Banking Wire articles from March 2007

Banking Wire archives from March 2007

Tower FCU Selects CardWizard.
March 1, 2007... ENGLEWOOD, Colo. -- Card issuer Dynamic Card Solutions said that Maryland-based Tower FCU has chosen its CardWizard to instantly issue debit cards to its more than 115,000 members. Following a pilot program, Tower placed CardWizard in all of...

Indiana's Teachers CU Rolls Out Procurement Credit Card To Select Employee Groups.
March 1, 2007... SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- After revamping its own procurement process by the means of a specially designed credit card, one CU is now offering the added convenience-and cost-cutting-to its select employee groups. "It's like buying everything on...

Florida CU Creates Savings Product For Kids In Foster Care.
March 1, 2007... ORLANDO, Fla. -- Central Florida Educators FCU has created savings accounts to teach local foster kids how to save and learn about finances, a move the CU hopes might help grow its membership in the process. CFEFCU is partnering with the...

Psychological Evaluation Delays Pretrial Conference For Ex-CEO.
March 1, 2007... WARREN, Mich. -- A pretrial conference has been postponed to allow for psychological evaluation of David Lance Rauch, former CEO of Tandem Credit Union, who has been charged with using the Internet to arrange a date to have sex with a...

Iowa CUs Visit Panama.
March 1, 2007... MADISON, Wis. -- Five delegates from the Iowa Credit Union League spent a week in Panama to support the educational and lobbying initiatives of Panama's credit union league (COFEP) to establish credit union regulation. The visit grew out of...

Chair On The Air.
March 1, 2007... NCUA Chairman JoAnn Johnson was a guest on "Home & Family Finance Radio," the weekly personal finance radio show produced by CUNA. She talked about the importance of financial education and the free educational resources available to...

Now In The Market.
March 1, 2007... 5 CUs Select Collateral Protection MADISON, Wis.-Five credit unions that made more than $200 million in vehicle loans in 2005 have chosen CUNA Mutual Group's Collateral Protection Insurance (CPI) to help mitigate the risks of loss from...

Record Capital Build-Up at CUs Could Harm CURIA Bid.
March 1, 2007... WASHINGTON -- CUNA reported that credit unions ended 2006 with a record amount of capital-11.4%, even as CUs around the country were giving away much of their reserves by the millions in year-end bonuses and extraordinary dividends. ...

CUNA Seeks Exclusions From Military Loan Rate Cap.
March 1, 2007... WASHINGTON -- CUNA called on the Department of Defense last week to exempt a variety of fees and charges when calculating the new 36% rate for loans to military personnel. In a letter to the Pentagon, which is developing implementation...

Bush Budget Would Trim Student Loan Subsidies.
March 1, 2007... WASHINGTON -- The dwindling number of credit unions still offering guaranteed student loans are poised for yet another hit after President Bush proposed as part of his budget last week to slash federal subsidies for the loan program by...

Robbers Charged In Six Heists.
March 2, 2007... TOLEDO, Ohio -- Five members in a local crime gang believed responsible for as many as six credit union heists were charged with racketeering and robbery in criminal indictments unsealed in state court here. The gang was charged with...

Six FSCC CUs Deploy Kiosks.
March 2, 2007... SAN DIMAS, Calif. -- Financial Service Centers Cooperative said three of its credit union members have deployed Check 21 self-service kiosks produced by Ensenta. Ensenta's Check 21 Express provides real-time automated image deposit review and...

BCCU Joins Loan Program.
March 2, 2007... HARRISBURG, Pa. -- Belco Community CU said it has joined the Cumberland County Economic Development Corp., the fourth lender to do so. The community development corp. will finance up to 40% of a qualified project, while the balance of the...

Chair A Student Of Cashing Out.
March 2, 2007... RESTON, Va. -- Albert Lord, the chairman of student loan giant Sallie Mae, raised $185 million with the sale of 400,000 Sallie Mae shares. The shares were sold at prices between $45.75 and $46.03, just before news of proposed federal cuts in...

Reader Resources.
March 2, 2007... Credit Union Journal Subscribers can access all content from the print edition every Monday simultaneously with its publication at www.cujournal.com. Additional resources include: * Front-page news stories are accessible by clicking on...

