Banking Wire articles from March 2002

Banking Wire archives from March 2002

CU's Cross-Sales Software Seeks To Send Unified, Consistent Message.
March 1, 2002... A "unified, consistent message" is going out to Atlantic CU membership, thanks to early adoption of new cross-sales software, according to David Reis, director of technology. The 29,000-member credit union is among the first to beta-test...

What 2 CU IT Officers Are Doing To Boost Security.
March 1, 2002... With the Internet seeing more and more transactional action, credit union IT managers are constantly checking the security of electronic locks. In taking a closer look at the world of PINs, session IDs and 128- bit encryption, Digital FCU...

One-Half Of Hispanics Online.
March 1, 2002... A new study indicates that one-half of the Hispanic population in the United States is now online, and that 55% of their time is spent on Spanish-language sites rather than English (up from 39% one year ago). The Roslow Hispanic Usage...

With Strategic Value Up 30% in 2001, Columbia Funds Seek Wider Exposure: Galaxy gets the name recognition, and Liberty raises its East Coast profile, but some of Fleet's best funds are no-loads from the other coast.
March 1, 2002... If Bostonians think of Portland at all, it would be the seaport city of Portland, ME, about 300 miles "down east." But with the performance that several Columbia Funds' portfolios recorded for the terrible year of 2001, more attention at...

Dust Off the Passport: Time for an Overseas Buying Spree: Yeah, sure the U.S. markets will probably make a comeback in mid- 2002. But until that happens, there are bargains to be captured farther afield.
March 1, 2002... Fith the U.S. mired in a recession and muddled in the Afghan war, investors may be loathe to venture outside the relatively safe havens of domestic equities and bonds. But eking out acceptable returns in a sluggish economy often re- quires...

VIFI Sells Out for $51 Million, Only $3.75 Million in Cash.
March 1, 2002... It's a new year, but the same story for small Internet banking vendors - survival of the fittest. Consolidation is continuing, and the big boys keep getting bigger. Virtual Financial Services Inc. (VIFI), has agreed to be acquired by...

Diebold triples servicing deal with Bank of America.
March 1, 2002... Diebold has been looking for new opportunities to generate revenue, and representatives have said automated teller machine servicing is one of the ways it would do so. In late December, Diebold went to one of its biggest customers, Bank of...

Download.
March 1, 2002... Euronet Worldwide Inc. will sell DASH, its electronic funds transfer (EFT) network technology to Alltell Information Services...First Tennessee National Corp. has extended its agreement with Data Concepts Inc., and will use "AdQue", Data...

Deposits Grow Despite Drop in Rates: The stock market has driven depositors into the arms of banks, but will this love dissolve if the market comes back?
March 1, 2002... Bank deposits are growing despite the lowest interest rates since Dwight D. Eisenhower was president. Between a volatile stock market and the cataclysmic events of Sept. 11, the public appears willing to forego earning high interest in...

At Smaller Banks, a Sigh of Relief.
March 1, 2002... Community banks, which have much to gain from rising deposit levels, have struggled to hold the line against plummeting interest rates. Banks with less than $1 billion in assets have seen their net interest margins narrow, from about 4.7%...

Switch Made To Speech Recognition To Speed Member Phone Inquiries.
March 4, 2002... The switch to natural language speech recognition phone service means less hassle for members and possibly "big savings" for one 57,000-member credit union here, according to its CEO. Paragon Federal Credit Union announced earlier this...

Reader Tech Question.
March 4, 2002... In mid-2002, we (hope) to convert to a rather large community charter. In doing so, we also project a significant increase in our branches over a much larger geographic area. 1) I would greatly appreciate your panel's thoughts on any technology...

Technology News.
March 4, 2002... CUNA, Tower Group Add 10 New Research Notes MADISON, Wis.-CUNA and the research and consulting firm TowerGroup said that 10 new Research Notes have been added to its Credit Union Technology Advisory Centre (CUTAC). Among the new titles:...

