Banking Wire articles from June 2002

Banking Wire archives from June 2002

People.
June 3, 2002... PEOPLE III Educational Community Credit Union, Jacksonville, Fla., announced that Board Member Juanita Wilson was honored by the Freedoms Foundation, and the Jacksonville City Council, for her contributions to the community. Central...

Journal Daily.
June 3, 2002... CU Robber Gone In 60 Seconds OLD HICKORY, Tenn.-A masked gunman rushed into Old Hickory CU and robbed the credit union in about 60 seconds. The robber pointed a handgun at the teller and stuffed the bills in a backpack and sped out of the...

'This Is A Sick Up' Robber Is Convicted.
June 3, 2002... A man who handed tellers at Muskegon Governmental Employees CU a misspelled demand note announcing a 'sick up' was convicted of armed robbery for the Dec. 2, 1999, stick-up at the CU. John Smith, 37, of Muskegon Heights, was found guilty...

Tree Ends CU of America Robbery Chase.
June 3, 2002... A man suspected of robbing the CU of America was rushed to the hospital after the getaway car he was driving sped the wrong way up a one-way street and hit a truck before fish- tailing into a tree. A witness to the heist briefly followed the...

Man Who Attempted Diversion Pleads Guilty.
June 3, 2002... A Madison County man pleaded guilty in federal court last week to armed robbery in connection with last April's heist at Family Security CU here. Police said Milton Barnes, 30, called police just before the credit union hold-up with an...

Missouri CU Commission To Hear Bankers' Appeal.
June 3, 2002... The state CU Commission is scheduled this week to hear the bankers' appeal of a multi- county FOM granted City Utilities CU, Springfield, the last one remaining of a dozen FOM appeals filed by the bankers. The appeal will also be the final...

McGrady Elected CSCU Chairman.
June 3, 2002... Card Services for Credit Unions has elected its new board, with Patrick McGrady, CEO of Toledo Area Catholic CU in Sylvania, Ohio, elected chairman. Other board officers include: vice chairman, Robert Hunt, president of Educational...

Proposal For Small Wash. CUs.
June 3, 2002... The state Department of Financial Institutions has proposed easing governance rules on small CUs to reduce the number of required board meetings to nine (from the current monthly requirement), and to extend the period in which a request for...

Toda New Wes Pay Alliance Chair.
June 3, 2002... The Western Payments Alliance has elected as its new chairman Dennis Toda, VP-operational integrity with the San Dimas, Calif.-based WesCorp. Other executive committee members are: vice chair, Frank Donato of City National Bank; treasurer,...

Johnson Accepts Board Position.
June 3, 2002... Retiring WesCorp President Richard M. Johnson has accepted an invitation to serve on the board of directors of the educational foundation that bears his name, which seeks to ensure CU leaders are provided with opportunities to learn, develop...

Journal Asks: If You Could Speak To CUs, What Would You Say?
June 4, 2002... If you had the opportunity to tell the entire credit union community just one thing, what would it be? That the growth in huge fields of membership is dangerous to the future of credit unions? Or that larger fields of membership are...

How 2 CUs Are Creating Their Own.
June 4, 2002... What is a BFCU anyway? Unless they were part of the in-crowd, most people on New York's Long Island could only guess. And chances are, they didn't bother. Bethpage Federal Credit Union knew it had to do something if it wanted to...

NAFCU Joins In Suit Over Credit Card Law.
June 4, 2002... NAFCU joined five banking groups last week in asking a federal court here to nullify a new law requiring credit unions and other credit card issuers to include in statements warnings aimed at discouraging card holders from making only the...

Letters Calendar.
June 4, 2002... C's the Key for Profits In reference to a recent column on profitability, ("How to Squeeze Out Profits From Your Investment Service," by Tim O'Rourke of Raymond James, May 2002, p. 48), I believe banks are not as profitable in their...

HSBC Launches Brokerage Unit Next to Existing Manhattan Office: Look out, boys. HSBC is muscling its way into one of the wealthiest enclaves in the Northeast in its bid to dominate wealth management.
June 4, 2002... SBC Brokerage, the U.S. subsidiary of HSBC Bank USA, is expanding existing New York office space at 452 Fifth Ave. to launch the HSBC Brokerage Center, its first wealth management center. Visitors can watch trading activity from the main level,...

