Banking Wire articles from February 2004

Banking Wire archives from February 2004

Getting Bullish In China: CUNA Mutual Sees A Very Big Market.
February 3, 2004... CUNA Mutual Group, which established itself and grew to prominence as a middle class and consumer credit emerged in the United States, now sees a similar opportunity emerging in another country-China. The company is expanding its presence...

CU Letters Split On Conversion Proposal.
February 3, 2004... The credit union movement appears split over proposals by NCUA to toughen the requirements for converting from a credit union to a mutual savings bank. NCUA received as many comment letters from credit unions against the proposed...

Ex-CU Raises $70M As It Goes Public.
February 3, 2004... As officials with and opponents of Columbia Credit Union's bid to convert to a bank were still awaiting a ruling from regulators last week, Synergy Financial Group, the converted credit union once known as Synergy FCU, raised $70-million with...

Just Swipe-And-Go: Co. Seeks CUs Interested In New Mini-Cards.
February 3, 2004... Pemco Technology Services is looking for a credit union to sign up for its newest offering-mini credit cards. The cards, which measure 1.5 inches by 2.5 inches, are slightly larger than supermarket club cards. Their purpose, however, is...

ON DEADLINE: Hearings To Be Held On OCC Pre-emption Rules.
February 3, 2004... A key House Financial Services Subcommittee will hold hearings this week into the Comptroller of the Currency's controversial new rules preempting state predatory lending and other consumer protection laws, which are being challenged in court...

Get Ready for a Windfall.
February 3, 2004... By the time this issue reaches you, President Bush's State of the Union message will be old news and any initial reaction to his proposal to privatize at least part of Social Security will have died down. Of course, I'm writing this in...

Alliance Settlement May Not Lead to Lower Fund Fees, Say Experts.
February 3, 2004... Will the $250 million settlement agreement last December between federal and state regulators and Alliance Capital Management of New York put pressure on other fund advisers to slash fees? That has become the fund industry's $64,000 question....

Single-Premium Life Shows Potential.
February 3, 2004... Single-premium life insurance has the potential to balloon from a $500 million-per-year business to $10 billion in the near term if banks take the proper steps to identify the right customers and sell to them effectively. That's the view of...

SEC Is Set to Finalize Trust Rules by Year End.
February 3, 2004... If all goes according to schedule, the Securities and Exchange Commission is expected to hand down rules in November that govern bank trust operations. The long-awaited rules, essentially clarifying elements of the 1999 Gramm-Leach Bliley...

John Hancock Banks on LTC Rider.
February 3, 2004... John Hancock Financial Services has introduced a universal life insurance policy with a long-term-care rider that it says could be a hit at banks. Performance UL Core, launched in December, fits the needs of many bank customers, said Paul...

Wachovia Tops $4 Billion in Annuities.
February 4, 2004... A banking company has sold more than $4 billion of annuities in a calendar year for the first time, according to data from Kenneth Kehrer Associates. Wachovia Corp., which just missed $4 billion in 2002, cleared that total last year. ...

Community 1st Pushes Branch-Matching Plan.
February 4, 2004... Community First Bankshare's recent purchases of Colorado insurance agencies are part of its plan to bring insurance services to more of its 136 markets, said Mark Anderson, the banking company's president and CEO. Anderson said insurance...

New Products.
February 4, 2004... * Pimco Funds plans to launch a Multi-Discipline Portfolio as a part of its Multi-Manager Series. It will be broadly diversified, with five subadvisors managing five different disciplines. Equity concentrations will be large-cap growth,...

Provider Notes.
February 4, 2004... * Vanguard has reopened its High-Yield Corporate Fund. The fund has a minimum investment of $3,000 and an expense ratio of 0.26%. In addition, Hotchkis and Wiley Capital Management has joined the management team of Vanguard's Windsor II Fund....

BB&T Tries a New Take On Wealth Management.
February 4, 2004... In the race to gather assets among Dixie's rapidly growing high-net-worth market, BB&T Corp. never has fretted about resembling a slow-moving Southern turtle in a herd of Northern hyper hares. For the Winston-Salem, N.C.-headquartered bank,...