Lending Strategies: Missed That Product Rollout This Year? Here's What You Can Start Doing Now To Be Ready In 2008.
March 2, 2007... LAS VEGAS -- Planning to launch a new lending product in 2008? Start planning now. When the Credit Union Journal sought out lending experts for their top recommendations on improving loan performance in 2007, we also asked them to look...

For One Member, CU's Investment Rep Has Made Difference.
March 2, 2007... SAN ANTONIO -- With credit unions being urged to leverage their "trusted relationships" with members and cash in on the "graying of America" by offering investment services, can it actually work in practice? Ask Christine Lopez, a member...

Now In The Market.
March 2, 2007... White Papers Now Available MILPITAS, Calif.-NeoScale, which provides data storage security solutions, is offering a series of white papers to credit union executives. Among the white papers available are "Achieving PCI Compliance with...

Remittances Paid By IRnet Program Rise 30% During 2006 To $480 Million.
March 2, 2007... MADISON, Wis. -- The number of remittances paid out in 2006 by World Council of Credit Union, Inc.'s (WOCCU) International Remittance Network (IRnet) increased by 30.8% over the previous year, totaling more than $480 million-up from about...

Del., Penn CUs Latest To Shutter Accounts After Rite Aid Breach.
March 2, 2007... WILMINGTON, Del. -- The FBI is probing the theft of information on hundreds of accounts of credit union and bank customers they believe came from a local drug store. Credit unions in Delaware and Pennsylvania have shut dozens of accounts and...

Robbers Charged In Six Heists.
March 5, 2007... TOLEDO, Ohio -- Five members in a local crime gang believed responsible for as many as six credit union heists were charged with racketeering and robbery in criminal indictments unsealed in state court here. The gang was charged with...

Six FSCC CUs Deploy Kiosks.
March 5, 2007... SAN DIMAS, Calif. -- Financial Service Centers Cooperative said three of its credit union members have deployed Check 21 self-service kiosks produced by Ensenta. Ensenta's Check 21 Express provides real-time automated image deposit review and...

BCCU Joins Loan Program.
March 5, 2007... HARRISBURG, Pa. -- Belco Community CU said it has joined the Cumberland County Economic Development Corp., the fourth lender to do so. The community development corp. will finance up to 40% of a qualified project, while the balance of the...

Chair A Student Of Cashing Out.
March 5, 2007... RESTON, Va. -- Albert Lord, the chairman of student loan giant Sallie Mae, raised $185 million with the sale of 400,000 Sallie Mae shares. The shares were sold at prices between $45.75 and $46.03, just before news of proposed federal cuts in...

Reader Resources.
March 5, 2007... Credit Union Journal Subscribers can access all content from the print edition every Monday simultaneously with its publication at www.cujournal.com. Additional resources include: * Front-page news stories are accessible by clicking on...

Lending Strategies: Missed That Product Rollout This Year? Here's What You Can Start Doing Now To Be Ready In 2008.
March 5, 2007... LAS VEGAS -- Planning to launch a new lending product in 2008? Start planning now. When the Credit Union Journal sought out lending experts for their top recommendations on improving loan performance in 2007, we also asked them to look...

For One Member, CU's Investment Rep Has Made Difference.
March 5, 2007... SAN ANTONIO -- With credit unions being urged to leverage their "trusted relationships" with members and cash in on the "graying of America" by offering investment services, can it actually work in practice? Ask Christine Lopez, a member...

Now In The Market.
March 5, 2007... White Papers Now Available MILPITAS, Calif.-NeoScale, which provides data storage security solutions, is offering a series of white papers to credit union executives. Among the white papers available are "Achieving PCI Compliance with...

Remittances Paid By IRnet Program Rise 30% During 2006 To $480 Million.
March 5, 2007... MADISON, Wis. -- The number of remittances paid out in 2006 by World Council of Credit Union, Inc.'s (WOCCU) International Remittance Network (IRnet) increased by 30.8% over the previous year, totaling more than $480 million-up from about...

Del., Penn CUs Latest To Shutter Accounts After Rite Aid Breach.
March 5, 2007... WILMINGTON, Del. -- The FBI is probing the theft of information on hundreds of accounts of credit union and bank customers they believe came from a local drug store. Credit unions in Delaware and Pennsylvania have shut dozens of accounts and...