Where Will CUs Invest Tech Dollars In '02? 'Cost-Efficient Essentials'.
March 4, 2002... Dust may begin to settle on "gee-whiz" Internet products in 2002 as the credit union commuinity tightens its belt, according to John Schooler, senior vice president and chief technology officer at USERS Inc., a systems provider to more than 400...

The new face of philanthropy.
March 4, 2002... It may be better to give than to receive, but don't tell retail banks, which are tapping their share while helping philanthropists spread the wealth through trusts and foundations. What a lucrative ride. Despite the boom-and-bust cycle of...

At Bank One, Democratizing The Foundation.
March 4, 2002... Bank One is hoping to shake the foundation world. In an innovative partnership with Foundation Source, the Chicago bank has rolled out a private- foundation technology it believes will revolutionize the philanthropic arena. "It brings an...

Learning from Disaster.
March 4, 2002... CEO J. Herbert Boydstun of New Orleans' Hibernia Corp. stems from about as traditional a background as an American banker can. A native of Louisville, Mississippi, he received his BA from Ole Miss, and his MBA from LSU. He started his career as...

Advertising Budgets Escape the Knife: Bank marketers are spending as much - or more - than ever on retail ads despite an economy that's in the dumps.
March 4, 2002... The United States is in a recession, which might lead some to assume that banks would slash their advertising budgets. And the shock from the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks remains high in peoples' thoughts, another factor which might lead banks...

Famous Good Hands Ready for the Olympics.
March 4, 2002... Faces might be more recognizable than fingers, but Allstate Insurance Company effectively puts its focus on the anonymous hands of some famous people in a new advertising campaign that aims to build on its "Good Hands" theme. Taking the...

Trained to Expect the Best, No Matter What.
March 4, 2002... A motorist stranded in the middle of nowhere expecting a rough- looking tow truck crew-really, straight out of Road Warrior-to provide competitive price quotes might seem absurd. Not if the guy gets his auto insurance from Progressive. For...

Two More CUs Sign With uMonitor.
March 5, 2002... Two more credit unions have signed on with uMonitor, Inc., which provides private label account aggregation services. The $1.4-billion Lockheed FCU in California and the $394-million Memphis Area Teachers' CU in Tennessee have both begun...

Not A Faded Buzzword: Florida CU Says Portal Strategy Is Paying Off.
March 5, 2002... Mention that your credit union is running its website as a portal and you might hear a sneer and a couple guffaws in response. But Power 1 Credit Union is reporting that its year-old portal site is pulling major hits and selling services. ...

Three CUs Choose ULTRADATA.
March 5, 2002... Three more credit unions have signed with ULTRADATA for data processing. Coulee Dam FCU said it has agreed to convert its host processing over to an ULTRADATA System. Conversion is scheduled to take place in December 2002.The credit...

Metro CU To Move To Summit.
March 5, 2002... Metropolitan Credit Union here selected Summit Information Systems, a unit of Fiserv, Inc., as its new IT provider. "There are many similarities among the culture and manner at Summit and the operations at our credit union. We liked that!"...

With Dreyfus Deal, Liz Fisher Has Brown & Co. Poised To Rise in JP Morgan Chase: Hired from Fidelity To take over For the founder, Fisher has put Her stamp Firmly on brown.
March 5, 2002... Most people just wanted last year to be over, none more so than those in the financial sector. Even the hardest-charging bulls had pulled in their horns and even the rosiest forecasts called for single-digit gains in broad markets and indices...

Manulife Rider Exploits Fear Over 2011 Return of Estate Tax: The Estate Tax Advantage rider is designed to take the confusion out of planning.
March 5, 2002... while estate planning lawyers are scrambling to help clients prepare for the full force of the returning estate tax after 2010, Manulife Financial is quietly promoting a life insurance rider that it claims will help fretful clients reluctant...

Over Five Years, USB, WaMu, Allfirst Topped Bank-Owned Funds: Fidelity dominated retail complexes in the bank channel over the same period in an exclusive BIM ranking. AIM, Janus and Oppenheimer also had multiple places among the best-performing 25 funds.
March 5, 2002... Mattered though equity markets may be, bank reps still earn their keep selling mutual funds and variable annuities-and customers don't want to hear "I have nothing to recommend." But there are winners out there, if one digs. BIM asked Lipper to...