FCUs Set Record For Adding Underserved Areas.
February 4, 2004... Federally chartered credit unions set a new record for service to underserved and low-income markets during 2003, according to NCUA. The agency said that last year FCUs expanded to serve markets of 25.1 million potential members. During...

The Five Key Steps Employed By 1 CU In Recruiting SEGs, Members.
February 4, 2004... "Under promise and over deliver." That's a motto that has helped Baxter Credit Union succeed in recruiting and retaining select employee groups (SEGs). "BCU signed up many well-known, national companies as SEGs in 2003, totaling more than...

Long-Time NASCUS Exec, Fortney, Tapped As CEO.
February 4, 2004... As long-time NASCUS VP-Regulatory Affairs Mary Martha Fortney officially steps into the top spot, it's too early to tell if there will be any sweeping changes at the trade association for state regulators and state-chartered CUs. But...

Worth Noting.
February 4, 2004... Registrations Open For DE MADISON, Wis.-Applications are now being accepted for participants in the National Credit Union Development Education (DE) program, hosted by the National CU Foundation. The program is scheduled for June 3-8 in...

Taking Names and Kicking The 'Buts' Out Of Conversions.
February 4, 2004... They stood in the cold and the rain and the misery on wet, gray sidewalks as traffic splashed by, indifferent to their mission when surely, even they had to wonder what in the world were they doing out here. Indeed, they had little idea what...

How To Remain Prepared And Liquid As Lending Improves.
February 5, 2004... For the past couple of years, most credit unions have been navigating a virtual ocean of liquidity. Now some of those same credit unions may run aground in funding their loan business. Give credit to the growing economy. Or to the fact that...

You've Ante'd Up; Ready To Call?
February 5, 2004... It's common knowledge in poker that one cannot even sit at the table (let alone win) unless he/she puts in the ante and then keeps calling or raising bets to stay in the game. When assessing a credit union's current product mix and value...

2 Alaska CUs In Pilot To Help 1st-Time Buyers.
February 5, 2004... Two Alaska-based credit unions are among four originating lenders participating in a pilot program designed to assist first-time home buyers. Fairbanks-based Northern Schools FCU, along with Anchorage-based Alaska USA FCU will be assisting...

MECU In Affordable Home Plan.
February 5, 2004... Municipal Employees CU here said it has become the first credit union in this market to participate in the Federal Home Loan Bank of Atlanta's Affordable Housing Program for first-time homebuyers. The program helps people with low incomes...

New CUSO Takes Aim At Local Realtors.
February 5, 2004... Riverside County's Credit Union this month is launching a new service organization subsidiary known as RCCU Mortgage, LLC. The new CUSO has aggressive plans, including forming relationships with real estate offices and future expansion into...

Tapping A Vast New Market.
February 5, 2004... For Ben Franklin, nothing was certain but death and taxes. While those certainties remain, parents of college-bound teenagers now face another sure thing: the staggering and ever-increasing cost of paying for higher education. Scholarships...

When Wholesalers Have You in Their Sights: Here's how Jackson National's Robert McGrorty targets - and serves - bank reps in his territory.
February 5, 2004... Free chocolate probably isn't the main reason bank reps in Pennsylvania look forward to Robert McGrorty's visits. But the giveaway of locally made Hershey bars, in whose wrappers the Jackson National Life Insurance regional vice president...

Want to Get Off the Product Treadmill? Author Matt Oechsli Tells You How: Bank brokers can succeed in reaching and serving high-net-worth investors, but not in the same old way.
February 5, 2004... Matt Oechsli has been teaching reps how to reach high-net-worth clients for more than two decades. In 2002, he wrote How to Build a 21st Century Financial Practice. Late last year, his Oechsli Institute in Greensboro, N.C., published Mastering...

Can Software Improve Policy Selection?: More than 325,000 financial advisors currently use inventor Barry D. Flagg's product. Now, he's moving into banks.
February 5, 2004... Bank consultants faced with the dizzying array of life insurance policies available for sale often feel as if they must be actuaries to understand what's really in the contracts. But those days may be coming to an end. A powerful Web-based...

