American Banker articles from November 2006

American Banker archives from November 2006

Pressure on Small-Bank Margins Seen Continuing.(Industry overview)
November 1, 2006... The third quarter was a challenging one all around for community banks. Banks in many parts of the country were saddled not only with continued margin contraction, but also slowing loan growth and a slight but noticeable deterioration of...

MC: How Fee List Will Aid Merchants.(MasterCard Inc., Visa U.S.A. Inc.)
November 1, 2006... The 72-page document that MasterCard Inc. released this week detailing interchange rates is the latest move in what looks a lot like a contest of one-upmanship with its main rival, Visa U.S.A. Inc. Now that both are seeking Wall Street's...

Fears Emerge that Premiums Will Be at High End.(deposit insurance)
November 1, 2006... WASHINGTON -- A painstaking process to reform deposit insurance will culminate Thursday when the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. imposes premiums on all banks for the first time since 1996. Industry leaders are braced for the worst. ...

Retail Push Paid Off for PNC; So Did BlackRock Deal, PFPC.(PNC Financial Services Group Inc., PPFC Worldwide Inc.)
November 1, 2006... PNC Financial Services Group Inc. reported third-quarter earnings Tuesday that beat analyst estimates comfortably, even after investors stripped out a massive cash windfall from a divestiture. Merrill Lynch & Co. Inc.'s Sept. 29 purchase of...

Executive Changes.
November 1, 2006... NEW ENGLAND General Electric Co. of Fairfield, Conn., has named Richard Laxer the president and chief executive officer of its GE Capital Services, which has leasing, financing, and asset management operations in 30 countries. Mr....

MetLife, Adding Wholesalers, Targets Bank Sales.
November 1, 2006... MetLife Inc. says it plans to continue adding wholesalers to increase distribution through banks. Its New York-based distribution arm, MetLife Investors Distribution Co., hired two wholesalers and promoted two others in the past two weeks...

In Brief: B of A Private Bank Adds Region Teams.(Private Bank of Bank of America)(Brief article)
November 1, 2006... Bank of America Corp.'s global wealth and investment management division announced Tuesday that it has doubled, to eight, the number of regional teams serving high-net-worth clients, in order to bring senior leadership closer to major U.S....

In Brief: Principal Financial Profit Rises 19.5%.(Principal Financial Group Inc.)(Brief article)
November 1, 2006... Principal Financial Group Inc. of Des Moines said its third-quarter earnings rose 19.5% from a year earlier, to $251 million. Earnings per share were 92 cents a share, 9 cents below the average analyst estimate, according to Thomson First...

IAC: Loan Revenue Falls 'Shy of Our Hopes'.(IAC/InterActiveCorp)
November 1, 2006... IAC/InterActiveCorp said Tuesday that third-quarter operating income from its mortgage-related businesses dropped 38% from a year earlier, to $18.8 million. The mortgage businesses consist of two lead-generation Web sites, LendingTree.com...

In Brief: Fifth Third Names Lewis Unit President.(Bob Lewis, Fifth Third Bancorp)(Brief article)
November 1, 2006... Fifth Third Bancorp has promoted Bob Lewis to president of its mortgage unit. He succeeded Stewart Greenlee, who resigned Aug. 1, a Fifth Third spokeswoman said Monday. The spokeswoman said Mr. Lewis was the interim head of the mortgage...

In Brief: ABN Amro Division: Tool Finding Users.(InterFirst Wholesale Mortgage Lending's Internet presentation tool)(Brief article)
November 1, 2006... InterFirst Wholesale Mortgage Lending, a division of ABN Amro Mortgage Group Inc. of Ann Arbor, Mich., said Tuesday that more than 1,500 brokers are using Boomerang, an Internet presentation tool the wholesaler introduced in April. ...

U.K. Payment Job, Path for U.S.?(electronic funds transfer systems)(Immediate Payments Ltd.)
November 1, 2006... The United Kingdom is trying to accelerate the clearing and settlement of bank payments through a network that an analyst said could become a model for a faster U.S. payments system. Link Interchange Network Ltd., which operates the...

In Brief: Advanta Has Huge Earnings Increase.(Brief article)
November 1, 2006... The small-business credit card firm Advanta Corp. said its third-quarter consolidated earnings rose 447.71% compared with the year-earlier period, to $21.1 million. Earnings per share rose 461.5%, to 73 cents. Dennis Alter, the Spring...