PEOPLE ON THE MOVE.
June 4, 2002... David E. Meyer has been selected as COO of investment and wealth management at Mercantile Bankshares, the holding company's largest banking affiliate. Previously, Meyer was at J.P. Morgan, where he met Edward J. Kelly III, now CEO of Mercantile...

Local Philadelphia Bank Mulls National Wealth Management: Regionals buy in asset management, benefits and insurance.
June 4, 2002... The Spirit of '76 still runs strong in Philadelphia, and Progress Bank, a $1 billion institution with 20 branches, aspires to offer other community banks independence from the big national broker-dealers in retail investments and wealth...

Point of View: More Than a Slap on the Wrist: Top executives should personally feel pain from their misdeeds.
June 4, 2002... Credit Suisse First Boston got fined $100 million by the National Association of Securities Dealers and the Securities and Exchange Commission for allegedly shady practices involved in its underwriting of initial public offerings during the...

GRANDIOSE SELF IMAGE.
June 4, 2002... It was difficult for us to figure out why former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker had agreed to try to set Arthur Andersen LLP right, after the auditing firm had ruined its reputation through its handling of Enron Corp., Waste...

New way to punish turncoats.
June 4, 2002... Bank of America seems to be following a novel strategy in seeking to retaliate against five former employees who jumped ship and joined UBS Warburg. BofA is accusing the five of having stolen intellectual property and other proprietary...

Board Tries To Quash Member Initiative.
June 5, 2002... Embattled directors of U.S. Senate FCU last week delayed a special membership meeting for at least a week while they worked to convince petitioners to withdraw their signatures from an initiative aimed at recalling a majority of the board....

In Wake Of Law's Repeal, Iowa CUs, Banks Form Network.
June 5, 2002... At the behest of a local bank, several credit unions and banks have banded together to offer consumers a means of avoiding ATM surcharges, now that the surcharge ban has fallen in Iowa, the last state to eliminate such a ban. Dupaco...

ON DEADLINE.
June 5, 2002... Member Shot During Heist DENVER-A member of The CU of Denver was in serious condition last week after he was shot in the chest when he stepped between a teller and an armed robber. Phath Ouk, 52, was rushed to Denver Health Medical...

How Do Reps Balance Being A Good Seller and a Good Adviser?: Financial acumen is not an essential sales skill and being able to close the deal is not important to understanding the markets. But bank reps are called on to do both.
June 5, 2002... Many program managers preach profiling, but all they ever ask to see are weekly sales reports. Philosophically, most agree that fee- based accounts are desirable, but many banks' natural customer base is the mass affluent, if not just the...

Robert R. Cramer Jr., PNC Brokerage, South Atherton, PA: Cramer's investing philosophy is simple: Aim for returns of 10% to 5% over five years-and pick products that won't stress out the investor.
June 5, 2002... Robert R. Cramer Jr. believes in investing: Investing in one's business, investing in oneself, investing in products for the long term. It's a credo he breathes daily at PNC Brokerage in South Atherton, PA, which also serves as his base for...

In New Unit for HNW Clients, SunTrust to Hawk Third-Party Products: Alexander Key was launched on April 2, offering a variety of third- party products. Watch for other banks to follow this "open architecture.".
June 5, 2002... In a revolutionary approach to selling, SunTrust claims it will finally offer the high net-worth client something he can't get anywhere else: the investment that's best for him, not the one the bank chooses to sell. On April 2, the...

NEWS ROUNDUP.
June 5, 2002... A new American Bankers AssociatioN survey says banks that are "very satisfied" with their understanding of customer needs do a great deal of market research, have an active marketing committee and have a senior management team that has...

NO LONGER A NICE GUY.
June 5, 2002... Lots of people and companies can be very "nice" when things are going well, but their true nature comes out when they run into trouble. That appears to be what's going on with Charles Schwab & Co., which has been suffering from the decline...