BANK TRUST ASSETS DEFY MARKETS: Despite the decline of stock markets in 2000, bank trust assets rose to a massive $19.2 trillion.
March 5, 2002... Banks managed to increase their trust assets in 2000 despite a 10% drop in the Standard & Poor's 500 index, and a 39% drop in the Nasdaq. The increase wasn't strong - but it was an increase. According to figures supplied by SNL...

Some Things Are Best Left to the Professionals.
March 5, 2002... Wish you had ignored all the investment hype of the late 1990s? If you took Morgan Stanley's message to heart, you probably did. Morgan Stanley went against the grain in late 1999 with its "Get Well Connected" campaign and in hindsight it...

Elegant? No. Eyebrow-raising and Effective? Yes.
March 5, 2002... Art, it is not. First Union's print campaign gets a nod for what it did, not what it looked like. Even for dry financial text-based advertising, this campaign was remarkable for its straightforward approach and lack of cleverness. But...

Website Without Master Inks 3.
March 6, 2002... Three Connecticut CUs have signed up for Website Without a Webmaster (W3), a web product developed by SmartSource Solutions, a subsidiary of Constitution State Corporate CU. Two of the credit unions, Greater Norwalk Area CU and GHA FCU, are...

WESCO Per-Minute Pricing Down.
March 6, 2002... WESCO said clients using its CU*HOME Internet banking product will be seeing a 30% to 50% reduction in per-minute pricing, a savings it says translates into pricing as low as $1.50 per member hour. "Credit unions unions using Virtual Member...

2 CUs Sign With CNS' eBill.
March 6, 2002... Oregonian FCU, Portland, and Medical Community CU, Odessa, Texas, have become the first credit unions to sign up to provide their members online bill payment services through CUNA Network Services' eBill Payment product. eBill Payment can be...

LoanLiner.com Is Enhanced.
March 6, 2002... CUNA Mutual said it has signed with HomeBank Technologies, Inc., of Canada, to allow credit unions to offer Web-based loan origination system. The agreement will help HomeBank Technologies in developing a U.S. version of its ProLender loan...

As New Flavor of the Month, IVAs Offer Flexibility, Security.
March 6, 2002... The IVA is seen as an excellent option for the newly retiring, particularly the less sophisticated investor who is worried his retirement savings will run out. Is this part of your investment line-up? Is one of the fastest-growing...

In Reaching the Affluent, Banks Aim For 'Superior Customer Experience': How does a bank deliver such an experience? By aligning its channels, data, processes and, most importantly, its culture around clients' needs and demands. Now that doesn't sound so difficult.
March 6, 2002... Is an ever-growing host of banks swarm the hives of the mass affluent, the only financial firms that will emerge from this whirling dervish are those that focus on one thing, and one thing only: delivering a superior customer experience. "It's...

The Ginnie Mae Alternative.
March 6, 2002... Some enemies of Fannie and Freddie see hope in allowing Ginnie Mae to securitize high loan-to-value conventional mortgages. If it happens, it would be a coup for GE Capital Mortgage Insurance. It's no secret that for years mortgage...

QUICK-RETURN CRM.
March 6, 2002... There are ways to improve customer relationship management without spending huge amounts of money. McKinsey consultants argue that CRM should be more mining of profits than of data. Customer Relationship Management (CRM) - the targeted...

"Priceless" Moments Tour Extends into 2001.
March 6, 2002... MasterCard's four year-old "priceless" debuted its latest installment in 2001, featuring two friends on a cross-country trip visiting various baseball parks, and revisiting the campaign's long- standing theme-those passing moments with...

Staying Buoyant as the High Tide Ebbs.
March 6, 2002... Even though Fidelity is one of the biggest names in investments, its goal last year was to broaden public awareness. "One of the objectives is to be seen as a full personal investment company and not just a mutual fund company," says Beth...

CUs Press To Serve Low-Income Non-Members.
March 7, 2002... The credit union lobby will not take "no" for an answer in their bid to provide check cashing and wire transfers to low-income people who are not members, but potential members residing within a credit union's field of membership (FOM). ...