Open Solutions Profits Fall Short; Jack Henry Surges.(core processing vendors, Jack Henry and Associates Inc., Open Solutions Inc.)
November 1, 2006... The last two of the top five core processing vendors to report profits this season reported healthy revenue growth but divergent earnings. Jack Henry & Associates Inc. of Monett, Mo., reported low double-digit gains on both its top and...

In Brief: First Data Selling Taxware for $125M.(First Data Corp. to sell its tax business to Automatic Data Processing Inc.)(Brief article)
November 1, 2006... First Data Corp. has agreed to sell its tax software business so it can concentrate more on its core transaction processing operations. The Denver company said Tuesday that Automatic Data Processing Inc., a Roseland, N.J., business software...

In Brief: Arcot and Yodlee Products Compatible.(Arcot Systems Inc., antifraud software)(Brief article)
November 1, 2006... The security software vendor Arcot Systems Inc. has made its antifraud technology compatible with the aggregation software products sold by Yodlee Inc. Yodlee, of Redwood City, Calif., offers products for personal financial management and...

In Brief: Misys Enrolls Three Asian Companies.(Brief article)
November 1, 2006... Three Asian financial companies are using treasury management software from Misys PLC. The British banking technology company said Tuesday that Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, Asian Development Bank, and Japan Post are using its...

In Brief: Online Resources Hires Bill-Pay Exec.(Robert R. Craig)(Brief article)
November 1, 2006... Online Resources Corp. has hired Robert R. Craig to manage its bill-payment unit, which expanded significantly when the Chantilly, Va., banking technology vendor acquired the bill-pay provider Princeton eCom Corp. in July. Online Resources...

BancorpSouth in Deal to Enter Missouri.(purchase of Signature Bank)
November 1, 2006... BancorpSouth Inc. of Tupelo, Miss., announced after the market closed Tuesday that it has agreed to buy Signature Bank of Springfield, Mo., for $170 million. Buying Signature would give the $11.8 billion-asset BancorpSouth its first...

Correction.(Correction notice)
November 1, 2006... On Oct. 27, a story on page 1, "Key Player in an Era of Consolidation Looks Back," gave the incorrect price for JPMorgan Chase's deal for Bank One. It was $58.7 billion, not million. In the Oct. 31 paper, a brief item on page 6...

In Brief: More Fines Levied Against Israel Discount.(Israel Discount Bank of New York)(Brief article)
November 1, 2006... Israel Discount Bank of New York was slapped with a $12 million fine Tuesday by federal and state regulators, less than a year after paying $8.5 million of penalties to the New York District Attorney's Office. In both instances, the bank...

In Brief: Old National's Earnings Skyrocket 367%.(Old National Bancorp of Evansville, Indiana)(Brief article)
November 1, 2006... Old National Bancorp of Evansville, Ind., reported Tuesday that its third-quarter earnings rose 367% from a year earlier, to $21 million. Diluted earnings per share rose 357%, to 32 cents, beating the average of analysts' expectations by 2...

In Brief: Morgan Stanley to Buy Hedge Fund Firm.(FrontPoint Partners LLC, Avenue Capital Group)(Brief article)
November 1, 2006... Morgan Stanley announced Tuesday that its investment management division has reached a definitive agreement to acquire a Greenwich, Conn., hedge fund firm. FrontPoint Partners LLC, which had $5.5 billion of assets under management Oct. 1,...

Partly Cloudy Forecasts For Trust, Custody Banks.(Industry overview)
November 1, 2006... Two analysts gave somewhat divided 2007 outlooks on the largest U.S. trust and custody banks. Andrew Marquardt of Fox-Pitt, Kelton Inc. wrote in note sent to clients Monday that softer top-line revenue seen in third-quarter reports could...

Wachovia Cites Good Early Returns for Return to Cards.(Wachovia Card Services)(Company overview)
November 2, 2006... Wachovia Corp. said it is ahead of internal targets for building its credit card division a year after announcing plans to re-enter the business and three months after officially launching it. Steven G. Boehm, the president of Wachovia Card...

City National Buying Base For Growth In Nevada: Business Bank deal marks return to M&A after 4-year absence.(Company overview)
November 2, 2006... City National Corp. of Los Angeles has a deal that would take it into a high-growth state and could give its sagging net interest income a lift. The banking company is buying the $490 million-asset Business Bank Corp. of Las Vegas, the...

