American Banker articles from January 2000

American Banker archives from January 2000

Today's News.
January 3, 2000... WASHINGTON THREE OF THE FOUR bank and thrift regulatory agencies will spend slightly more money in 2000 than they did in 1999, with only the FDIC making do with less. Page 2 A FED ENFORCEMENT action is raising questions about whether a...

FDIC Warns of Litigation Flood as Case Proceeds Challenging Card Bank Status.(Monogram Credit Card Bank of Georgia)
January 3, 2000... WASHINGTON - A class action against a GE Capital subsidiary challenges the way the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. defines a "state bank" and may jeopardize the ability of credit card banks to impose their rates and fees on customers...

Attorneys Mull More Suits Over 'Kickbacks'.(Georgia mortgage insurance industry)(Industry Trend or Event)
January 3, 2000... Plaintiffs' attorneys in a series of class lawsuits in Georgia alleging kickbacks in the mortgage insurance industry said last week that they may name additional insurers as defendants. "We're still looking" at Radian Guaranty, GE Capital...

Hiring of Ex-U.S. Bancorp Star Mutes Talk Ore. Bank to Be Sold.(West Coast Bancorp)
January 3, 2000... An Oregon community bank has squelched rumors it is for sale by hiring Robert D. Sznewajs, a former vice chairman at U.S. Bancorp, to lead it into the next century. After a six-month search, Lake Oswego-based West Coast Bancorp last week...

Mortgage Weakness Erodes Dot-Com Lenders' Stock.(E-Loan, Mortgage.com)
January 3, 2000... The stock market enthusiasm over many things Internet is not carrying over to the new breed of dot-com lenders. E-Loan Inc. of Dublin, Calif., was trading at $16.375 Thursday afternoon, compared to its July 6 high of $74.75. The company,...

Company Index.
January 3, 2000... A - B America's Community Bankers 4 American Bankers Assn 4 American International Group 1 Argus Research 17 Bank One 17,20 Bank of America 4,17,20 Bank of the Sierra (Porterville, Calif.) 7 Barclays 10 ...

FDIC Is the Only Regulator With Plans to Tighten Belt.(Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.)(Brief Article)
January 3, 2000... WASHINGTON - Three of the four bank and thrift regulatory agencies will spend slightly more money in 2000 than they did in 1999, with only the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. making do with less. The Federal Reserve Board approved a...

Roundtable: Big-Bank CRA Lending Rose 15% in '98.(community reinvestment)(Brief Article)
January 3, 2000... WASHINGTON - Community reinvestment lending increased 15.2% among Financial Services Roundtable members to $77.3 billion in 1998, according to a survey by the group. The Roundtable, which claims to represent the nation's 100 largest...

Fed Anti-Bias Action On Indirect Car Loans Shakes Up Lawyers.(Brief Article)
January 3, 2000... A Federal Reserve Board enforcement action is raising new questions about whether a bank that buys consumer loans from retailers, such as car dealers, can be held responsible for violations of fair-lending law. The Fed's Regulation B...

Resolved: Everyone Should Get Heart's Desire in 2000.(financial services companies)
January 3, 2000... For financial services companies, 1999 was a year marked by both triumph and travail. Banks, insurers, and securities firms combined forces with Congress and the White House to repeal the Glass-Steagall Act. The banking industry once again...

David Schutter Promoted to Credit Chief at Ohio's KeyCorp.
January 3, 2000... KeyCorp in Cleveland has promoted David J. Schutter to chief credit officer, effective March 31. Mr. Schutter is to succeed Carl C. Heintel Jr., who has announced he will retire March 31 as executive vice president and chief credit...

Soldiers Raid a Citigroup Branch in Ivory Coast.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
January 3, 2000... Operations at Citigroup's branch in the Ivory Coast were disrupted Thursday after military units seized computers and other electronic equipment, but the interruption proved short-lived as bailiffs returned the equipment before the end of the...

Bringing Warburg Closer, UBS Taps Swiss Chairman.(investment banking business)
January 3, 2000... Signaling plans to more tightly integrate its investment banking business, UBS AG named a Swiss executive to the top job at its Warburg Dillon Read unit. The move followed a decision to rename the operation as, simply, UBS Warburg. ...

