Banking Wire articles from March 2003

Banking Wire archives from March 2003

Lots of Economic Upsides, And Lots Of If's.
March 3, 2003... Last year at this time, most economists were racing each other to be the first to call the end of the recession. Motivated by President Bush, who was urging Americans to keep spending, most of the so-called "experts" were predicting as much as...

How Being Upfront With Members Will Pay Off.
March 3, 2003... "What's the catch?" That's the question many jaded consumers have learned to ask themselves when they come in contact with what on the surface seems to be a good deal. That's what came to mind when reading an ad for a local fast food...

Long Reluctant To Offer Free Checking, Big Banks Get Aggressive.
March 3, 2003... Credit unions, small banks and thrifts in recent years have offered free checking to differentiate themselves from giant competitors, but more of the largest banks are now doing the same. The trend has accelerated over the past year as...

Agency Sees Numerous Opportunities During 2003.
March 3, 2003... While 2002 was a very successful and productive year for the National Credit Union Administration and America's credit unions, 2003 has the potential to be even more productive as we continue to address important issues vital to maintaining a...

Marketing Minute: Solving The Mystery of Non-Tracked Marketing.
March 3, 2003... I was talking with a friend the other day who had a real life marketing challenge. I call it "The Case of Not Tracking the Marketing Campaign." The board meeting came and went, and my friend still could not prove how much impact her...

How NCUA Intends To Remain An Asset In Ensuring A Future For CUs.
March 3, 2003... The 2003 Credit Union National Association Governmental Affairs Conference (GAC) falls right in the middle of my two separate one-year anniversaries as a federal regulator of credit unions. Jan. 22 marks the first anniversary of my recess...

What One Person Has Learned After Just One Year In Credit Unions.
March 3, 2003... It is hard to believe that I have just celebrated my first year on the NCUA board. It has been an exciting and rewarding year filled with wonderful people and interesting challenges. I am grateful to CUNA, to the league presidents and their...

Only Thing Certain Is Uncertainty: What Your Credit Union Can Do.
March 3, 2003... Since the days of Operation Grassroots in the early 90s, increasing numbers of credit unions are making political advocacy part of their strategic plans. No longer limited to one-issue campaigns, these credit unions' political involvement...

Avoiding Vision Problems: Building A Foundation For Strategic Plans.
March 3, 2003... Most credit union leaders understand the importance of the strategic plan. Implement one, they realize, and you can see your organization grow through the stratosphere; fail to implement one and your CU's lack of growth may be the least of your...

Banks' Latest Weapon: State Revenue Shortfalls. What CUs Can Do.
March 3, 2003... You've seen the headlines by now. The bankers are on the attack again; beating the taxation drum in Utah, Florida, Iowa- maybe even other states, but in a more discreet and, as yet, non- public fashion. Driving these attacks, to some...

More Banks Selling Residential Mortgages.
March 4, 2003... More community banks are selling their residential mortgages to the secondary market. A survey by America's Community Bankers found that 72% of banks responding to the survey are selling their mortgages, up from 55% in 2001 and 49% in 2000....

Countrywide Pledges $600B To Program.
March 4, 2003... Countrywide Home Loans, Inc. said it will extend its $100-billion Challenge, begun two years ago to increase homeownership among low income and minority home buyer, with an extended commitment to fund $600 billion in home loans to...

Credit Union To Sponsor City's Cow Hospital.
March 4, 2003... Good news for artificial cows here-San Antonio Federal Credit Union (SACU) Cow Hospital has officially opened and will provide rehabilitation and restoration to San Antonio's herd in the SA CowParade. The Cow Parade, in which artists create...

SACU Installs Heart Defibrillators In Offices.
March 4, 2003... San Antonio Federal Credit Union (SACU) is doing more than just coming to the aid of ceramic cows-it has also purchased and installed Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs) in all of its full-service branches and on all floors of their...

CU Business Group Signs Four More CUs.
March 4, 2003... CU Business Group LLC, the business services CUSO owned by Northwest Corporate and FirstCorp, said that four more credit unions have signed up as clients, all in Arizona. Tempe Schools CU, Arizona Central CU, Desert Energy CU have signed on...