Going Mobile:& RBC Gains In AmSouth Divestiture.(Company overview)
November 2, 2006... RBC Centura Bank of Raleigh emerged as the big winner Wednesday, buying 39 of the 52 branches AmSouth Bancorp. was required to sell to get government clearance for its deal with Regions Financial Corp. The Royal Bank of Canada subsidiary's...

Staking Claim in Unified Managed Accounts.(Brief article)
November 2, 2006... B of A said it introduced the product Wednesday to satisfy customer demand for simplified investing. "We can't stop this," McNamara says. Story on page (c) 2006 American Banker and SourceMedia, Inc. All rights reserved....

In Brief: Blast Breaks Window at PayPal.(Brief article)
November 2, 2006... A PayPal Inc. building suffered damage from an explosion Tuesday night. The outdoor blast shattered a window on the first floor of a building on the company's five-building San Jose campus where 1,900 employees of PayPal and its parent,...

In Brief: PNC Opens Asset Lending Site.(Brief article)
November 2, 2006... PNC Financial Services Group Inc. opened an asset-based lending office in Minneapolis on Wednesday to woo middle-market commercial clients from the upper Midwest. The office will be headed by Bruce Weidner, who joined the $98.4...

In Brief: Mortgage Education Need Seen.(Brief article)
November 2, 2006... Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke said Wednesday he sees room for improvement in educating consumers about the details of nontraditional mortgages. "Some evidence, including recent Federal Reserve research on consumers holding...

In Brief: ABA Seeks Extension on Basel II.(Brief article)
November 2, 2006... The American Bankers Association is asking federal regulators to extend the Basel II proposal's Jan. 23 comment deadline, arguing that bankers need overlapping comment periods with Basel IA, which has been delayed for a pending Office of...

Specialized Lenders Help Fill Financing Void for Law Firms.(Company overview)
November 2, 2006... To finance the massive environmental suit made famous in the movie "Erin Brockovich," Ed Masry, a California lawyer, spent his savings, took out a second mortgage, and sold property near Palm Springs where he and his wife had planned to retire....

PrivateBancorp Taps Kansas City Market.(PrivateBank-Kansas City)(Company overview)
November 2, 2006... CHICAGO -- PrivateBancorp Inc. announced plans Wednesday to expand into Kansas City, Mo., by establishing PrivateBank-Kansas City, and has hired a former Gold Banc Corp. executive to run it. Ralph B. Mandell, PrivateBancorp's chairman,...

BB&T Arm Buying Florida Agency.(Brief article)
November 2, 2006... BB&T Insurance Services of Winston-Salem, N.C., announced Wednesday that it has agreed to buy Wyman, Green & Blalock Inc., a Bradenton, Fla., insurance agency specializing in personal and commercial property insurance, liability risk...

B of A Platform Stakes Claim In Unified Managed Accounts.(Product/service evaluation)
November 2, 2006... Bank of America Corp. introduced a unified managed account platform Wednesday as it looks to go head-to-head with Bank of New York Co. and the wire houses in an evolving market. Analysts say the Charlotte banking company must play some...

Pipeline.
November 2, 2006... In Play New York Mortgage Trust Inc. is weighing takeover offers. The home lender and investor said late Tuesday that it is "engaged in discussions regarding a possible sale or merger," and that Milestone Advisors LLC, a Washington...

Highest Loan/Deposit Ratios Among Bank Holding Companies*: On June 30, 2006. Dollars in thousands.(Industry ranking)
November 2, 2006... Loan** as % of Deposits Equity June 30 Yr. Earlier Loans** Deposits capital 1 MetLife Inc. New York 1,093.24% 1,240.66% $50,854,423 $4,651,727 $27,681,178 2 Utrecht-America Holdings...

Fifth Third Systems Revamp Nearly Complete.(Company overview)
November 2, 2006... Fifth Third Bancorp said it is close to completing a system overhaul designed to transform it from a technology also-ran into an innovator. In January the Cincinnati company expects to link its Internet systems to its automated teller...

In Brief: N.Y.'s Sterling Using SVPCO for Clearing.(SVPCO Image Payments Network)(Brief article)
November 2, 2006... Sterling National Bank of New York has begun clearing checks electronically through The Clearing House Payments Co. LLC's SVPCO Image Payments Network. The Clearing House said Wednesday that Sterling, the principal unit of the $1.9...