2 Central Calif. Deals to Make Smalltown Banks Bigger.(Western Sierra Bancorp, Sentinel Community Bank; Bank of the Sierra, Sierra National Bank)(Brief Article)
January 3, 2000... Two central California community banks agreed last week to buy small competitors in deals that totaled $19.9 million. In the larger of the two agreements, Western Sierra Bancorp in Cameron Park said it would buy Sentinel Community Bank in...

Investor Group Offers $24M for Illinois Thrift.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
January 3, 2000... An investment group led by two brothers have offered at least $24 million for a Chicago-area thrift company. Tara Enterprises LLC of Oak Brook, Ill., filed documents Dec. 28 with the Securities and Exchange Commission proposing to buy $221...

USABancShares.com Plans A Business-to-Business Internet Banking Site.(Brief Article)
January 3, 2000... USABancShares.com of Philadelphia plans to begin targeting business customers this month with a new Web site called B2Banc.com. The Internet banking company said last week that B2Banc.com will offer banking and brokerage services, including...

Software for Billing Through Spectrum.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
January 3, 2000... SAN FRANCISCO - Just in Time Solutions Inc. has introduced software designed to enable banks to publish and distribute electronic bills quickly through Spectrum LLC, a bill presentment network formed by major U.S. banks. The system,...

Brokerage Services For Small Banks.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
January 3, 2000... CALABASAS, Calif. - Digital Insight Corp., which provides Internet banking software to community banks, will market a private-label version of Stockwalk.com Inc.'s on-line brokerage services to client financial institutions. Digital...

Amoco Cardholders Get Internet Account Access.
January 3, 2000... DALLAS - Holders of Amoco gasoline credit cards can now view and pay their bills on the Internet. Associates First Capital Corp. of Dallas, which owns and manages the Amoco private-label credit card portfolio for BP Amoco PLC, began...

Web Bank Outsources To Sanchez Subsidiary.
January 3, 2000... MALVERN, Pa. - X.com, a recently formed Internet financial services company, is outsourcing its banking operations to e-Profile Inc., a subsidiary of Sanchez Computer Associates Inc. Malvern-based e-Profile announced it is processing...

Franklin Aims to Boost Institutional Business.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
January 3, 2000... Franklin Resources Inc., traditionally a retail asset management company, hopes to increase its institutional money management business, a senior executive said. Institutional assets make up only 15% to 20% of the $224 billion managed by...

Short Takes: One Valley of W.Va. Buying Insurance Agency.(One Valley Bancorp, Carson Insurance Agency)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
January 3, 2000... One Valley Bancorp of Charleston, W.Va., has agreed to acquire Carson Insurance Agency. One Valley will pay cash and stock for the agency, which is also in Charleston. Terms of the deal, which is expected to close in mid-January, were not...

Short Takes: Amro Unit Signs Subadvisers for Two Funds.
January 3, 2000... ABN Amro Asset Management (USA) Inc., the Chicago-based investment arm of ABN Amro Bank in Amsterdam, last week announced subadvisory agreements for two of its mutual funds. Mellon Equity Associates, a unit of Pittsburgh-based Mellon...

Short Takes: Pa. Bank's Brokerage Unit to Host Trust Office.
January 3, 2000... First Financial Bank of Downingtown, Pa., plans to open a trust office this month on the premises of its brokerage affiliate, Philadelphia Corporation for Investment Services. First Financial and Philadelphia Corp. are subsidiaries of $473...

Short Takes: Northern Trust Unit to Subadvise Tech Fund.
January 3, 2000... NT Global Advisors Inc., the Canadian investment arm of Northern Trust Corp., has been named subadviser of a new technology portfolio from ClaringtonFunds Inc. The Clarington Technology Fund will be offered to retail investors in Canada,...

Jobless Claims, Expected to Rise, Fell in Week.
January 3, 2000... WASHINGTON - We are not authorized to publish this article provided by Bloomberg News. Copyright c 1999 American Banker, Inc. All Rights Reserved. http://www.americanbanker.com

Bank Stock Price Headache Seen Merger Binge Hangover.
January 3, 2000... The euphoric bank acquisition market of recent years is taking its toll on bank stocks. While investors sold bank stocks in 1999 because of rising interest rates and concerns over deteriorating credit quality, they now also are selling...

Banks Claim Success in ATM Panic Control.
January 3, 2000... Banks and the Federal Reserve apparently succeeded in assuring consumers that they need not fear a breakdown of automated teller machines as year 2000 closed in. All banks interviewed Thursday said they experienced no demand for cash above...