NY Foundation To Coordinate LifeSmarts.
March 4, 2003... The New York State Credit Union Foundation said that as part of its financial literacy initiative it is stepping up to become the new statewide coordinator of LIFESMARTSs, a program founded and administrated nationally by the National...

Deere Community CU Facility A Work of Art.
March 4, 2003... Deere Community Credit Union here is showcasing the work of young artists from its community through two programs. As part of its ArtShare program, the work of more than 40 students oat Ankeny High School is on display in its main office....

Va.'s CUs Donate Significant Time, Money.
March 4, 2003... During 2002 Virginia's 234 credit unions donated some $1.3 million to charitable and community groups in total. According to the Virginia league, the largest single recipient of credit union generosity was the Make-A-Wish Foundation,...

Only Thing Bankrupt Is Logic Behind 'Reform'.
March 4, 2003... The holiday season is a wonderful way to end the year! A time of faith, family, fellowship and-lest we forget- feasting! Food, food, and more food! Provocatively tempting aromas and tantalizing tastes, all-ah-h-h-h!- well worth the weight!...

Why Credit Unions Need To Continue To Support Bankruptcy Reform.
March 4, 2003... What's in a name? In politics, sometimes quite a bit. After the 106th Congress ended in late 2000, CUNA went to Congressman George Gekas, then champion of the bankruptcy reform bill that had passed both chambers of Congress only to die...

The Gold Mine In Your Backyard.
March 5, 2003... Are bank reps overlooking the average American investor in favor of his wealthier neighbor? Consciously or not, many arguably do, too often caught up in finding that perfect blend of lucrative high-net-worth investors who will make their...

FirstMerit Names Wealth Team: Taking on rival wirehouses and regional banks, FirstMerit hires an all-star wealth management team. But are members out of their league?
March 5, 2003... As a point of departure, $2.3 billion is not exactly chump change. That is the pool of assets under management with which FirstMerit Wealth Management began the year, and the base from which Brian Jenner, the new svp of wealth management...

People On The Move.
March 5, 2003... Lincoln National Corp. of Philadelphia named Jude T. Driscoll president and CEO of Delaware Investments and Lincoln's investment companies. He has been interim CEO since October, joining Delaware from Conseco Capital Management in August...

Allegiant Ably Accumulates Assets: The St. Louis bank is expanding in managed money. Officials aim for $2 billion under management by 2005. No new reps are expected to be hired now.
March 5, 2003... After two years of growth through acquisition, the wealth management group at Allegiant Bank of St. Louis is in the final stages of a physical consolidation and will now focus on launching new services in an effort to drive organic growth....

Odds & Ends.
March 5, 2003... TotalBank of San Diego, Calif., announced that it has selected Linsco- Private Ledger, also known as LPL Financial Services, to offer full- service investment programs to its customers. TotalBank's investment program is registered as Total...

Developments To Watch : Acquisitions Heat Up Winter: Mellon, BB&T and Mercantile expand in asset management, as FirstBank leads with its insurance unit. Several Midwest banks expand brokerage.
March 5, 2003... Despite ice floes in THE Great Lakes and icicles on the citrus crop, bank dealmakers from Pittsburgh to Virginia have been working up a white heat this winter. Mellon Financial acquired the bulk of DirectAdvice, of Hartford, Conn., a...

New Products: MarketSoft's 'Learning' Tool: The cross-selling product incorporates Quadstone technology. Also released were entrants from FAME, UpTick Technologies and Jackson National Life.
March 5, 2003... MarketSoft Corp. and Quadstone have joined forces to create an "intelligent" cross-selling product that "learns" from the outcome of each customer interaction, whether cross-selling across a large corporation, over several lines of business...

Product Profile: Roll, Baby, Roll.
March 5, 2003... It might seem that helping a customer roll an IRA, 401(k) or 403(b) into a qualified annuity would be the easiest sale a rep could make. Indeed, the big mutual fund complexes market their rollover services as so simple that all the investor has...

Rep Talk: Tracking the Progress of Tax Reform: President Bush's stimulus package is a move toward broader tax reform that could bolster investments, especially in dividend-paying stocks. REITs and munis may also be affected, however, if the Bush plan moves more toward consumption-based tax reform.
March 5, 2003... BIC: How will Bush's stimulus plan immediately affect investors and their financial advisers? Jonathan Low: From the standpoint of the investment adviser, I don't think the dividend tax cut would have that much impact-only about 30% of...