In Brief: Corillian Touts 3Q Rise in Cross-Selling.(Brief article)
November 2, 2006... The Hillsboro, Ore., online banking technology vendor Corillian Corp. said that cross-selling boosted its earnings in the third quarter. Corillian said Tuesday that its revenue rose 31% from the same quarter last year, to $15.6 million. The...

In Brief: RiskMetrics Buying Institutional of Md.(RiskMetrics Group Inc.)(Institutional Shareholder Services Inc.)(Company overview)(Brief article)
November 2, 2006... RiskMetrics Group Inc. announced Wednesday that it has agreed to buy Institutional Shareholder Services Inc., a provider of corporate governance research, proxy voting services, and analytical databases to money managers. RiskMetrics, of...

VeriFone Closes Deal for Lipman.(VeriFone Holdings Inc.)(Lipman Electronic Engineering Ltd.)(Company overview)
November 2, 2006... VeriFone Holdings Inc. said it has completed its $795 million acquisition of Lipman Electronic Engineering Ltd., a competitor based in Rosh Haayin, Israel. The acquisition, which closed Wednesday, made VeriFone the world's largest point of...

MasterCard Touts Benefits Of Trends and Fee Revamp.(Company overview)
November 2, 2006... MasterCard Inc. said earnings in its first full quarter as a public company surged 80% from a year earlier, to $193 million, or $1.42 a share, buoyed by a new cross-border transaction fee structure and increased use of cards for payments. ...

In Brief: Poll: Firms Eager to Avoid Illegal Workers.(Brief article)
November 2, 2006... Small businesses and their customers say they are willing to pay more for goods and services if the extra costs would help curb illegal immigration, according to a survey released by Discover Financial Services. Sixty percent of consumers...

In Brief: Global Payments, Ruesch in Referral Deal.(Brief article)
November 2, 2006... The Atlanta transaction processor Global Payments Inc. has struck a deal to refer its agent banks and merchants to Ruesch International Inc. for their cross-border payment and foreign exchange needs. In turn, Ruesch International, a...

On Brief: S&P May Upgrade Five Large Companies.(Industry ranking)(Brief article)
November 2, 2006... Standard & Poor's Corp. said it has put its debt ratings for five large banking companies -- Citigroup Inc., JPMorgan Chase & Co., Bank of America Corp., U.S. Bancorp, and Wells Fargo & Co. -- on its CreditWatch list with positive implications....

On Brief: Fed Urged to Help in Event of Flu Outbreak.(Brief article)
November 2, 2006... The Federal Reserve Board should be prepared to step in to help financial institutions in the event of a flu pandemic, the Financial Services Roundtable's Blue Ribbon Commission on Mega-Catastrophes said. A report the commission released...

HSBC Gets a Charter for New Md. Unit.(Company overview)
November 2, 2006... The British banking giant HSBC Holdings PLC received regulatory approval for another U.S. banking charter, to be housed under its newest U.S. banking unit. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency gave the green light Wednesday to...

Rabobank Strikes Its Largest Calif. Deal.(Company overview)
November 3, 2006... Rabobank Group, which announced a plan to continue its expansion in California, became the third non-U.S. banking company to announce a bank deal in the United States this week. The Dutch giant said Thursday that its California unit,...

Interim Updates Scarcer Still: Fifth Third to stop; Commerce may do so, too.(Industry overview)
November 3, 2006... Banking companies that provide quarterly financial updates in advance of earnings reports are a rarity, and their ranks are about to diminish even further. Of the nation's biggest banking companies, only Fifth Third Bancorp, National City...

Growth Idea: The Start-Up Next Door.(MBT Financial Corp. )(Company overview)
November 3, 2006... A struggling Michigan banking company in a county with a sluggish economy is investing in a nearby start-up bank as it searches for loan growth and a return to profitability. MBT Financial Corp. in Monroe says it is looking to bulk up a...

FDIC Fees: A 5-BP Floor And Most To Pay More.
November 3, 2006... WASHINGTON -- The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. said it would charge the industry $600 million in premiums next year in part because of recent rapid insured deposit growth. The agency will charge most banks 5 to 7 basis points -- more...

In Brief: Awards in Goodwill Cases.(Brief article)
November 3, 2006... A federal court this week awarded more than $30 million to SunTrust Banks Inc. of Atlanta and more than $4.5 million to TierOne Corp. of Lincoln, Neb., in two cases related to supervisory goodwill. In an order issued Wednesday, Judge...