Loose Change.
June 5, 2002... Big Pay Hikes Last year most bank stocks were flat, according to SNL Financial. But the median CEO compensation at the 100 largest banks rose 22% to $1.55 million. Will the pattern of more pay for less success go on forever? Sweet on...

THE PARTY'S OVER.
June 5, 2002... Banks struggled for decades to repeal the "Depression-era" Glass- Steagall Act that prohibited them from engaging in investment banking activities. They succeeded, and now they are suffering from a hangover that some banks can't seem to...

Postal CUs Sign Up For New Proprietary ATM Network.
June 6, 2002... At least 20 postal credit unions have signed on to participate in a proprietary ATM network connecting ATMs owned by each institution. "It's going real well. We've tested it out already," Robert Spindler, executive director of the National...

Some Mich. CUs Pressing For Greater Return From Sale.
June 6, 2002... Several credit unions are calling on the Michigan CU League, which erased all of last year's member dues with money earned from the sale of its stake in the NYCE EFT network, to pay out some or all of the remaining $22.5 million to member...

Charlotte Metro Does The Math, Sponsors Times Tables.
June 6, 2002... Charlotte Metro Credit Union is picking up the tab to print 20,000 multiplication tables for third and fourth graders in the Charlotte Mecklenburg School System. The credit union learned the school system had no multiplication tables of...

CUNA Mutual Makes Changes To Online 'Bondability' Program.
June 6, 2002... CUNA Mutual Group has enhanced its online "Bondability Program" to enable speedier hiring by providing credit unions with secured and more prompt bondability verification responses on the Internet, the company reported. In addition, CUNA...

Prevention Is the Best Cure Against Increasing Litigation: Is there an anecdote to litigation? Well, say two attorneys who monitor legal filings against reps, it's best to never get sued in the first place.
June 6, 2002... As markets fall, litigation against advisers typically rises, and the market slide over the last two years has been no exception. NASD arbitrations increased to 7,000 cases in 2001 from 5,500 the year before, and the number is not expected to...

Lantern Investment Services, Sovereign Bank, Philadelphia: Before marching ahead with two major acquisitions, Sovereign made sure its brokerage was able to keep the pace.
June 6, 2002... Just three years Sovereign Bank of Philadelphia will have gone from a $23 billion institution with 200 branches in three Mid-Atlantic states and a minor brokerage and platform program to a regional contender with $37 billion in assets and 530...

Are SMAs Becoming Commodities?: Commoditization may provide more choices, but it reduces the advantages of separate accounts.
June 6, 2002... Leonard A. Reinhart, Lockwood Financial Group Malvern, Pa. YES. As separately managed accounts gain in popularity, making them more of a commodity would likely increase the number of managers to choose from and make it easier to switch...

Hedge Funds Are Going Mainstream, As Advisers Consider New Offerings: Has "mutualfundization" struck the hedge fund industry? With a reputation for consistent, positive returns, hedge funds are becoming the must-have product for the HNW crowd.
June 6, 2002... The 2001 bull run in hedge funds is showing no sign of slowing this year, as investors thirst for the double-digit returns considered ho- hum just two years ago. The attraction is more than just eight years of solid performance, which cut...

MEXICO MONEY EXPRESS.
June 6, 2002... Citigroup is eager to get a bigger share of the $8 billion-a-year business in which Mexicans living in the United States transfer money to relatives and acquaintances in Mexico. Last year, shortly after acquiring Mexico's second- largest...

FAIR ISAAC'S FOOT IN THE DOOR AT PROVIDIAN.
June 6, 2002... A scary vision: Banks are no longer needed. Fair Isaac has been trying to make itself the evaluator of consumer credit worthiness. It has been urging banks, so far without too much success, to peddle its ubiquitous FICO scores on their Web...

Dean Of League CEOs, Wolter Marks 40th Anniversary.
June 7, 2002... When he walked into the offices of the Alabama CU League for the first time, John F. Kennedy was president. Now, some 40 years later, Gary Wolter, president of the Alabama league, is being recognized for his four decades of service. ...

In Developing Nations, CUs Address Long-Time Problems-Their Own.
June 7, 2002... Credit unions around the world are increasingly taking steps to address safety and soundness issues, especially in developing nations. Poor record-keeping, operational analysis and inadequate oversight have long plagued credit unions in...