Rep Spotlight: Angelika Welsh, M&T Bank: This Buffalo, N.Y., resident does rollovers and LTCI sales that other reps only talk about. That strategy has turned her into a near million-dollar producer.
March 5, 2003... M&T Bank and one of its top reps, Angelika Welsh, like to keep a low profile. That is easier to do in Buffalo, N.Y., than in that other big city at the southeast corner of the Empire State, but success will always shine through. After 11...

How Long Will It Take Your Clients' Portfolios to Recover?
March 6, 2003... Hope springs eternal, which is the salvation of professional financial advisers. But no one said it would make earning your fee or commission easy. So it is with mixed emotions that wealth managers schedule the first appointments or...

The Secret Weapon: At Memphis Financial Services, Charles G. Burkett focuses on the little things to build customer allegiance and investment sales. But two tiny words that echoed throughout his 30-year career have inspired him most: objective advice.
March 6, 2003... Charles G. Burkett learned the distinction between advice and sales a long time ago, and he founded his investment division at First Tennessee Bank on that notion. "What do clients want? They want to know the advice they're getting is not...

The Odyssey of Great Southern's BD: There, and back again: Great Southern started a brokerage program, switched to a TPM, and then brought everything in-house. Recently, it went out-of-house again to a major BD.
March 6, 2003... In pioneer times, people came to places like Springfield, Mo., to start fresh or to start over. That spirit is alive and well on the prairie, as evidenced by the unusual saga of Great Southern Bank's brokerage program. The bank itself is a...

HNW Services: Making Money the Old-Fashioned Way: Once considered too conservative for those seeking big returns on investments, banks may wind up beneficiaries of the post-bubble stock market. Yet their sales culture remains a troublesome issue.
March 6, 2003... Just as traditional methods of valuing stocks have come back in vogue in the post-bubble stock market, so too have traditional ways of managing money. This is particularly the case among high-net-worth individuals, who throughout the 1990s...

Dissecting the Clearing Industry: The anticipated merger of Pershing and BNY Clearing will create a powerhouse of a clearing firm that will forever alter the industry landscape. And that's nothing but good news for banks.
March 6, 2003... Providing a supermarket of products and services is not a new strategy in the financial services industry. However, financial advisers whose broker- dealers use Bank of New York's BNY Clearing or Pershing to clear trades will be part of the...

Character, Not Charisma, Drives Reputation: Out-size egos, swashbuckling style and media savvy can't hide what lies beneath: The absence or low level of corporate character.
March 6, 2003... Rarely in bull markets do people talk about corporate character. Why bother when everyone is making money, right? It seems as if the search for what makes great companies stand out from rivals only occurs when things look grim. The secret of...

Investment Banking: Brain Drain.
March 6, 2003... As brokerage and investment banking talent hits the bricks, is Wall Street losing its smarts? The downsizing of Wall Street has not been a simple exercise in trimming redundant back-office functions. Highly esteemed economists, dealmakers...

Policing Banks: A Not So 'Popular' Way to Get Off the Hook. For Now.: Banco Popular doles out $21 mil to settle with DoJ.
March 6, 2003... It could have been the cash deposits brought into the branches in gym bags. Or maybe it was the day that a Banco Popular branch called on every teller to count $1 million in small bills. Or even the time a branch manager ordered an extra...

Hits and Has-Beens.
March 6, 2003... Although E*Trade says it was Christos Cotsakos' decision to leave his chairman and CEO spot to pursue teaching and writing-his publishing contract calls for two more books-an analyst says he was likely asked to leave given board and...

Fresh Ink.
March 6, 2003... 1. BB&T is still on a spending spree. The Winston-Salem, NC-based banking organization plans to buy First Virginia Banks. BB&T will shell out $3.38 billion in an all-stock swap deal to acquire the Falls Church, VA-based bank. The deal would...

Are Biotech Stocks Back in Vogue?: With profitability in sight for many biotech firms, the industry's outlook seems bright. But hold onto your test tubes: This classic boom-and-bust sector is still considered a risky bet.
March 7, 2003... Have you and other advisers heard that biotechnology stocks bottomed out and are in the midst of a long-term recovery? In fact, you probably heard that several times in the 1990s; the rumor is starting to circulate again. Biotechnology,...