In Brief: Shades of the S&L Crises?(Brief article)
November 3, 2006... Warning bank directors against unbridled optimism, Thomas Hoenig, the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, drew parallels this week between the savings and loan crises and today's banking climate. In a speech before the...

In Brief: City Seeks Slavery Disclosure.(Brief article)
November 3, 2006... San Francisco became the fifth major U.S. city to require banks and other companies doing business with it to disclose whether they profited from slavery. This week the San Francisco Board of Supervisors unanimously approved an ordinance...

In Brief: 'Potential' Seen for Calif.'s PFF.(Brief article)
November 3, 2006... James Abbott, an analyst at Friedman, Billings, Ramsey & Co. Inc., upgraded shares of PFF Bancorp Inc. and said pressure on the Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., company's net interest margin is a short-term problem. The $4.6 billion-asset...

Executive Changes.(Brief article)
November 3, 2006... MIDWEST National Bancshares Corp. of Orrville, Ohio, said David C. Vernon would become the president and chief executive officer of the company and its $300 million-asset First National Bank on Nov. 15. Mr. Vernon will join National...

Security Watch.
November 3, 2006... Breaches The Department of Veterans Affairs has lost another computer with sensitive information. The department mailed letters last month warning that a computer containing names and Social Security numbers of 1,600 veterans in the...

Harland Off 10.4%;Takes Step Toward Tech Unit Spinoff.(Company overview)
November 3, 2006... John H. Harland Co. plans to merge its Scantron educational testing unit into its technology subsidiary, Harland Financial Solutions Inc., in anticipation of spinning off the tech operation from its core check-printing business, its chairman...

TNS Attributes a $1.8M Loss To Recent Executive Turmoil.
November 3, 2006... TNS Inc. said its third-quarter loss was caused largely by a recent boardroom battle that led to the ouster of its chief executive officer. On Wednesday the Reston, Va., provider of telecommunications services for transaction processors...

CEO Steps Down at Fair Isaac.(Brief article)
November 3, 2006... Thomas G. Grudnowski has stepped down as the chief executive and a director of Fair Isaac Corp., the maker of the FICO scores. Charles M. Osborne, the chief financial officer, will perform Mr. Grudnowski's duties while the Minneapolis...

Warburg to Buy a First Data Unit.(First Data Corp. to sell Easycash GmbH to Warburg Pincus LLC)(Company overview)
November 3, 2006... First Data Corp. has a deal to sell the German merchant processor Easycash GmbH, as required by regulators in that country. The Denver processor said Thursday that it would sell Easycash to the private equity company Warburg Pincus LLC. The...

MC's 2nd Mobile Payments Trial Targets Unbanked.(Product/service evaluation)
November 3, 2006... MasterCard Inc. has begun a second trial of contactless payments with mobile telephones and says a new chip makes the program more affordable this time and increases the prospects for adoption. The trial will target unbanked and underbanked...

Metavante Gears Up for Health Pay Services.
November 3, 2006... Marshall & Ilsley Corp.'s technology subsidiary, Metavante Corp., is betting that health-care payments administration is the next big thing, and it is lining up bank partners. "There has been a graying of the lines between health insurance...

Retail CDs: Special-Term Competition.(Product/service evaluation)
November 3, 2006... Top rate premiums offered on special-term CDs in 15 largest deposit markets, from Novantas and Market Rates Insight. Week ended Oct. 27 Denominated in irregular maturities, "special-term" CDs can help achieve select funding objectives and...

In Brief: Huntington Buying Unified Fund Services.(Brief article)
November 3, 2006... Huntington Bancshares Inc. of Columbus, Ohio, said it has signed a definitive agreement to buy Unified Fund Services Inc. of Indianapolis. The Unified Financial Services Inc. subsidiary, which provides fund accounting, administration,...

In Brief: Nationwide in Talks About Retail Funds.(Brief article)
November 3, 2006... Nationwide Financial Services Inc. said it is in preliminary discussions to sell some of its retail mutual funds. The Columbus, Ohio, company and its parent company, Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co., said Wednesday in a press release that...

Viewpoint: Online Authentication as a Selling Point.(Industry overview)
November 3, 2006... If you're part of a financial institution, chances are you've memorized the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council guidance on online authentication and, with risk assessment in hand, are most likely fast-tracking some sort of...