Worth Noting.
June 7, 2002... NAFCU Restructures Committees WASHINGTON, D.C.-NAFCU is restructuring itself, saying it's seeking to be more responsive. It is eliminating five standing committees whose functions will be folded into other existing committee and task...

Those Model Policies? I (Insert Reaction Here) Them.
June 7, 2002... If you are a wise leader and desire efficiency, you take advantage of what others have done. For example, you copy another credit union's policies or you obtain a model from a third party. It's the third party models I want to talk about. ...

Advice On Making Convention Attendance Pay Off.
June 7, 2002... It's the beginning of the season-and for all you fellow sports fans I'm not referring to the imminent first pitch on opening day. It's convention season. In the credit union industry alone there will be nearly 40 annual conventions throughout...

Banking on Higher Education.
June 7, 2002... April showers for Bank of America this spring were more like torrents of money pouring into the national 529 college savings plan the institution put into production on the first of the month. No fooling: 529s are the biggest things to hit...

For First Union's Susan S. Sherrill, Spearheading Branch-Licensing Helped Her Form an Army of LBEs.
June 7, 2002... Before she accepted the assignment, there were no Series 6 reps. Nine years later, there are 2,800, accounting for more than 35% of the bank-channel broker-dealer revenue in 2002. Would Gen. MacArthur have been proud? "My LBEs are...

Living Will or Health-Care Proxy? Having Both May Create Confusion.
June 7, 2002... Ensuring that a client's last wishes are carried out is the highest calling of an estate-planning attorney.However, the means used to accomplish that end are certainly open to interpretation. Conventional wisdom among estate planners is...

Fifth Third Securities Rises From the Ashes of Ohio Co.
June 7, 2002... Operations expert Jordan Miller was brought in after processing problems undermined the 1998 acquisition. Under his guidance, the bank's brokerage has grown to $7 billion under management. Jordan Miller is a low-key fellow whose soft-spoken...

NEWS ROUNDUP.
June 7, 2002... * US Bancorp is adopting the full-service brokerage model that Firstar, one of its legacy banks, developed. The old USB relied on licensed bankers, while Firstar had full-service brokers. * Man bites dog: Investment firm Intrepid Capital of...

Column Hit The Nail On The Head About The Bankers' Trojan Horse.
June 10, 2002... Letters To The Editor: I want to thank Frank J. Diekmann for his editorial in the May 13, 2002 issue of the Credit Union Journal. The article was entitled "New From The Ministry: Uniqueness Out, Sameness In". Mr. Diekmann's...

Compliance: Three Steps Toward Complying With OFAC Regs.
June 10, 2002... In response to the terrorist attacks in September, the federal government and credit union regulators have asked all credit unions, large and small, to step up their compliance efforts in a number of different areas. One area that is of...

Product & Service.
June 10, 2002... Deluxe Wins Arbor Day Award ST. PAUL, Minn-Deluxe Financial Services has been presented with a 2002 Promise to the Earth Award from the National Arbor Day Foundation. Deluxe was recognized for its commitment in supporting the National...

'Wish We'd Done It Sooner,' Says CU Of Vendor Review.
June 10, 2002... Digital FCU wanted to find a way to encourage vendors to help the $1.5-billion credit union live up to its member service standards while recognizing those vendors that already do. The solution: Partnership Excellence Awards. "The germ...

As Profits Shrink, Banks Turn To Trust to Boost Bottom Line: A decade ago, banks couldn't be bothered to deal with the bureaucratic gyrations required to maintain a trust department. That's all changed now.
June 10, 2002... A s profit margins shrink and disintermediation grows, banks are scrambling to find new ways to drive up revenue. They've found their Holy Grail in the creation of trust departments, which are quickly becoming a must-have for a full-service...

Touchstone Scores Touchdown With Record '01 in Bank Sales: The firm was more than simply in the right place at the right time. It also learned the value of relationships between wholesalers and producers in the banks. Patience is one of the most important virtues.
June 10, 2002... With the celebration of its 10th anniversary as a distributor of fixed annuities in the bank channel, Cincinnati-based IFS Financial Services also announced record sales of $1.3 billion in 2001, a 70% increase from 2000. Bank-channel sales...