Louisiana Woes Show Pitfalls Of Thrift-to-Bank Conversion.
January 3, 2000... The troubles of ISB Financial Corp., a Louisiana thrift that converted to a bank charter in 1996, illustrate the difficulty of making such a switch. Martin Friedman, an analyst at Friedman, Billings Ramsey & Co. in Arlington, Va., said he...

Visa Trumpets Record Holiday Volume.
January 3, 2000... SAN FRANCISCO - Visa International reported a record holiday spending binge by consumers, driven, in part, by purchases made on-line. During the peak shopping period of Nov. 25 through Dec. 27, $74.9 billion worth of transactions were...

United Cos. Selling Some Assets to Bear Stearns.
January 3, 2000... BATON ROUGE, La. - United Companies Financial Corp., in Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection since March, said last week that it has agreed to sell some assets to a unit of Bear, Stearns & Co. for $895 million. United, a home equity and...

Resource Bancshares Originations Off 59%.
January 3, 2000... COLUMBIA, S.C. - Resource Bancshares Mortgage Group originated $592 million of home loans in November, down 59% from a year earlier, the company said last week. Its production of loans to subprime borrowers was off 10%, at $57...

Mutual Fund Assets Climb 3.6% in Month.
January 3, 2000... WASHINGTON - Mutual fund assets rose 3.6%, to $6.452 trillion in November, according to a recent study by the Investment Company Institute. Assets in stock funds, hybrid funds, taxable bond funds, and taxable and tax-free money market...

In Brief: Software Vendor Picks Secutrity Package.
January 3, 2000... OWINGS MILLS, Md. - Aether Systems Inc., which provides systems to major brokerage firms for delivering services to wireless devices, said it has signed a letter of intent to license digital authentication software from Diversinet Inc. of...

Commercial Banks Played Catch-Up In an Off Year for High-Yield Debt.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
January 4, 2000... For most of the high-yield debt industry, 1999 couldn't end soon enough, as new issues endured a sharp contraction in volume, tumbling by nearly one-third from a year earlier. But for companies like Chase Manhattan Corp. and Bank of America...

Today's News.(Brief Article)
January 4, 2000... WASHINGTON A TOP GOVERNMENT official is readying a plan to offer comprehensive regulatory relief to as many as half of all federal credit unions. Page 2 BANKERS ARE WELCOMING President Clinton's renewed push for government-funded...

Good News on Y2K Is Bad for Banking Stocks.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
January 4, 2000... Having gotten through the Y2K rollover with hardly a scratch, bank stocks might have been expected to do well Monday, but instead took their worst battering since the Russian bond default in August 1998. Ironically, analysts actually blamed...

$50M Resort Sold, and 68 Small Banks Fund the Deal.(Black Wolf Lodge in Wisconsin Dells)(Brief Article)
January 4, 2000... In what lenders say is the largest community bank collaboration ever, 68 midwestern banks have teamed up to fund a $49.5 million syndicated loan financing the purchase of a Wisconsin resort hotel. Tama State Bank, a $63 million-asset...

Chase, B of A Dominated Syndicated Loan Market.(Chase Manhattan Corp.; Bank of America Corp.)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
January 4, 2000... In a year that produced only marginal overall growth in the syndicated loan industry, two banking companies combined to thoroughly dominate the business, splitting more than half the market between themselves. U.S. syndicated loan volume...

Trade Groups Back 2d Try For Clinton's Savings Plan.(Securities Industry Association, Independent Community Bankers of America, and American Bankers Association)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
January 4, 2000... WASHINGTON - Banking industry officials are welcoming President Clinton's renewed push for government-subsidized savings accounts, but political observers are divided on whether a proposal that failed last year has any better chance of...

Chase's Financial Reform Point Man Named Co-Chief of Its Lobbying Unit.(Chase Manhattan Corp. promotes L. Thomas Block)(Brief Article)
January 4, 2000... WASHINGTON - Chase Manhattan Corp. has reorganized its lobbying shop, promoting L. Thomas Block to co-chief of government affairs. Mr. Block, a senior vice president who was the banking company's point man on the financial reform law...

Company Index.(Brief Article)
January 4, 2000... A American Bankers Assn 12 American Mobile Satellite 9 Amsouth 12 B BancWest 4 Bank One 20 Bank of America 1 Bank of Wisconsin Dells 1 Bankers' Bank (Madison, Wis.) 1 BellSouth 9 Brenton Banks...