Beyond the Numbers: Sizing Up Top Performers: With a flat yield curve, an increase in deposit pricing and stalling consumer-loan growth, banks face in 2007 even stiffer headwinds-ones far more difficult to control or, even worse, forecast.
March 6, 2007... Despite an increasingly difficult operating environment, record profits in 2005 and 2006 shroud some of the real financial obstacles that bank executives face this year. While many of the industry's largest banks are still riding impressive...

Corporate Governance: In Commerce Dustup, Was Board Doing Its Job?: Even a whisper of "conflict" may be too loud.
March 6, 2007... As the FEDERAL RESERVE and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency investigate executive transactions at Commerce Bancorp, industry shoulders are shrugging. Why didn't board members more closely scrutinize deals between the bank and...

Business Intelligence: The Exec Suite Gets 'SMART': Countrywide's putting executive information reports on dashboards.
March 6, 2007... Countrywide executives hope 2007 will be a smart year for its business intelligence rollout. For the Calabasas, Ca.-based institution that specializes in real estate finance, correspondent lending and other financial services, "SMART"...

Web Risk: A Growing Web's Harder To Secure: New Web 2.0 functions up the ante for safety.
March 6, 2007... Wells Fargo blogger Charles Riggs took a hit not long ago to one of his posts, the subject being long-ago publicity photos he'd turned up from the vaults featuring one of the bank's stagecoaches and the cast of a throwaway 1940s western...

In Washington, A New Look At CU Democracy: Congress Plans New Moves On Convervsions.
March 6, 2007... WASHINGTON -- Work on the CU regulatory relief bill, known as CURIA, has slowed on Capitol Hill, while lawmakers focus on more important issues, like funding for victims of Hurricane Katrina, terrorism insurance and reform of the secondary...

In Washington, A New Look At CU Democracy: NCUA To Wield The Stick In Bylaw Disputes.
March 6, 2007... WASHINGTON -- After months of internal deliberation, NCUA plans to reestablish itself as arbiter in bylaw disputes at credit unions. This issue has been festering for the last 18 months, as members at two credit unions have launched...

'Affordable' Doesn't Mean 'Charity': CUs Share Strategies On Offering Mortgages That Boost Bottom Line While Fulfilling Members' Dreams.
March 6, 2007... DURHAM, N.C. -- An affordable home loan program is not a giveaway. In fact, it can be profitable niche for credit unions that identify an underserved market and respond with a program tailored to the market. In many cases "affordable"...

CUs Seek Rescue Of CDFI Fund.
March 6, 2007... WASHINGTON -- Credit unions weighed in again last week to try to rescue the Community Development Financial Institutions Fund, calling on Congress to save the Clinton-era program from Bush-era budget cuts. During a congressional hearing...

U Of Iowa CCU Members Vote To Keep Name, Reject Optiva.
March 6, 2007... IOWA CITY -- Members of University of Iowa Community CU resoundingly voted to keep its name by an 806-631 margin at a Feb. 28 vote here. UICCU had been scheduled to change its name to "Optiva Credit Union" on March 1. That name had been...

On Deadline.
March 6, 2007... Northwest, Southwest Corporates Explore Merger PORTLAND, Ore.-The boards of directors of Northwest Corporate Federal Credit Union and Southwest Corporate Federal Credit Union, Plano, Texas, have signed a letter of intent to merge the two...

In Washington, A New Look At CU Democracy: Congress Plans New Moves On Convervsions.
March 7, 2007... WASHINGTON -- Work on the CU regulatory relief bill, known as CURIA, has slowed on Capitol Hill, while lawmakers focus on more important issues, like funding for victims of Hurricane Katrina, terrorism insurance and reform of the secondary...

In Washington, A New Look At CU Democracy: NCUA To Wield The Stick In Bylaw Disputes.
March 7, 2007... WASHINGTON -- After months of internal deliberation, NCUA plans to reestablish itself as arbiter in bylaw disputes at credit unions. This issue has been festering for the last 18 months, as members at two credit unions have launched...

'Affordable' Doesn't Mean 'Charity': CUs Share Strategies On Offering Mortgages That Boost Bottom Line While Fulfilling Members' Dreams.
March 7, 2007... DURHAM, N.C. -- An affordable home loan program is not a giveaway. In fact, it can be profitable niche for credit unions that identify an underserved market and respond with a program tailored to the market. In many cases "affordable"...

CUs Seek Rescue Of CDFI Fund.
March 7, 2007... WASHINGTON -- Credit unions weighed in again last week to try to rescue the Community Development Financial Institutions Fund, calling on Congress to save the Clinton-era program from Bush-era budget cuts. During a congressional hearing...