NCUA Institutes Several Changes To Form 5300.
March 7, 2002... NCUA announced last week it has instituted several changes to its 5300 Call Reports, including several to the disclosures for loans. The agency added disclosures on "loans held for sale" and number of "indirect loans granted year-to-date,"...

Some Internet Banks Are Logging Off For Good.
March 7, 2002... The nascent world of Internet-only banks got a jolt over the past two weeks with two high-profile failures. First, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) put into receivership NextBank, one of the first Internet- based credit...

Technology News Briefs.
March 7, 2002... Summit Records Strong 2001 CORVALLIS, Ore.-Summit Information Systems is reporting "significant achievements" were made last year in developing advanced solutions based on emerging open access technology. During 2001, Summit, a unit...

Citigroup, Wells Fargo Inch Ahead In Privately Managed Accounts: With assets growing 20% annually, privately managed accounts offer enormous twin benefits: asset customization and tax sensitivity. Advisers won't need persuasion: Fees can reach 235 basis points.
March 7, 2002... It was bound to happen sooner rather than later. Sophisticated money management, once reserved for high-net-worth clients, has trickled down to the mass affluent with as little as $250,000-or even $100,000-of investable assets. Some $400...

Effective Training Should Change Behavior Naturally, Not Force It: Training should be a top-down commitment. Without management's attendance and ongoing reinforcement, the message is that training is valueless. That won't increase sales.
March 7, 2002... Many organizations are victims of the myth that training is the magic elixir to cure low sales production. If training results are not what was promised or expected, the trainer usually takes the rap-it's easier that way. Let him be...

5.6, 3.7, 4.2, 3.4-Not Bad, for Advertising.
March 7, 2002... In its ambition to become the pre-eminent consumer bank brand in the country, Bank of America has not been afraid to roll out heavy artillery. From the audacious merger of NationsBank with San Francisco's Bank of America-and the lofty goal of...

Training for the Winter Olympics Begins Early.
March 7, 2002... Visa's creativity continues to draw accolades, even as it continues to work its existing strategies. But it has managed to extend its "everywhere you want to be" idea to new products like smart cards and check-cashing cards. Liz Silver,...

Riding off Into the Sunset, a Chimpanzee.
March 7, 2002... High-flying E*Trade had a lot of turbulence last year. Month after month brought dot-com doom, and this was after most of 2000 was doomful enough. The Dow tanked. The stockmania gripping middle America lost its grip in a hurry. Trade volume...

Top 10 Agencies.
March 7, 2002... 1. Fallon Worldwide 2. Lopez Negrete 3. Goodby, Silverstein 4. McCann-Erickson 5. Mad Dogs & Englishmen 6. Hill Holliday 7. BBDO 8. Bozell 9. Ogilvy & Mather 10. Arnold If there was ever a time for...

Journal Daily.
March 8, 2002... Drop In Savings Rates Slows WASHINGTON, D.C.-Credit union savings rates, which plunged over the past year, continue to drop, albeit at a slower pace. Figures compiled by DataTrac Corp. show that average rates paid by credit unions fell by...

Community Page.
March 8, 2002... New Credit Union Branches Open The following CUs opened new branches: * US Employees OC Federal Credit Union plans to open a new branch in Oklahoma City., Okla. * Financial Center Credit Union, Stockton, Calif., has moved its...

Wa. League CUSO Sells First Portfolio Of CU Charge-Offs.
March 8, 2002... Ascend United, a Washington CU League CUSO formed to sell credit union charge-offs, said last week it sold a package of loans in December for 4.5 cents on the dollar. The package was comprised of $5.1-million book value of loans from 12...

Anti-Predatory Lending Bills Debut In S.C., Colorado.
March 8, 2002... Bills addressing so called "predatory lending" have been introduced in two states. In South Carolina, Sen. David L. Thomas has proposed a bill that would outlaw questionable lending practices. The bill's purpose is to define unfair lending...

ON DEADLINE.
March 8, 2002... Police Search Woods For Cash HOWLAND, Ohio-Police have suspended their search of the snow-covered woods for thousands of dollars in cash they believe was hidden by four thieves who robbed nearby Seven Seventeen CU at gunpoint recently. ...