Regulator Preparing Relief For Federal Credit Unions Exemplifying Soundness.(Brief Article)
January 4, 2000... WASHINGTON - A top government official is readying a plan to offer comprehensive regulatory relief to as many as half of all federal credit unions. Dennis Dollar, a National Credit Union Administration board member, said his "Reg-Flex"...

SunTrust Completes Charter Consolidation.(Sun Trust Banks Inc.)(Brief Article)
January 4, 2000... ATLANTA - Sun Trust Banks Inc. said Monday it has completed its charter consolidation and now operates a single, Georgia-chartered institution. The $93 billion-asset company announced in September that it planned to combine its 27...

HSBC Closes Deal For Republic of N.Y.(HSBC Holdings PLC acquisition of Republic New York Corp.)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
January 4, 2000... NEW YORK - Branches of Republic New York Corp. reopened Monday as part of HSBC Holdings after completion of the banking companies' $9.9 billion merger. The deal, closed Friday, turns HSBC into the third-largest retail banking company...

Hawaii's Biggest Bank, Straying from Mainland Strategy, to Buy Thrift.(BancWest Corp.; Standard Financial Corp.)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
January 4, 2000... BancWest Corp. of Honolulu has agreed to buy Standard Financial Corp., a small Hawaiian thrift, for an undisclosed amount. The deal, which was announced late Thursday, would give BancWest deposits valued at roughly $18 million and about $16...

N.Y. Requiring Daily Change Of ATM Surveillance Tapes.(Brief Article)
January 4, 2000... NEW YORK - Acting after surveillance equipment failed to record identifiable images from an attack at an automated teller machine, New York State has adopted an emergency rule barring the use of old tapes in security cameras. The...

FDIC Tells 2 Banks to Address Loan Problems.(The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.; Peoples Bank of Fordland (Missouri); Farmers Exchange Bank)(Brief Article)
January 4, 2000... WASHINGTON - The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. has issued cease-and-desist orders to two Midwest banks and lifted an earlier order against a third. Documents made public by the agency last week said that $33 million-asset Peoples...

When Asked to Explain Their Direction, Many Directors Are at a Loss.(Brief Article)
January 4, 2000... It was as serious a group as I have ever addressed. The Community Bankers Association of Illinois held a seminar on "Direction for Directors for 2000." Audience members had driven as much as four hours to make it to Springfield by 9 a.m....

Short Stakes: Miss. Bank to Buy 2 Insurance Agencies.(First M and F Corp.; Reynolds Insurance and Real Estate Agency; Starkville Insurance Inc.)(Brief Article)
January 4, 2000... First M&F Corp. of Mississippi has received regulatory and shareholder approval to acquire two Starkville, Miss. -based insurance agencies. Reynolds Insurance and Real Estate Agency and Starkville Insurance Inc. will be merged into the...

Short Stakes: Sage Life Adds Four to Its Bank Sales Staff.(Brief Article)
January 4, 2000... Sage Life Assurance of America Inc., the U.S. subsidiary of Sage Group of South Africa, has added four sales people to build its business with banks. Eric L. Baldwin, formerly a regional manager with Compulife, was hired as a vice...

Short Stakes: Data Firm Puts Citigroup Exec on Board.(Brief Article)
January 4, 2000... Insurance Services Office, a data provider for the property and casualty insurance fields, recently named the head of Citigroup's global insurance industry to its board of directors. Christopher M. Foskett, 42, was named along with David B....

Short Stakes: Aetna Unit Taking a Stake in Calif. Firm.(Aeltus Investment Management Inc.; Elijah Asset Management)(Brief Article)
January 4, 2000... Aeltus Investment Management Inc., the investment management subsidiary of Aetna Financial, has agreed to acquire a minority interest in Elijah Asset Management, San Francisco. Aeltus plans for Elijah to advise an undisclosed number of...

Short Stakes: Prudential Develops Software to Aid Sales.(Brief Article)
January 4, 2000... Prudential Insurance Co. of America has developed an annuities software program that ties marketing, training, asset allocation, and applications into one application. The Newark, N.J.-based insurer will provide the "Annuity Toolbox" to...

Summit of N.J. Is Buying In-State Insurance Broker.(Brief Article)
January 4, 2000... Summit Bancorp of Princeton, N.J., announced Monday that it is buying a New Jersey insurance broker. The banking company said the deal would make it the largest insurance broker in its home state and the 16th-biggest in the country. ...