Huntington's New Funds Take Off: Huntington Investment Management has paid no heed to the rocky economy, now in its third year. It launched six new funds in two years- and all but one have outperformed their benchmarks.
March 7, 2003... Marketing six new proprietary equity funds in the midst of the worst market downturn in recent history might look a little like tossing a life preserver to a beached whale. Is there a point here? But Huntington Investment Management is...

2002 Sales 'Went Like Gangbusters': Banks are weathering the third year of an economic downturn, but one wouldn't know it by looking at their annuity sales. In selling FAs and VAs, AIG Annuity and The Hartford blew away the competition.
March 7, 2003... Who says investment sales slumped along with the economy? In 2002, fixed- and variable-annuity sales in the bank channel soared 27.4% over the previous year, with FA sales claiming their best year ever-a stunning $37.4 billion. Total 2002...

Training Day: In Order to stay on top, reps nned to continuously improve their skills.
March 7, 2003... In any business, there is no substitute for knowledgeable, skilled employees, and the financial world is no different. In order to do well, each rep must have the confidence to succeed that only solid training can provide. If you can be...

Fidelity Investments Correspondent Clearing Services.
March 7, 2003... J. Peter Benzie, Executive Vice President Your firm is only as good as your people. That's true in any business, but even more so if you offer wealth planning services. Your high-net-worth clients will, to some degree, trust their...

Crisis in Latin America: Venezuela on the Brink: Analysts fear another Argentina; U.S. financial exposure not as great, but losses are losses.
March 7, 2003... As the standoff between President Hugo Chavez and striking Venezuelan state oil company workers grinds on, observers say the parties involved are fractured, a breakthrough is remote and long-term economic damage is assured. While what...

Pipeline.
March 7, 2003... Branches in Bunches-for now Now Wachovia's throwing its hat into the ring and saying that it plans to expand its branch network into New York. BofA is likely not far behind, but it's busy building a branch network in Chicago for now. While...

Word Is...
March 7, 2003... Dial 'M' for My Lawyer There's nothing like the personal politics of marriage that show an executive's high-wire negotiating skills-in a deal, maybe it's that thin difference between the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat. Charles...

Noted and Noteworthy.
March 7, 2003... Airline turbulence, redux. When U.S. Air went bankrupt last summer, banks took their place in the bread line, waiting for payback handouts. The newer breadline at United features a few banks, also. At the top of the dissed list is Bank...

To Let: Stately, 100 Yrs. Old, 25k Sq. Ft.: State budgets are looking so bad this year that all bets are off- one idea to soak up the red ink goes so far as to cash in on the state capitol building. Financiers smell opportunity.
March 7, 2003... Powerpoint-wielding bankers are starting to beat a path to Ben Stein's door at the stately Colorado treasurer's office in downtown Denver. PaineWebber, Salomon Smith Barney, Piper Jaffray-that's just for starters. First Albany, Hanifen...

Security: Is California Asking for Too Much InformatYon?: A new law is aimed at protecting customers from identity theft. The disclosures finance companies make could be embarrassing. Not telling could hurt even more.
March 10, 2003... Early last year hackers broke into the California state comptroller's payroll database and sifted through 265,000 employee records, accessing everything from names and addresses to bank account information and social security numbers. Weeks...

Payments: Maple Leaf Connection: Canadian banks are starting to see some results from their personal on-line cash transfer venture, CertaPay.
March 10, 2003... Some Canadian pundits bemoan their nation's banking system as a sluggish oligopoly, where five national institutions control more than 80 percent of the market. But as a recent technology deal illustrates, concentration has its advantages....

Character is Foundation Of Firm's Reputation.
March 10, 2003... "The first thing is character...before money or anything else...Money cannot buy it...because a man I do not trust could not get money from me on all the bonds in Christendom." J. Pierpont Morgan, 1912 The banking industry is in the...

Putting a 7-Eleven Spin On Branch Banking: Keeping branches open late may work for Commerce in New York, but would it work in Iowa? Bankers are asking customers to put a value on their time.
March 10, 2003... It used to be location, location, location. Today, customers are more concerned with how long banks are open than with where they're located. Commerce Bank has answered that call, rattling cages with its seven-day-a-week schedule that...