Tennessee Bank Reps Speak.
February 5, 2004... What's life like for bank reps in the mid-South? This month, we speak to three reps in Tennessee to find out: Thomas Herbert, a senior vice president at PrimeTrust Bank in Nashville, part of a three-person team managing $165 million in assets;...

CU Aids In Video Reunion.
February 6, 2004... Service Credit Union will host a video conference this week between a credit union member serving in the military in Germany and her family living in New England. Kelli Everett, a CU member and a photographer with the U.S. Air force in...

Twins Players To Visit CU.
February 6, 2004... Two of the best-known players for the Minnesota Twins will be visiting the headquarters of Affinity Plus FCU when the Twins Winter Caravan visits. On hand for the meet-and-greet luncheon will be former players Harmon Killebrew and Rod Carew,...

Product & Service.
February 6, 2004... Collections CUSO Sees Growth TALLAHASSEE, Fla.-United Solutions, Inc. (USI), a CUSO offering collection and asset recovering services, said it experienced a significant increase in clients during 2003, during which it added 10 new credit...

Illinois CUs See Problems In 'Reverse PIN' ATM Security Plan.
February 6, 2004... Illinois Credit Union League officials said that new legislation aimed at frustrating ATM bandits may actually put its victims in danger. Keith Sias, Director, State Governmental Affairs, ICUL, said he is not recommending that credit unions...

Why 1 CU Has Intro'd 'Managed Credit'.
February 6, 2004... Community Resource Credit Union has established a new Managed Credit Program that assigns interest rates based on credit scores of its members. For those who don't fare so well, financial officers are standing ready with advice on how to...

Spitzer Taking Aim At Preemption of Bank Rules.
February 6, 2004... New York attorney general Eliot Spitzer, who has been battling federal securities regulators over jurisdictional issues in the mutual funds scandals, is at it again. Spitzer filed suit to block the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency from...

In 'Re-Switch,' Fannie Now Backs Oversight Plan.
February 6, 2004... Fannie Mae changed its mind again last week and returned to its original stance on legislation to reform oversight of the secondary mortgage market. Fannie, the biggest player in the secondary market, once again endorsed a legislative proposal...

HUD Plan Would Offer No-Downpayment Mrtg.
February 6, 2004... The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development said it is proposing a new program that will allow eligible borrowers to obtain Federal Housing Administration mortgages with no money down. The proposal, part of HUD's fiscal year budget...

FDIC Proposal Would Ease CRA Requirements.
February 6, 2004... The FDIC last week issued proposed rules that would ease Community Reinvestment Act requirements for about 1,350 banks. The proposal would raise the threshold for the so-called short CRA format from $250 million in assets to $500 million. The...

People.
February 6, 2004... Fiserv, Brookfield, Wis., named John Schooler president of USERS. Weyerhaeuser Employees' Credit Union, Longview, Wash., announced the retirement of Michelle Klemetsrud. T&C Federal Credit Union, Bloomfield Hills, Mich., promoted...

JPMorgan-Bank One Deal Sure to Start Things Up: The first big merger of the year signals the start of a new wave of consolidation in banking, and it will have more than Avon ladies ringing doorbells.
February 9, 2004... The Avon ladies won't know what hit them. The $60 billion union of JPMorgan Chase, the second-largest bank in the country, and Bank One, the sixth-ranking bank by assets and the world's largest issuer of Visa cards (including Avon's very own...

Mergers: Bank of America Goes Under the Microscope: Fleet deal draws Fed scrutiny, public hearings.
February 9, 2004... Thanks to a raft of letters from community groups and an appeal from Massachusetts legislators, the Federal Reserve Board extended public comment on the proposed Bank of America and FleetBoston Financial merger to include two public hearings....

Hits and Has-Beens.
February 9, 2004... Unity Bank's president and CEO, Anthony J. Feraro, has resigned following a voluntary leave of absence prompted by a probe of expense reimbursements by the bank's audit committee. The amount in question was reported to be less than $15,000....

Real Estate: A Room with a View: Even bankers need a roof over their heads.
February 9, 2004... The current low interest rates have changed the real estate strategies for almost all corporate America except for the banking industry. For the past decade, corporations typically have sold real estate and leased back the space as needed....