NEWS ROUNDUP.
June 10, 2002... * NAVA, the National Association for Variable Annuities, has forwarded its proposed Product Profile for Annuities (PPfA) to the Association for Cooperative Operations Research and Development. for inclusion in the ACORD XMLife standard. An...

EVERYBODY'S PICKING ON HOUSEHOLD.
June 10, 2002... Household International Inc. may not actually be determined to drive people out of their homes, but its apparent willingness to threaten foreclosures as a part of doing business is disturbing. Filings for foreclosure by the company range...

THE PERILS OF MYOPIA: A bank that thinks it's doing terrifically may be missing signs of trouble.
June 10, 2002... Most companies and business people have trouble putting themselves in perspective. It is a particular problem for smaller banks because they often are closely held and have few objective onlookers to place things in a broader reality. In...

Small Business Entices Marketers: With over 5 million small businesses in America, banks are realizing the potential in this market.
June 10, 2002... When Karen Prest, an analyst at Newton, MA-based Meridien Research, started conducting her research on whether banks were delivering services for small businesses, she expected the results to give banks a failing grade. "I went in as a...

'Lending Review Must Go Beyond Just CU's Rates'.
June 11, 2002... Borrowing money from a credit union should be almost as easy as borrowing money from one's parents when you were a kid. Sarah B. Prewitt, VP-marketing with Michael Neill & Associates, Inc., Fayetteville, Ga., told credit unions at the...

Northern Nevada CUs Launch Ad Campaign.
June 11, 2002... Nine credit unions in Northern Nevada, including two headquartered in Las Vegas that have branches in Reno, have launched a public awareness campaign on TV and radio using the national credit union brand "Public Education" and "Comfort...

Product & Service.
June 11, 2002... BURBANK, Calif.-OnStaff, Inc., formerly TitleTemps, Inc., a national specialty staffing company for the financial services and healthcare industries, has opened two new offices in Culver City, Calif. One of the offices will be dedicated to the...

Online Ad Strategy Grabs New Business: Electronic Marketing Pays Off For Pentagon Federal.
June 11, 2002... A new, interactive web advertising strategy that includes falling money, moving vehicles and an expanding house has helped Pentagon FCU increase credit card sales via the Internet by a whopping 200%. Packaged neatly and completely in...

National City Makes a Big Push To Sell Armada Funds Nationally: The Cleveland regional feels its proprietary complex can compete with the big retail groups, by emphasizing asset allocation and diversification in an era of highly-specialized sector funds.
June 11, 2002... Just sixty days after the terrorist attacks of September 11, with financial markets yet to recover, senior executives at National City Bank in Cleveland decided to go ahead with their ambitious national distribution plan for NatCity's Armada...

NEWS ROUNDUP.
June 11, 2002... * Bank of oklahoma's American Performance short-term income fund was named the top short investment-grade debt fund for the five years ending 2001 by Lipper, and maintained that No. 1 ranking through April. Big banks, it's clear, are not the...

At Hartford Life, New Manager Aims At Streamlining Bank Distribution: The new director of information systems and services plans to reorganize the insurance giant's information flow to make its three divisions more efficient. Her blueprint: Less is more.
June 11, 2002... Just call Lois Grady The Fixer. She has never stumbled into a mess she couldn't clean up and she's never found a broken division she couldn't repair. Nor has she ever met a tangled corporate entity she couldn't smooth into a more efficient...

Fannie Sees No Advantage.
June 11, 2002... To the Editor: Your article, "FM Watch Campaign Boomerangs" (May 2002), was interesting, but I take issue with your statement that we have a borrowing advantage over banks. For example, even after taking into account the costs of...

Chasing Customers Through the Ether: Successful online customer service is eluding some now, but it's certainly not unattainable.
June 11, 2002... Banks have been striving for "the consistent customer experience" ever since the concept of multi-channel banking took root. Although offering customers the same kind of service both online and offline sounds easy enough, true success in...