Revamped Wireless Firm Supplies Connectivity.
January 4, 2000... Dean M. Leavitt wants to make his company the "Ma Bell" of wireless payment processing. Since taking over in May as chairman and chief executive officer of U.S. Wireless Data Inc., Mr. Leavitt has been reinventing what was once a...

Wall Sterrt Watch: Morgan Stanley Report Is Cool on Home Loan Securities.
January 4, 2000... With mortgage origination volumes down, some analysts on Wall Street are urging investors to steer clear of the mortgage-backed securities market. Investors have set aside cash to invest this year, but a yearend report from Morgan Stanley...

Cendant Unit Helps Banks Offer Internet Access.
January 4, 2000... FISI-Madison Financial, a Nashville bank marketing firm, has launched a program to help financial institutions add Internet services to their product menus. One client, Sandy Spring National Bank of Olney, Md., plans to begin offering...

Reward for Y2K Efforts: A Boring Holiday.
January 4, 2000... Call Center Employees Sat Idle as Systems Functioned Almost Perfectly A long, boring New Year's weekend was payback for the billions of dollars that the banking industry spent to overcome the year-2000 computer problem. There was...

In Brief: Nonprofit to Market Bank One Student Loans.
January 4, 2000... CHICAGO - Bank One Corp. said Monday that in an effort to cut costs, it is transferring the marketing responsibilities for its education lending division to an independent entity. The $264 billion-asset banking company has formed...

In Brief: 2 Former N.Y. Bankers Settle SEC Charges.
January 4, 2000... WASHINGTON - The Securities and Exchange Commission said Monday that it has settled insider trading charges against two former New York bankers. Richard H. Ference, a former vice president in the New York office of the Bank of...

In Brief: National Processing Buys Merchant Portfolio.
January 4, 2000... LOUISVILLE, Ky. - National Processing Inc. said Monday that it has bought a merchant processing portfolio from Heartland Payment Systems LLC. The acquisition, consisting of 15,000 regional accounts, is about one-third of the portfolio...

In Brief: NYSE to Halt Trading of Contifinancial Stock.
January 4, 2000... NEW YORK - The New York Stock Exchange said Monday that it would suspend trading in Contifinancial Corp. shares before the opening of the market on Wednesday and apply to delist the stock. The exchange said Contifinancial has failed to...

In Brief: Providian, NextCard Settle Suit over Web Ads.
January 4, 2000... SAN FRANCISCO - NextCard Inc. and Providian Financial Corp. have settled a lawsuit over banner advertisements. The lawsuit, filed in July, claimed that Providian copied one of NextCard's on-line banner ads. At the time, Providian's...

Submitted for Your Approval: 'FinMod'? 'Glubba'? 'Greachley'?(Brief Article)
January 5, 2000... WASHINGTON - With little else to focus on after the glitch-free rollover to the new year, policy wonks are struggling to find a catchy name for the new financial reform law. A trivial matter, you say? Consider it a marketing...

Today's News.(Table of contents.)
January 5, 2000... WASHINGTON A LITTLE-NOTICED provision in the financial reform law gives the Federal Housing Finance Board the power to change many directors at the 12 Federal Home Loan banks. Page 2 COMMUNITY/REGIONAL FAST-GROWING Gold Banc plans to...

Small N.C. Bank with Deal in Hand Finds Itself Focus of Takeover Fight.(Brief Article)
January 5, 2000... An investor group seeking to break up an acquisition deal for First Savings Bancorp in Southern Pines, N.C., has launched an all-cash counter-offer for the $325 million-asset company, a former banking executive leading the group said. ...

Competition Builds in Europe As Deutsche Bank Plans Cuts.(Brief Article)
January 5, 2000... The competition among European banks to increase market share and profitability reached a new intensity with Germany's Deutsche Bank AG's announcement of large-scale cutbacks in its retail operations. The impetus is to ensure that they will...

Union Planters Deposit Runoff Not So Bad at Second Glance.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
January 5, 2000... Union Planters Corp. has lost about 12% of its St. Louis deposits, most of which it got in the 1998 acquisition of Magna Group Inc., according to company figures. The Memphis-based company, which established itself as a major player in St....

Company Index.
January 5, 2000... A Aames Financial 7 Advest 5,20 American Bankers Assn 1,13 American Enterprise Institute 1 American Home Mortgage Holdings 7 B Bank One 20 Bankers Clearing House 13 Bear Stearns 7 Brodia.com 20 ...