A World Turned Upside-Down; Getting the Message Just Right.
March 8, 2002... Saying out loud that money matters more than anything else can elicit a number of responses, ranging from a frown to a smirk to a grin. But it's a hard notion to argue against. While it may not buy love, personal finance is a large part of...

Open up the Door to One Of America's Biggest Markets.
March 8, 2002... If Alex Lopez Negrete happened to be a kid on the playground, you could picture him saying "Told you so" right about now. But he is a rodeo-loving advertising executive who wears jeans and cowboy boots to work and says "Yes, Ma'am" a...

No Rest for Golden Gate Greats.
March 8, 2002... From snappy industry-changing E*Trade ads to an award-winning Pacific Bell campaign, Goodby, Silverstein & Partners had much to celebrate in late 2000 and early 2001. The San Francisco-based agency collected a score of industry awards. It...

Still Priceless After All These Years.
March 8, 2002... It would be hard to beat the global reach and resources gained merely by signing McCann-Erickson Worldwide. And though the agency mantra 'Truth Well Told' might make a conspiracy theorist uncomfortable, it has made the likes of MasterCard...

Simply Smashing Advertising.
March 8, 2002... Jeff Soinski is wrapping up an interview about Mad Dogs & Englishmen, the ad agency where he is a managing partner and CEO, when a British bulldog trots across the conference room, her toenails click-clicking against the hardwood floor. ...

CUs Part of Plan To Help In 1,000-Mile Stretch Of Poverty.
March 11, 2002... NCUA said it will join the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and other government and non-government agencies in a project aimed at alleviating poverty along a 1,000-mile stretch of the U.S.-Mexican border known as the...

Basement View-And Glad Of It: Six Months After The Collapse Of The World Trade Center Destroyed Its Headquarters, XCEL FCU Is Proceeding Slowly.
March 11, 2002... From a cramped space in the basement of XCEL FCU's New Jersey branch, CEO James Wisnieski continues to try to get his credit union back to business as usual six months after the Sept. 11 attacks destroyed the credit unions headquarters on the...

Boomers (Who Aren't 'Seniors') Lead To The End Of Program.
March 11, 2002... A confluence of two factors-passive credit union marketing efforts and Baby Boomers who behave differently from their parents-have combined to bring about the demise of MEMBERS Prime Club, a CUNA Mutual Affiliate that offered special...

Bank One Extends its Reach Via Microsoft.
March 11, 2002... Seeking to avoid the risky and expensive failure of Wingspanbank.com in the consumer space, Bank One's three-year marketing agreement with Microsoft will give the bank exposure to bCentral's 1.6 million small business customers - but with a...

A Product for a New Age: Small Business Banker Goes Electronic.
March 11, 2002... Dear Colleague: Welcome to the electronic version of Small Business Banker. Issued twice a month via e-mail and in PDF format, readers and advertisers will benefit from the latest incarnation of SBB. Readers will receive the...

News briefs.
March 11, 2002... American Express Improves Services to Small Business American Express, the card issuer with an estimated two million small business customers, has renamed its suite of business services the OPEN Network. The services were previously known...

Paying the Price.
March 11, 2002... Ethics in banking have taken a dive, and it is in the best interest of those who have been engaging in questionable practices to clean up their act. Bankers' ethics have been deteriorating for years. About 30 years ago, before...

PAUL VOLCKER - SUPERSTAR.
March 11, 2002... It made sense for Arthur Andersen, the huge, but sullied, auditing firm, to hire former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker to restore its credibility. Volcker is like the man in a pure white suit, walking through a slum. The big...

Customer Management: A Hidden Treasure Map for Marketers: Software gauges cost and profitability.
March 11, 2002... For all the rhetorical attention that has been heaped on how much revenue is being reaped from customer relationship management, there's software already deployed inside most firms that claims to predetermine customer profitability levels of...