MAKING IT WORK!: Bank spending on technology continues to advance slowly, as institutions focus on making better use of the tools at hand.
June 11, 2002... Are we seeing fallout from the great "aftermath," or simply a return to normalcy? Either way, we've reached a crossroads in financial technology--one that has created a sense of introspection in the IT community--while tying vendors' stomachs...

Lending Technology Sitting Pretty: Any why not? For banks, making loans will never be a back-burner goal.
June 12, 2002... Companies that sell lending technology weren't immune when, late in 2000, times grew tight for virtually all IT providers. But, when things got even tougher last year-extremely tough-the relative position of technology companies specializing in...

Worth Noting.
June 12, 2002... Senator Makes Surprise Appearance ALBANY, N.Y.-The New York State CU League reported it broke an attendance record at its recent Governmental Affairs Conference. New York Sen. Charles Schumer made a surprise appearance at the meeting,...

Indiana CU Places Emphasis On Young Members In Bid For Longer Loyalty.
June 12, 2002... When WM Credit Union says it wants members to grow with them, they aren't kidding. Of 1,760 members, more than 250 at the $4-million financial institution are under the age of 12. They aren't the biggest spenders, or savers for that...

Awards To Recognize Development.
June 12, 2002... CUNA's Center for Professional Development has introduced the Keystone Awards program, which will recognize excellence in professional development. The awards will be presented at the Experience Learning Live! event Nov. 10-13, in San Diego....

NEWS ROUNDUP.
June 12, 2002... * Banc insurance services has inked a deal with its seventh community bank for its unique set of insurance agency back-office services. Omega Financial Corp, a $1.1 billion-asset banking company in State College, PA., formed Omega Insurance...

Got an Investment Product Idea? Here's 5 Steps to Achieving Success.
June 12, 2002... Banks that sell their own products keep more revenue at home. But creating, marketing and selling those solutions can be a headache. Before popping that aspirin, read this. More and more banks are adding proprietary products to their lineup...

Internal Auditors Too Costly for Community Banks.
June 12, 2002... To the Editor: The article "Broken Affair?" in the April issue included the following quote of John Hawke, Comptroller of the Currency, at an SEC hearing, "When a bank outsources its internal audit function to the same firm that...

Fair Isaac Says Consumers Want Banks to Release FICO Scores.
June 12, 2002... To the Editor: Your assertion in the May issue ("No Throng to Sell FICO Scores") was right: getting banks to sell FICO scores to consumers is a limited idea. But you overlooked the most important reason banks are considering becoming...

Biometrics Comes to Life: Biometrics have entered the mainstream consumer market. Finally. For years biometrics technology seemed to be much ado about nothing.
June 12, 2002... But now things are changing and the identification technology's appeal and practicality are being pushed to consumers in some retail outlets on the West Coast. The launch of such programs will finally give merchants and banks a real idea of...

From the editor: New York Lives-America Incarnate.
June 12, 2002... This is my last column as editor of Bank Technology News so I have some good-byes to say. Fortunately, the wonderful people to whom I bid farewell will understand perfectly why I have to start by saying goodbye to New York- this city so...

LaFalce: 'Not All CU Amendments Are Good'.
June 13, 2002... Rep. John LaFalce (D-NY), a key architect of HR 1151, the CU Membership Access Act, beat back a bid last week to lower NCUA minimum capital standards to 5% and to allow credit unions to count secondary capital as net worth under NCUA's prompt...

Compromise Fails; Senate Federal Board Recall Vote This Week.
June 13, 2002... A compromise offered to avoid an unusual special membership meeting aimed at recalling a majority of the U.S. Senate FCU board fell apart at the last minute, forcing the credit union to set the special meeting for June 14. The deal,...

Deposits Flow In Despite Rate Cuts; Declining Cost of Funds Boosts ROA.
June 13, 2002... Billions of dollars of new shares continue to flood into credit unions even as credit unions have slashed their savings rates to the lowest point in decades. The low rates have enabled credit unions to maintain a healthy profitability at a...

Ill. CU Cited For Illegally Expanding Into Conn.
June 13, 2002... In an unusual case, the Elgin, Ill.-based Corporate America Family CU was cited last week by the Connecticut Department of Banking for allegations it illegally expanded its field of membership (FOM) into the Nutmeg State. In a notice to...