U Of Iowa CCU Members Vote To Keep Name, Reject Optiva.
March 7, 2007... IOWA CITY -- Members of University of Iowa Community CU resoundingly voted to keep its name by an 806-631 margin at a Feb. 28 vote here. UICCU had been scheduled to change its name to "Optiva Credit Union" on March 1. That name had been...

On Deadline.
March 7, 2007... Northwest, Southwest Corporates Explore Merger PORTLAND, Ore.-The boards of directors of Northwest Corporate Federal Credit Union and Southwest Corporate Federal Credit Union, Plano, Texas, have signed a letter of intent to merge the two...

Hits and Has-Beens.
March 7, 2007... Chase promoted Scott Powell to CEO of consumer banking. David Lowman, who became CEO of global mortgage in November, will now be responsible for home equity and servicing and default, as well as student and auto lending. Joseph Campanelli...

The Dealmaker's Dealmaker: How Sandy Weill Built the Citigroup Brand.
March 7, 2007... The Real Deal: My Life in Business and Philanthropy By Sandy Weill and Judah S. Kraushaar Warner Business Books, $32, 544 pages Is there a reason the public should care about Citigroup founder Sandy Weill's banking career? As it...

Anti-Malware: Calling Off the Watchdogs: Bank opts out of anti-virus protection for whitelisting approach.
March 7, 2007... Like a lot of bank IT administrators, Brent Rickels had his fill of the spam and spyware deluge that has increased tenfold since 2002. So he did something about it for First National Bank of Bosque County (TX) last year: He chucked all of the...

ID Theft Needs Little Fuel to Fan The Flames. Or Does It?
March 7, 2007... When dealing with controversial subject matter, it's a given that, from time to time, there will be intense exchanges of opinions. Identity fraud, and the swirling debate around the number of victims affected and the losses associated with...

Authentication: RBS's Digital ID Cost Cuts: By deploying a digital hosted platform, it's hoping to save as much as $9 million over the next five years.
March 8, 2007... The act of verifying someone's ID before they can transact with a company doesn't mean the same thing for every interaction, particularly for large firms that do business in a number of countries with widely varied customers, such as the...

News Makers.
March 8, 2007... UofM: ONLINE BROKERS' CONSUMER CRED IS UP Online brokers hit a new high in the University of Michigan's American Customer Satisfaction Index for the fourth quarter of 2006. The national indicator of customer evaluations of product quality...

As Controversy Dogs Citi, Prince Buys 2 UK Firms, Aims to Cut Costs.
March 8, 2007... Todd Thomson's high-profile ouster from Citi has less to do with poor judgment over his "friendship" with CNBC anchor Maria Bartiromo than his spending habits: a wood-burning stove in his Manhattan office, abuse of company jet privileges (by...

Noted and Noteworthy.
March 8, 2007... The Rainforest Action Network is known for its, um, dirty campaigns and its January 30 stunt at Merrill Lynch's downtown Manhattan office was no different. The demonstration had well-dressed "billionaires" holding bags of coal parading with...

AACUC Holds Winter Networking Reception.
March 8, 2007... WASHINGTON -- Harry Johnson, CEO of the Martin Luther King Jr. National Memorial Project Foundation was the keynote speaker at the African-American Credit Union Coalition's (AACUC) Winter Networking Reception. The reception was timed in...

CUISPA Hosts Risk Management Workshops.
March 8, 2007... AUSTIN, Texas -- The Credit Union Information Security Professionals Association (CUISPA) said it will host a series of Regional Risk Management Workshops this year to "address the critical topics that credit union IT departments are...

Former Louisiana League President Passes Away.
March 8, 2007... SLIDELL, La. -- Homer C. Thomason, a former president of the Louisiana Credit Union League, has died. Mr. Thomason was 95. In addition to serving at the league, Mr. Thomason was also chief of the accounting branch fiscal division of the...

Wife Of CMG President Loses Battle With Cancer.
March 8, 2007... MADISON, Wis. -- Peggy Post, the wife of CUNA Mutual President Jeff Post, has died after a long illness. Jeff Post did not attend CUNA's GAC in order to be with his wife, and issued a statement saying his wife wanted a quiet, private...