Fresh Ink.
February 9, 2004... 1. Jersey City-based Provident Financial plans to buy Woodbridge, NJ-based First Sentinel Bancorp in a cash and stock deal worth $642 million. The combined bank will be the 8th largest in NJ with a concentration in Middlesex County, an...

Columbia Ordered To Vote Again: Group Fighting Conversion Wins Victory.
February 9, 2004... Members of Columbia Credit Union are apparently going to re-vote their controversial ballot to convert to a mutual savings bank, after state regulators ordered credit union officials last week to resolve the conflict with dissident members...

Leagues, Agency Debate Response To Conversions.
February 9, 2004... While hot topics like banker attacks on the credit union tax exemption were the headliners at the AACUL Annual Meeting here, issues related to the number of credit unions seeking to convert to bank charters reared its head, as well. NCUA...

3-Pronged Strategy Advocated For Battling State Tax Efforts.
February 9, 2004... Credit unions must win the hearts and minds of voters and lawmakers alike if they expect to preserve the tax exemption at the state level. And doing that, according to state leagues that have already faced such fights, is going to require CUs...

Ideas For Fighting Predators Shared.
February 9, 2004... More than 200 credit union officials turned out here last week seeking ways to beat payday lenders. The group was attending a Partnering and Leadership Successes (PALS) workshop put together by NCUA board member Debbie Matz, and speakers...

ON DEADLINE.
February 9, 2004... Bid Made To Salvage Ailing Bankruptcy Bill WASHINGTON-The House overwhelmingly voted to attach the controversial bankruptcy reform bill to a separate bill reauthorizing Chapter 12, farm bankruptcies, in a desperate bid to finally move the...

Report Examines What Drives CU Pricing Decisions.
February 10, 2004... What affect on loan and deposit pricing does a credit union have on a market? A new study from the Filene Research Institute seeks to quantify that effect, along with answering other questions, such as how does competition in local...

United Airlines ECU Changes Its Name.
February 10, 2004... The nation's sixth-largest credit union has a new name. Alliant Credit Union is the new name for the $4.5-billion United Airlines Employees Credit Union. The name change, along with a new logo and branding initiative, is the first in the...

Worth Noting.
February 10, 2004... Beall Named Md. League CEO COLUMBIA, Md.-The Maryland Credit Union League (MCUL) has named Mike Beall as its new president/CEO. Beall had been serving as manager of governmental affairs and partnerships in the Washington, D.C. office of...

A 68-Year-Old That's Just Not Acting Its Age Anymore.
February 10, 2004... It's not often you find many 68-year-olds looking to change their name. After all, they're interacting with the grandchildren and even the great grandchildren of those who knew them when they were young and just starting out. I mean, what...

No-Payment Auto Offer Gets Lukewarm Response At Sale.
February 10, 2004... Despite low response to a deferred payment promotion at previous events, credit unions in Long Island are giving it one more try during a car sale. Joanne Steigerwald, VP of operations at People's Alliance FCU in Hauppauge, N.Y., said her...

Debt Payments: Defaults Fall in 2003, But Questions Linger: Just why was that check late?
February 10, 2004... Defaults are down around the world and credit upgrades are on the upswing. Sounds like good news for almost everybody, except the occasional vulture investor. What's not to like? For bankers, there could be plenty, market watchers. Numbers are...

Pipeline.
February 10, 2004... The ABA's Take on plastic Debit and credit cards have surpassed cash and checks as the preferred way to spend in stores, according to a nationwide consumer payments study by the American Bankers Association and Dove Consulting. But not by...

Community vs. Community.
February 10, 2004... In the salad bowl of the world, all Joan Michaels wants to see is a little more green. As finance director for King City, a small California town in lush southern Monterey County, Michaels has tossed and turned for the better part of a...

Noted and Noteworthy.
February 10, 2004... Don't be fooled by the stories of nostalgia for the former East-Ostalgie-which is popular now in any talk of chilly Berlin or stubborn Schroeder or the New Germany. There's an even greater nostalgia to be had. It's for what was even...