Viewpoint: Preserve Both Halves Of Dual Bank System.(Letter to the editor)
November 3, 2006... To the Editor: Regarding Duncan MacDonald's Viewpoint, "Wachovia Case Should Empower States" [Oct. 20, page 11], handicapping the decisions of nine Supreme Court justices in a complex case such as Watters v. Wachovia is always a dicey...

Viewpoint: Marketing Not Just a Job for Home Office.(Industry overview)
November 3, 2006... Most banks think of sales functions as something their front-line employees should be personally involved in. Marketing, apparently, is strictly to be left to the professionals back at headquarters. I'll cede that big decisions and...

ABOUT Viewpoints.(Brief article)
November 3, 2006... Viewpoints is a regular feature in American Banker, appearing every Friday and at other times throughout the year. It serves as a forum for discussion and debate on a wide range of issues in financial services, including management...

In Brief: PMI Posts Increases In Profits, Revenue.(Brief article)
November 3, 2006... PMI Group Inc. said third-quarter profits rose 9% from a year earlier, to $104.2 million, as a result of improved business across all its operations and higher average premium rates. The Walnut Creek, Calif., mortgage insurer said...

IndyMac Up 11%Despite Drop in Loan Sales Margin.(Company overview)
November 3, 2006... IndyMac Bancorp Inc.'s third-quarter earnings fell short of expectations as the company got more of its loans through the lower-margin conduit channel. The Pasadena, Calif., thrift company said Thursday that it made $86 million, 11% more...

Correction.(Correction notice)(Brief article)
November 3, 2006... Correction In the Oct. 27 paper, a brief item on page 8 misidentified one of the banks participating in a MasterCard program that deposits debit rewards in Upromise savings accounts. It is Provident Bankshares in Baltimore, not Providian....

In Brief: New Century Profit Falls 46%.(Brief article)
November 3, 2006... New Century Financial Corp. said Thursday that third-quarter profit fell 46%, to $63.5 million, as mortgage production dropped and discounts on sales of repurchased loans increased. The Irvine, Calif., nonprime lender made $1.12 a share, 77...

In Brief: Citi Opens a Branch in Boston.(Brief article)
November 3, 2006... Citibank said it opened its first Boston branch, which is also its first to include private wealth management professionals from Smith Barney. The bank announced the opening Thursday. This year Citigroup Inc., the $1.7 trillion-asset...

In Brief: CFO's Exit Hurts Doral's Stock.(Brief article)
November 3, 2006... Shares of Doral Financial Corp. fell 5.7% Thursday, a day after the San Juan, Puerto Rico, banking company reported that Lidio Soriano had resigned as its chief financial officer. Doral did not say why Mr. Soriano had stepped down. It named...

How Financial Services Policy Might Shift If Democrats Win.
November 6, 2006... WASHINGTON -- If Tuesday's elections hand the Democrats control of either or both houses of Congress, they are expected to focus on rolling back parts of a recently enacted bankruptcy law, expanding the government's role in student loans,...

Execs Detail Post-Merger Planning For Regions: Vow quick action on cost cuts, investment for insurance growth.(Company overview)
November 6, 2006... Executives from Regions Financial Corp. and AmSouth Bancorp., whose deal was set to close over the weekend, said they would realize a significant amount of the $400 million of savings they promised Wall Street early in a two-year integration...

Phila. Thrift's CEO Has Long To-Do List.(Gerard Cuddy )(Company overview)
November 6, 2006... As Gerard Cuddy prepares to become the president and chief executive officer of Beneficial Mutual Bancorp in Philadelphia, one analyst likened him to a coach taking over a team in midseason. "He knows how to play the game," said Richard D....

In Brief: SunTrust Plans Cost Guidance.(Brief article)
November 6, 2006... SunTrust Banks Inc. told investors it plans to provide specific guidance on its ongoing cost-cutting efforts in January. L. Phillip Humann, the $183.1 billion-asset Atlanta company's chairman and chief executive, made the announcement...

In Brief: Delay Sparks Talk on Schwab.
November 6, 2006... Charles Schwab Corp.'s postponement of an investor day planned for this month prompted some speculation about the San Francisco company's motives. David Trone, an analyst at Fox-Pitt, Kelton Inc., wrote in a research note issued Friday...

Washington People.
November 6, 2006... Playing Catch-Up Apparently the hills in Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke's hometown were not alive with the sound of music. Introducing Mr. Bernanke to the Opportunity Finance Network's annual conference last week, former...