Agony of Victory: 14 Home Loan Directors Get Benched for 2000.(Brief Article)
January 5, 2000... WASHINGTON - Under a little-noticed provision of the recently enacted financial reform law, the Federal Housing Finance Board won the power to change more than one-third of the 79 directors it appoints to the 12 Federal Home Loan banks....

In Brief: President Retires at Indiana's National City.(Brief Article)
January 5, 2000... The president of the second-largest banking company in Evansville, Ind., stepped down after 37 years with it. National City Bancshares Inc. said Monday afternoon that Evansville native Robert A. Keil, 57, had retired from the $2.2...

In Brief: Realty Firm Backed as Calif. Thrift's Buyer.
January 5, 2000... Financial Institutional Partners Mortgage Co. in Irvine, Calif., announced that its principals and other investors have received regulatory approval to buy a majority stake in Mission Savings and Loan Association in Riverside, Calif., for an...

In Brief: Calif. Credit Union Now a Mutual Thrift.(Brief Article)
January 5, 2000... A former credit union in California has converted to a thrift and is now the largest mutually owned savings bank headquartered in the Golden State, with $228 million of assets. Pacific Trust Federal Credit Union in Chula Vista completed its...

In Brief: N.Y. Company Affirms Its Independence.(Brief Article)
January 5, 2000... Yonkers Financial Corp. said this week that it would not succumb to shareholder pressure to sell. The $458 million-asset New York company has been under pressure to sell since last spring from a group led by activist investor Lawrence B....

Mortgage Doldrums, Charge Prompt Gold Banc Layoffs.(Brief Article)
January 5, 2000... Fast-growing Gold Banc Corp. disclosed last week that it plans to take a fourth-quarter charge of at least $3 million and will cut its mortgage banking staff by one-third. The Leawood, Kan., company said its planned after-tax charge is...

Short Takes: Credit Suisse Changes Fund Distributor.(Brief Article)
January 5, 2000... Credit Suisse Asset Management, the investment arm of Zurich-based Credit Suisse Group, has changed the distributor for its mutual funds. Provident Distributors Inc. of Conshohocken, Pa., recently took over distribution of the 35 no-load...

Short Takes: Putnam Expands Investment Chief's Duties.(Brief Article)
January 5, 2000... Putnam Investments of Boston said it has named a chief investment officer for its large-cap value equity investments. Deborah F. Kuenstner, 41, succeeded Anthony Kreisel, who plans to retire March 31, a spokeswoman said Monday. Ms....

Short Takes: Hancock Shareholders Get On-Line Trading.(Brief Article)
January 5, 2000... Following a trend, John Hancock Funds of Boston is letting shareholders buy, exchange, or redeem shares on-line. Fund companies such as AIM Management Group of Houston, Massachusetts Financial Services of Boston, and Alliance Capital...

Short Takes: Schwab Offering On-Line Research Access.
January 5, 2000... Charles Schwab & Co., the San Francisco discount brokerage behemoth, recently introduced two Internet tools to enhance mutual fund research. The Advanced Mutual Fund Screener lets retail investors screen about 10,000 funds rated by...

Short Takes: AARP Opens Older People's Investment Site.
January 5, 2000... The American Association of Retired Persons last month launched a Web site designed for investors older than 50. The site, aarp.scudder.com, uses large type and has features geared to life events of investors in that age group. Visitors to...

Short Takes: Ill. Brokerage Seeks Self-Clearing Authority.
January 5, 2000... Web Street Securities of Deerfield, Ill., filed an application with the National Association of Securities Dealers to become a self-clearing brokerage firm. The subsidiary of Web Street Inc. clears trades through U.S. Clearing, a New...

KeyCorp Unit to Introduce Hedge Fund of Funds in Feb.
January 5, 2000... KeyCorp is about to join a growing list of banking companies introducing hedge funds of funds. The Cleveland banking company's Key Asset Management unit plans to launch an offshore version of the product next month to be sold to...

N.Y. Company in $7M Deal for California Lender.(Brief Article)
January 5, 2000... American Home Mortgage Holdings Inc. of New York has a deal to expand on the West Coast and build its Internet prowess by buying Marina Mortgage Co. of Irvine, Calif. In the deal, announced last week, American Home Mortgage is to pay...