Through the Looking Glass: China has arrived, carrying more now in its portfolio than the bomb. As U.S. financiers pursue politics and commerce, it's worth noting interests on the other side can push back.
February 10, 2004... Just the other day dragons rolled, drums beat, silk flew, cymbals crashed and firecrackers roared in greeting the new Chinese year of the Monkey. The noise drowned out the gnashing of teeth in some quarters as the Chinese government used...

Youth Package Offering Plastic Expected To Grow Quickly.
February 11, 2004... Riverside County's Credit Union is expecting to see a significant increase in sign-ups for a product aimed at younger members, which includes a Visa check card, now that it is promoting it. RCCU's "MyMoney Youth Account" includes a savings...

Product & Service.
February 11, 2004... Bouchard Acquires McElroy Comm. SACRAMENTO, Calif.-Bouchard Marketing, which works with numerous credit union clients, has acquired McElroy Communications, a full-service PR and public affairs agency, and is changing its name to Bouchard...

Dollar Sets Membership Goal For '05.
February 11, 2004... NCUA Chairman Dennis Dollar said that by 2005 he would like to see credit union membership be made available to all 90-million Americans who live in low-income neighborhoods. Dollar set the goal in remarks before the American Association of...

Matz Outlines 3 Challenges She Sees Credit Unions Facing During New Year.
February 11, 2004... The three major challenges credit unions will face in 2004 are the threat of taxation, interest rate risk, and the disappearance of small credit unions, according to NCUA Board Member Deborah Matz. Speaking before the American Association...

NJCUL Unveils Online Resource.
February 11, 2004... The New Jersey league is offering a new Governmental Affairs Online Action Center accessible 24/7 through the NJCUL web site, www.njcul.org to its member CUs. The site offers info on pending legislative issues and can be used to research...

What It Takes to Protect Intellectual Property: Financial firms are deluging the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office with applications, which soared 15-fold between 1995 and 2002. But can converting valuable ideas into assets pay off? And at what price glory-if at all?
February 11, 2004... Like the gold rush of late 1840s, financial services prospectors are rushing to stake their claim to their firms' intellectual property, flooding the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office with applications since the turn of this century. ...

Bank One Buffs Its Image, Care of Avon: If you're at home during the day, watch out. The nation's 600,000 Avon reps-a cosmetics army totaling more than the population of Cleveland-are now packing plastic, courtesy of Bank One.
February 11, 2004... The local Avon lady is now carrying plastic in her cosmetic bag. A new partnership between Bank One and Avon marks the first time a card issuer has employed another company's distribution network-600,000 Avon reps-as part of an affinity...

AD Beat: Laying Down the Law With A Measure of Optimism: Sam Waterston is the third Law & Order actor to pitch for TD Waterhouse. But this trustworthy guy gets to do something his predecessors didn't: break the rules.
February 11, 2004... Since 1990, Law & Order has become a fixture on television, producing several spin-offs, supporting a generation of struggling New York actors with bit parts and establishing itself as one of the premier franchises in the medium's history. It's...

After Years Behind the Scenes, Bean Counters Go Prime Time: Enron put finance officers in the public eye, even if numbers are still hard for the public to follow. US Trust CFO Linda Huber discusses the way the job is changing and what it means to account for more of the brand image.
February 11, 2004... The bright light shining over the last three years on accounting scandals and other sins among financial firms changed the role of number crunchers. It's forcing chief financial officers into the spotlight whether their company's been roiled by...

U.S. Bancorp's Smooth Operator.
February 11, 2004... Jerry Grundhofer has a knack for making people see things his way. Lauded for building one of the best bank management teams around, U.S. Bancorp's chief executive has used his operational skills and his salesmanship to meld four different...

In Land of Rising Sun, Rays of Hope for Struggling Bank Sector.
February 12, 2004... Though Japan's banks have been ailing for more than a decade, the sector's pulse is strengthening. Signs of change are everywhere, as the four megabanks reported second-half 2003 profits for the first time in 20 years. Critics acknowledge the...