Proposals To Tax State Charters Expand Into Three More States.
March 10, 2003... Tax proposals for state-chartered credit unions are falling like snow in several states, while the Utah tax bill was turning into a full-blown blizzard. New tax bills were emerging in New Mexico, California and Iowa, just as the Utah bill...

Thousands At GAC Told State Situations Are 'Code Red'.
March 10, 2003... Some 3,000 people braved bad weather to attend CUNA's Governmental Affairs Conference last week, where they heard from pundits, politicians and peers. While a half-dozen members of Congress lauded credit unions and offered reassurances...

Dollar Calls On Congress To OK Risk-Based Capital.
March 10, 2003... NCUA Chairman Dennis Dollar, reacting to growing concerns about new net capital requirements for credit unions, suggested last week that Congress allow credit unions to adopt a risk-based capital system, like the ones allowed for banks and...

Horwitz & Associates.
March 10, 2003... Think of your broker-dealer as an orchestra, you the independent representative taking on the conductor's role-leading your own business instead of following a prearranged score. Horwitz & Associates is acknowledged for the total support and...

Jackson National Life Insurance Company(r).
March 10, 2003... Denise Aasen, Vice President of Training & Sales Support Jackson National Life(r) Institutional Marketing Group's platform training programs have received solid endorsement from its institutional partners. The strength of the program's...

LPL Financial services.
March 10, 2003... The investment world has always been a complex one, and in recent years, it has become imperative that representatives remain current on new investment products, investment strategies and ever-changing tax laws. To meet that need, LPL...

Ariz. Bill Would OK Quick Expansions.
March 11, 2003... While a number of state legislatures are considering imposing new taxes on credit unions, Arizona is looking at a regulatory relief bill that would allow CU boards to determine new additions to their fields of membership without having to...

Study Eyes Penetration Among Poor.
March 11, 2003... During CUNA's GAC in 2002, The Credit Union Journal posed the question on its front page: How many of those eligible to join a credit union in newly added underserved areas are actually joining? No one knew. One year later, CUNA is back...

ON DEADLINE.
March 11, 2003... In Wake Of Blaze, R.I. CU Backs Prevention COVENTRY, R.I.-Coventry CU is helping to raise money for the local Red Cross' fire prevention program in the wake of the nightclub fire that killed 97 people here. The 29,000-member CU wanted...

NCUA Likely To OK Proposals To Boost Member Biz Loans.
March 11, 2003... NCUA is expected to propose several amendments later this month to its member business loan (MBL) rules aimed at encouraging more business lending by credit unions. NCUA board member JoAnn Johnson, who has been heading an agency task...

Round Hill Securities, Inc.
March 11, 2003... Tom Sboto, Executive Vice President-Recruiting Since the majority of reps at Round Hill Securities are very experienced and have years of market training, we're most often requested to provide systems and technology training to help...

Thinking Small: Investors are looking for significant growth among small-caps.
March 11, 2003... In today's financial environment, it seems that larger companies have become susceptible to failures such as bankruptcy, accounting scandals, and lackluster earnings reports. Because of this, many investors have become more and more interested...

Fidelity Advisor Small Cap Fund.
March 11, 2003... Harry Lange, Portfolio Manager Investment Outlook As portfolio manager of Fidelity Advisor Small Cap Fund, I look for companies with top market share position or market share gainers. I tend to focus on companies with solid earnings...

AD Beat: Inner City Style from OneUnited: The country's largest black-owned bank starts a push in Miami, Los Angeles and Boston in a bid to tap underserved communities.
March 11, 2003... OneUnited Bank's new print and radio campaign targeting inner-city communities plays on the confounding problem of the United States: the struggle of millions to rise above poverty. The poverty rate among black Americans is 22.7 percent,...

Customer Service is Often Talked About, But Rarely Realized: A simple slip-up can be the only reason a customer needs to skate right out the door and take his money with them. Mobius' Michael Fee points to the thin ice.
March 11, 2003... In working with Mobius Management Systems' 30 financial clients-ABN Amro North America, Bank of America, JP Morgan Chase, Fleet, Oppenheimer, Sallie Mae and John Hancock among them- Michael Fee, director of banking and financial services,...

