & The Boardroom Dilemma: Investors shouldn't have to sift through every number on a proxy statement to determine total executive compensation. Now the SEC wants all payouts and perks-including costs for corporate jets and housing-out in plainer view.
November 1, 2005... Regulatory pressure, rising shareholder outrage and executive greed are colliding to create a perfect storm of hostility toward companies accused of paying exorbitant compensation packages to their CEOs and executive teams. For corporate...

The Director's Curse.
November 1, 2005... Pity the poor bank director. "Being a director these days is no picnic," quips Paula Todd, managing principal of consultant Towers Perrin. "Everybody is second guessing you. Somebody may want to sue you if they don't like your actions." ...

The year that was, the one ahead Exploding Mortgage sales, spiking Oil Prices and Sliding Savings Rates: In 2005, short-term interest rates rose while mortgage rates remained stable, prompting fears of recession. And as the savings rate headed south, M&A activity is on pace to become the slowest year in at least a decade. But the biggest surprise was energy-price hikes, which affect all sectors because, after all, everything moves.
November 1, 2005... It may not have been quite the best of times or the worst of times, but 2005 has had its ups and downs for banks and their customers. Banks have seen a major source of revenue fall this year as short-term rates increased their cost of...

A Dangerous Combination: Undersaving, Overspending.
November 1, 2005... It's an uncomfortable truth: Most Americans undersave and overspend at dangerous rates. Most Americans spend all of their paycheck on current consumption, or borrow to spend even more. But in July, the savings rate in America hit an all time...

In Atlanta, More Than Just Temperatures are Hot: One Georgia Bank is one of 14 new banks planning to pound a stake in this Southeast capital in the next year. What's the attraction? Well, for one, the 18-county hotspot is affluent, affluent, affluent.
November 1, 2005... How promising can one metropolitan area be? Promising enough to entice 14 de novo banks to open within 12 months. One Georgia Bank, a business-focused community bank due to open in the first quarter of 2006, is a proud member of those 14, all...

Biometrics Comes To the Heartland: Fayetteville, AR-based ANB Financial taking a big step for such a little bank: biometrics. And, no, this isn't about protecting the bank from outside attacks, but from internal sabotage.
November 1, 2005... A couple years ago, good security meant a good firewall at the periphery of a bank's network. Today, given the range of internal and external threats at financial institutions, that's no longer enough. Instead of installing security appliances...

Europe's ING Direct Bucks U.S. Tradition: European upstart ING Direct has become one of America's fastest-growing institutions with a strategy that treats banking as a price-sensitive commodity. CEO Arkadi Kuhlmann contemplates the next chapter.(customer relationships)
November 1, 2005... Arkadi Kuhlmann has authored one of banking's most-compelling growth stories by thumbing his nose at conventional wisdom. His company, ING Direct, doesn't make acquisitions or have branches. It doesn't offer checking accounts or charge fees....

Ferreting Out Customers Becomes Tougher Than Ever: Small-business loans are becoming ever more elusive for community bankers who can no longer rely on hometown spirit to foster business. Instead, they need to defend their turf from the big banks.
November 1, 2005... Community banks should consider themselves on alert: Get more efficient with bread-and-butter small business customers or risk losing them to big banks. Home town bankers need to quit assuming their folksy approach is good enough to...

U.S. Banker Advertising Contacts.(Directory)
November 1, 2005... GROUP PUBLISHER David Cleworth 27700 Pine Point Drive Wesley Chapel, FL 33543 Tel: 813.929.6907 Fax: 813.929.6908 Outside The U.S. Please contact the Publisher U.S. BANKER ACCOUNT REPRESENTATIVES ...

HNW Investors Demand Collaboration with Advisors: Today's crop of wealthy investors isn't content to passively wait for two reports a year from their advisors. They want to participate. And yes, they use the Internet, so they do a lot of research.
November 1, 2005... Today's high-net-worth investors are part of a far different group than those of previous generations-and their banks need to change service models to keep up with shifting demands, according to banks and industry analysts. The overall...

The Outlook for Financial Advisors.(markets)
November 1, 2005... The outlook for investing is perhaps the most uncertain it has been in recent years. Future interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve Board, which appeared to be a given, are now being questioned as the threat of inflation increases. The...

Using the MAE Wisely.
November 1, 2005... There is perhaps no legal concept more ubiquitous with mergers and acquisitions than a "material adverse effect." The MAE is in most agreements documenting an M&A deal, whether public or private, stock or asset, tender offer or one-step merger....

Getting to 'Yes' for Rejected Loan Applicants.
November 1, 2005... In the conservative, risk-averse world of commercial mortgage lending, bank loan professionals are often forced to say "no" to quality customers when loan requests fall outside the bank's lending parameters. Every seasoned bank loan...