Product Development: E*Trade Insures Its Future: On-line firm diversifies into new business areas.
March 11, 2002... E*Trade Chairman Christos Cotsakos may have launched the on-line broker's beloved chimp into space in a TV ad to demonstrate it wasn't monkeying around anymore, but the firm's newly discovered serious image will need more than a lavish song...

Players Shuffle In CU Surety Bond Market.
March 12, 2002... The deck continues to shuffle among those seeking to enter the market for credit union surety bonds, with one major provider, Progressive Insurance, exiting, and another, Chubb Group, expressing its intention to make a major push in the market....

Nevada CU Has Incentive Plan For Every Job Category.
March 12, 2002... A credit union here has been recognized for its HR policies after developing 15 incentive plans tailored to every job category. Nevada FCU was the Overall Winner for not-for-profit employers in the Southern Nevada Human Resource...

ON DEADLINE.
March 12, 2002... Amendment Withdrawn WASHINGTON-The debate over secondary capital for credit unions started anew last week when an obscure congressman from California proposed, then withdrew, an amendment to the deposit insurance reform bill that would...

Deposit Products: Key Bundles Products with Free Checking Package to Boost Deposits: A pitch to business owners suffering in recession.
March 12, 2002... Locked in a fierce battle with local and regional competitors, Key Bank is promoting its Business Basics checking account for businesses with less than $1 million in annual sales. While the promotion isn't new, the way the bank has packaged...

National City Adds Sweep Feature to Checking: Bank retools checking lineup.
March 12, 2002... National City, a top small business lender with more than 200,000 small business customers, has added a sweep feature to its small business checking account, executives said. The sweep option moves excess balances over $10,000 into an...

Health: Employers Receptive to New Health Care Models: Employers foresee a future with more choices for employees.
March 12, 2002... A new survey released by Hewitt Associates shows that business owners are open to new models to defray increases in health insurance. "The rate at which health care costs are rising is alarming for employers and, unfortunately, there's no...

The (Bad) Luck of the Irish.
March 12, 2002... A little leprechaun whispered into the ear of an Allied Irish Bank currency trader, "Double up." Or so it would seem. The accused Baltimore-based trader, John Rusnak, ended up losing the Dublin bank some $750 million. There appears to be no...

SANDLER GETS STERLING.
March 12, 2002... Sandler O'Neill & Partners is bulking up following the losses it suffered in the Sept. 11 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center, where its offices were located. It has hired Brian Sterling, who had been a bank wheeler-dealer at Merrill...

Consumer Products: Get Ready for a Baby Boomer Cash Flow Boomerang: Retirement needs are around the corner.
March 12, 2002... As the nation's 76 million baby boomers cascade into retirement, the several trillion dollars they've invested for their retirement will start flowing in the opposite direction-out of financial firm's coffers as a steady income stream to...

Extreme Marketing: All Style, Little Technical Proficiency: If great campaigns don't yield results, then something's wrong.
March 12, 2002... The late 1990s will be known for many things: the rise of the Internet economy, bad management wielding even worse dot-com business models, venture capital that flowed like good red wine and marketing that took brand recognition to glorious...

Only Publicly Traded CU To Delist As Result Of Merger.
March 13, 2002... Coast Capital Savings CU and Surrey Metro Savings CU, the nation's second and third largest credit unions, have agreed to a combination creating a credit union with more than (C)$6 billion in assets and serving more than 300,000 members,...

Regulators Seize Alabama CU Due To Board Infighting.
March 13, 2002... State regulators seized control of Scott Credit Union last week, saying the safety and soundness of the 52-year-old credit union was being threatened by management problems and infighting among the seven members of its board. The board...

1 In 20 Have Been Victims Of Card Fraud, Survey Says.
March 13, 2002... Approximately one out of every 20 people has been victimized by credit card fraud over the past year, according to a new study. Moreover, the same study found that about one in 50 people have been hit by identity theft. The survey,...

Property & Casualty: Study Finds Reserves Inadequate: Key to survival hinges on balancing reserves with the right pricing.
March 13, 2002... Eight out of nine property and casualty lines are "severely deficient" and the industry's $16 billion reserve will not be enough to pay claims, according to a recent study which accuses PC insurers of underreporting losses. "Individual...