We Knew We were Smallest in Texas. Not America.: Roddy Rawls Wiley, head of Oakwood State Bank, is a small fixture in a state that thinks big. His firm's little more than a place for townfolk to hold their money. He's indispensible.
February 12, 2004... There are as many ways to stay in business as there are Americans. Down the highway from Palestine, TX, and up from the Trinity River woods, Roddy Rawls 'R.R.' Wiley, the man who runs America's smallest bank, thinks he's got it figured out by...

Get Some Shelter? Make it Big, Or Just Fade Away.: The red-hot housing market is cooling. LaSalle and RBC Centura, offspring of foreign parents, are making moves to take lasting holds in consumer finance from Chicago to Chapel Hill. Got to move fast.
February 12, 2004... In September, RBC Financial finished buying Houston-based Sterling Capital Mortgage. The big Canadian firm continues to bet heavy on the U.S. mortgage banking industry even as the bloom seems to be quickly fading from the rose. It needs to...

Lots of Ditching and Switching As Owners Seek Deals: Banks are warming up to small business customers, industry analysts say, but research shows that lack of differentiation among financial firms is prompting a slump in loyalty.
February 12, 2004... Small business customers are bouncing around between banks now that competition is picking up in this once neglected segment. Owners are turning out to be a disloyal bunch, with twice as many changing banks in pursuit of a better deal compared...

Getting Noticed by Corporates Is the Break Banks Need: In the rough-and-tumble world of corporate banking, billions of dollars are at stake. With corporate treasurers and CFOs throwing their weight around, banks are forced to do more for less.
February 12, 2004... Cross sell to corporates? Forget it. Labeled "value destroyers" by some, corporate customers have long been a drag on bank profits, and it doesn't look like things will be getting easier any time soon. With treasurers and CFOs throwing their...

Product & Service.
February 12, 2004... LCS Signs 60th For ICMS Solution MINNEAPOLIS-Loss Control Solutions said that Arizona FCU has become the 60th client to sign on to use its Investigation Case Management System (ICMS). The product manages workload and data for loss...

Group Sees More Growth In CU Lending In 2004.
February 12, 2004... The massive inflow of savings that has flooded credit unions the past few years has apparently slowed to a trickle, in some cases, it has even reversed itself to be a net outflow. Credit unions around the country are reporting the...

USPS Puts Out RFP For Depository Services.
February 12, 2004... The U.S. Postal Service said it is accepting bids from federally insured banks and credit unions to provide depository services for its Arizona, Hawaii, Nevada-Sierra and Salt Lake City districts. The service will cover deposits for 1,066 post...

'Smart Commute' Program Expanding To Atlanta.
February 12, 2004... Fannie Mae said last week it is now offering its "Smart Commute" program to homeowners in the Atlanta area. The program allows people to qualify for larger mortgages if they buy homes near mass transit lines and promise to use them. Several...

People.
February 12, 2004... Matadors Community Credit Union, Northridge, Calif., named Joni Myatt assistant vice president of member services. First American CU, Beloit, Wis., named Brian Nichols chief financial officer. Security Service FCU, San Antonio, Texas,...

Card Transactions: 'Commissions' For Merchants: Dynamic currency conversion is big business.
February 13, 2004... U.S. acquirer banks are leaping into the burgeoning field of dynamic currency conversion, which not only promises a new source of income, but offers a rebate-or what some politely call a "commission"-for merchants. Banks earn the fee on...

Fraud: Credit Cards Fight The Good Fight.
February 13, 2004... Internet fraud remains consumers' biggest fear in the race to keep the consumer safe from on-line payments and ID fraud, the three big credit card providers are focused on their tried and true methods. Visa's Verify by Visa and MasterCard's...

Imaging:Is Latin American Network Feasible?
February 13, 2004... ERAS proposes image clearing Web site miami software firm eras isn't satisfied with landing the biggest fish in Latin America-CECOBAN, the Mexican Central Bank's processing arm. Now it's angling for the whole school with a proposal to create a...

Editor's Note.
February 13, 2004... In "Nat City's New Image" (January 2004), BTN incorrectly identified the corporate affiliation of Rian Maloney. Maloney is vp of emerging technology for VECTORsgi. BTN regrets the error. In "Bright Ideas" (January 2004), a quote from the...