CUES Staffing Manual Changing CEOs' Minds On Part-Timers.
March 8, 2007... MADISON, Wis. -- Think you're saving money by hiring part-time tellers? Think again. When the "CUES 2006 Staffing Manual for Credit Unions" Author Dr. Carl Fredrickson took a closer look at part-time staffing at CUs, he was a bit...

RCU Recognizes Volunteerism.
March 8, 2007... EAU CLAIRE, Wis. -- Royal Credit Union has created a Lifetime Volunteer Award to show members its appreciation for their volunteer efforts within the CU and throughout the community. Recently, 17 members joined the list, said Carla Leuck,...

Worth Noting.
March 9, 2007... FSCC Pays Its Highest Dividend SAN DIMAS, Calif.-Financial Service Centers Cooperative, Inc (FSCC), said it will pay an all-time high Patronage Dividend of more than $2 million to member credit unions for transactions performed in 2006....

Take Membership Growth To The Edge With Marketing Guru.
March 9, 2007... CLIFTON, Va. -- Paul Lucas will be the opening attraction at the Credit Union Journal's Business Development & SEG Conference in Boston on April 12, and he promises a special delivery of Postcards from the Edge. That edge, in case you...

About The Conference.
March 9, 2007... WHAT: Credit Union Journal's Business Development & SEG Conference WHEN: April 12 & 13 WHERE: The Hyatt Hotel, Boston THE SKINNY: Credit Union Journal's Business Development & SEG Conference is dedicated to strategies for growing,...

Oregon CUs Elicit Few Complaints From Consumers.
March 9, 2007... BEAVERTON, Ore. -- Credit unions caused just 1.7% of total consumer complaints in Oregon, according to the state's Department of Justice 2006 Top 10 Consumer Complaint list. Financial institutions (as a broad category) dropped down to the...

Now In The Market.
March 9, 2007... CMG Enhances 401k Product MADISON, Wis.-CUNA Mutual Group reported it has enhanced its 401(k) product by adding a unique rider that guarantees the principal on a credit union employee's retirement plan. "The guarantees on principal and...

Unsecured Educational Loans Help Michigan Cope With Unprecedented Job Losses.
March 9, 2007... AUBURN HILLS, Mich. -- Cornerstone Community Financial has joined a statewide effort to provide below-market, unsecured education loans to members primarily affected by Michigan's unprecedented job losses. For its part in the Career...

Is London Center of Financial World?: Say it isn't so. With London proclaiming itself king of the financial universe, New York's financial gurus are asking: Should U.S. banks simplify and have only one regulator?
March 9, 2007... Ever since a PricewaterhouseCoopers study let slide that the London Stock Exchange attracted more international initial public offerings in 2005 than the New York Stock Exchange and the Nasdaq combined, the City, as London's financial district...

Enterprise Rights Management: Sealing Data With Yet Another Lock: Goldman Sachs is at the forefront of enterprise rights management, designed to protect the most tightly held intellectual capital. Expect commercial banks to be next in line.
March 9, 2007... When Goldman Sachs is working to nail an M&A or IPO deal, the firm knows even a hint of activity is enough to send markets scurrying and push competitors into position. Loose lips sink deals, so The Firm enforces strict internal lockdowns of...

Mortgage Securities: Slow MBS Market Hikes Fraud Risk: Technology vendors are selling products that ferret out fraud in secondary market pools.
March 9, 2007... Investment banks that buy mortgage-backed securities have a deeper worry than the billion-dollar estimate of fraud in lending each year. The fear is that it could be much worse. Foreclosures and delinquencies are rising, and with it the...

Email Mistakes: Giving Away the Store, Without Knowing it: Inside jobs don't have to be the work of disgruntled employees. New research suggests most email-related exposure of sensitive data is accidental.
March 9, 2007... It's a scenario that happens often, perhaps thousands and thousands of times each day for a bank that's mid-sized or larger. A customer emails the customer service department with a question about his account, sending along his name,...

30 Years Of Snapshots Forever In The Credit Union Album.
March 12, 2007... Credit unions have checked out of the Washington Hilton after 30 years, which is a mighty long stay in a hotel. Paid the bill. Said their good-byes. Hilton GAC vets will take with them a million snapshots, forever remembering... The...

Are Your Members Looking Past Your CU's Shelves When Shopping For A Mortgage?
March 12, 2007... When your members are shopping for a mortgage, they are looking out for their own best interests. Some members want the best rates, some want the best service, some need a wide selection of flexible programs from which to choose, and...