Merrick's Squeeze Play: The Utah firm snapped up a couple hundred thousand accounts in the wake of NextBank's failure. Then they moved the numbers.
March 11, 2003... Some former NextCard customers learned to read the fine print on their credit card agreements the hard way. After the card's parent NextBank fell apart last year, some of its accounts eventually wound up with subprime lender Merrick Bank. ...

CUs Dodge Tax But Lose Powers In Utah; Iowa Targets Earnings: Study On, Business Loans Off In Compromise.
March 12, 2003... Utah credit unions held the wolf at bay, at least temporarily, when the state legislature agreed last week to table a proposal to tax the state's largest CUs and instead study it for two years before acting. But the high-pitched...

CUs Dodge Tax But Lose Powers In Utah; Iowa Targets Earnings: Six Large CUs Target Of Iowa Legislator's Bill.
March 12, 2003... Taking a page from Utah bankers, the Iowa Bankers Association succeeded in getting lawmakers to introduce a proposal in the state legislature last week that would tax the growth in retained earnings (reserves) by the largest credit unions....

NAFCU Mulls Its Role Amid Attacks At The State Level.
March 12, 2003... The National Association of Federal Credit Unions (NAFCU) says it is monitoring the situations in several states where taxes have been proposed on state charters, but has no firm plans to act. "If there are ways we can help, then we will...

Immigrants Credit Luck & A CU Loan For Business.
March 12, 2003... If you're ever in Raleigh, stop by the Hotpoint Caf,, order a cup of coffee and a foccacia sandwich, and experience one immigrant family's American Dream. It's there in the kitchen where the meals are being prepared, in the dining room...

Private Share Insurer, NAFCU In Stand-Off.
March 12, 2003... NAFCU's newly announced and public stance against private share insurance has the largest provider of that insurance flabbergasted at the position and questioning the trade group's motives. In January, the NAFCU board adopted a policy...

Pioneer Small Cap Value Fund.
March 12, 2003... David Adams, CFA, has over 15 years of experience and leads the small cap team. Investment Outlook After last fall's stock market weakness, the valuation discrepancy between small- and large-cap stocks widened. This combined with a...

SSGA Small Cap Fund.
March 12, 2003... Managed by the U.S. active equity team within State Street Global Advisors Global Quantitative Equity Group. Investment Outlook The Fund continues to be positioned a bit defensively given the backdrop of corporate scandals, accounting...

Templeton Global Smaller Companies Fund.
March 12, 2003... Investment Outlook The outlook for global small cap value stocks is positive. Smaller companies around the world were largely left out of the bull market of the 1990's and in most cases are more attractively valued today than larger...

7 Savvy Secrets for Sales Success: America's top motivational guru offers tips on how bank reps can be all that they can be. Oh yeah, and he'll help your sales soar, too. His key tips? Believe in yourself and stay away from critical people.
March 12, 2003... There are seven secrets, or principles, of sales success. They are practiced by all top bank reps daily. The regular application of these principles is virtually guaranteed to move you to the top of your field. Secret No. 1: Get serious!...

Investments & Insurance Growth.
March 13, 2003... Also according to Grant Thorton, 33 percent of community banks offer insurance products, 43 percent offer mutual funds, and 45 percent offer brokerage services. But those percentages are expected to grow to 65, 66, and 69, respectively, in...

Getting it Right.
March 13, 2003... Overdraft privilege products can provide a true win-win situation for both the bank and its customers: the bank is able to turn what could be a troublesome account into a profitable one, and the customer is able to manage special problems with...

5 Ways to Protect Your Assets.
March 13, 2003... The business of moving data between locations, a.k.a. file transfer, is not new, but for many organizations, file transfer is fundamental to operations and always will be. This is particularly true in financial services, where file transfer...

Common Misperceptions About Credit Scoring In Small Business Lending.
March 13, 2003... As margins continue to tighten and competition increases, small business lending can be a difficult market to handle profitably. Credit scoring provides a method by which a bank can deliver small business loans in a more efficient manner. Yet...

Steely Determination, Scrappy Fighting.
March 13, 2003... Things look to be just getting started in the war being waged between banks and credit unions. Utah has become the lightning rod for the debate, from bank-backed bills that would impose stiff taxes and "competitive equity" fees on credit...