Pending Data Security Bill Shaped By Mass. Credit Unions.
March 12, 2007... WASHINGTON -- Lawmakers, with their constituents again sorting the costs of the latest data breach, are busily drafting legislation aimed at stemming these breaches, at least one of which will include key provisions shaped by credit unions....

Idea To Create CU Card Brand Is Floated At GAC.
March 12, 2007... WASHINGTON -- Credit union executives and directors, frustrated over their liability for cards breaches for their bank-owned Visa and MasterCard systems, floated the idea last week of a credit union-owned credit card brand. "Eighty-nine...

P2P Lending CUSO Uses ZOPA As Potential Model.
March 12, 2007... WASHINGTON -- Credit unions are plotting a nationwide lending brokerage service modeled after the successful ZOPA. Several credit unions are planning a CUSO that will act as an online referral service for credit unions and potential...

Michigan's Allan McMorris Elected To Chair CUNA.
March 12, 2007... WASHINGTON -- Allan McMorris, a self-proclaimed "hog-riding" CEO of a mid-sized Michigan credit union, was elected chairman of the CUNA Board of directors for the next two years. McMorris, who told attendees to CUNA's Governmental Affairs...

Email: Don't Shoot The Messenger: Yes, broadband video and marketing blogs are here. Suggestions? First, banks need to finally get email marketing right. And the newest innovation is "stamped" email.
March 12, 2007... A decade and a half after AOL hit the mainstream in the fall of 1989, email is a ubiquitous, essential and inescapable part of daily life. The downside is that of the tens of trillions of emails sent around the globe, the majority are spam....

AD Beat: It's a Bird. It's a Plane. Nope, It's EverBank.: Few bank ads actually pretend to look like the competition. But EverBank's smart new ads are designed to do just that-and then draw consumers back home.
March 12, 2007... What's the best way to beat the competition? If you're EverBank Financial Corp., the answer is to cloak yourself in camouflage that resembles the competition. Seems like an insane approach in a cutthroat industry, but it spelled genius for...

Identity Fraud: ID Theft Victims, Losses Take Welcome Nosedive: New account vulnerabilities are toughened, but 'vishing,' limited alerts practices and consumers' misguided personal trust in acquaintances still leave the doors wide open.
March 12, 2007... For the first time in four years, identity theft is no longer a $50 billion drain on banks, companies and consumer victims. Not that it's tenable at $49.3 billion, of course, but that 2006 fraud estimate represents a welcome decline from...

Conversion's the Word In '07 e-Payments Drive: Electronic remittance, automated exceptions, back office conversion and other breakthroughs appear on the horizon as the next phase for remote capture.
March 12, 2007... It's going to be a transitional year for NACHA, says chairman Steve Ellis, who is also an executive at Wells Fargo. The new back-office conversion rule kicks off in March to permit new check electronification options. New transactional fees are...

Customer Education: Knowledge Is The Path To Healthy HSAs: There's a knowledge gap among consumers and employers about HSAs, ranging from how they work to how much they cost. A handful of institutions are trying to fix that.
March 13, 2007... A couple of years into the consumer-directed healthcare era, and it's clear that the President, Congress and most banks like instruments such as health savings accounts a great deal-enough that HSAs were as highly touted in the State of the...

Mobile Payments: Fair Play In HSBC Phone Pay Trial: Accounting for issuer, carrier and merchant interests is a key advance for this contactless pilot.
March 13, 2007... HSBC's credit card unit, which has more than a million contactless cards already in circulation, is now taking a look at adding the cell phone as a contactless payment option with a test trial involving 200 HSBC employees. HSBC Credit...

Becoming Mr. Mainstream.
March 13, 2007... Hanmi Financial chief executive Sung Won Sohn, who made his name as a Wells Fargo economist, is seeking to make over the biggest institution in the Korean-American bank niche. He faces stiff competition from Wilshire Bancorp, Nara Bancorp and...

Established Institution Reinvents Itself as '$2 Billion Startup': With a young CEO at the helm, United Western Bank is reinventing itself. It's embarking on a long-term plan to turn its mortgage-based balance sheet into a more lucrative community-banking one.
March 13, 2007... Denver-based United Western Bank is undergoing an ambitious transition from a mortgage company to a traditional community bank. For investors who take a long-term view of its holdings, the shift could prove to be lucrative. And for banks...