Banking Wire articles from May 2006

Banking Wire archives from May 2006

CFE FCU Uses RouteOne Link To Keep Its Auto Lending Pedal To The Metal.
May 4, 2006... ORLANDO, Fla. -- QUICK LOOK Here's a separate IT project CFE FCU is currently exploring. The Project: telephony overhaul, including a Voice-over Internet Protocol (VoIP) system for the new corporate center and an outsourced after-hours...

ITems: BRECO FCU Signs With AFTECH.
May 4, 2006... MALVERN, Penn. -- Core processing provider AFTECH recently added BRECO Federal Credit Union to its Advantage client list. BRECO FCU, based in Baton Rouge, La., said AFTECH's CU support and reliability after Hurricane Katrina prompted the...

ITems: Digital Insight, BankServ Team Up.
May 4, 2006... CALABASAS, Calif. -- Digital Insight Corp. has entered into an agreement with BankServ, a major supplier of bank-branded Check 21 and Accounts Receivable Conversion ("ARC") services for the banking industry, to offer Remote Deposit Image...

ITems: Online Resources Wins Award.
May 4, 2006... CHANTILLY, Texas -- Online Resources Corp. has won a Collection Technology Excellence Award from Collection Technology News. The award is based on peer nominations and was given to Online Resources Corp. for pioneering self- resolution...

ITems: Corillian Gets Into ID Protection.
May 4, 2006... PORTLAND, Ore. -- Corillian Corp. and StrikeForce Technologies have combined efforts to offer financial institutions identity theft solutions. The two companies will help fight online fraud with Corillian's Intelligent Authentication and...

Typing Test: Michigan CU Secures PCs With Software That Checks User's Unique Typing Rhythm.
May 4, 2006... YPSILANTI, Mich. -- QUICK LOOK The Project: multi-factor authentication for online services. The Vendor: Biopassword. The ideal identification solution isn't a token, a smart card, or a fingerprint, according to a $62-million...

News Briefs: 'Security Matrix' Offers Multi-Factor Authentication.
May 4, 2006... GLASTONBURY, Conn. -- Open Solutions Inc., a provider of integrated enabling technologies for community financial institutions, has released a "Security Matrix" two-factor authentication feature, which will be offered to client financial...

ITems: Cavion Offers A2A Services.
May 4, 2006... MOUNDS VIEW, Minn. -- Cavion Plus is offering Consumer Account to Account (A2A) for credit unions that will allow members to shift money among accounts located at different financial institutions. Cavion officials say a credit union can...

ITems: FLS Svcs Sets SAIL With Teres.
May 4, 2006... AUSTIN, Texas -- Teres Solutions, Inc. announced that FLS Services has licensed its SAIL lending software that will eventually serve more than 30 FLS credit union clients. The agreement also calls for FLS to standardize its hosted...

ITems: eCU Teams With RSA Security.
May 4, 2006... HARRISBURG, Penn. -- eCU Technologies is teaming with RSA Security to offer its member credit unions the Adaptive Authentication solution that will satisfy federal mult-factor authentication guidelines. eCU Technologies will also integrate...

Identity Theft: ITAC's Next Move: Beyond The Banks?: It's moving toward universal consumer resolution.
May 5, 2006... She didn't get balloons and a light show, but "Mrs. W" still earned a prize as a landmark patron of the Identity Theft Assistance Center. She won her name back. Two housecleaners had pilfered her wallet and in less than two months had...

Loan Approval: Deciding To Dump Silos: New middleware allows bank-wide decisioning.
May 5, 2006... Web-enabled technology is not only allowing institutions to make credit-related decisions faster, but it's also allowing banks to implement and change credit rules and practices for a wide array of products from the same platform. The...

Wells, Schmells: Kovacevich is Kidding, Right?
May 5, 2006... I just received your March issue of U.S. Banker ("Tough Act to Follow"). Does Wells Fargo have ownership interest in U.S. Banker? I have never read a bigger bunch of nonsense in my whole life. While you can't disagree with the financial...

Banking Evolution From Risk Takers to Rock Stars: Imagine, for a moment, if someone likened J.P. Morgan, Walter Wriston or Robert Rubin to rock stars. It's an undignified thought, at best. Welcome to public company "campaign management.".
May 5, 2006... If the U.S. banking industry ended the 19th century marked by companies whose owners were free-wheeling, wealthy risk takers, then it began the 21st century with companies whose CEOs were likened more to rock stars than financial executives....

On Deadline: Wal-Mart To Offer Paycard Check Cashing...
May 5, 2006... BENTONVILLE, Ark. -- Wal-Mart Stores announced last week it is teaming with First Data's Money Network to offer a paycard check-cashing program in its 3,000 stores. Introduction of the program came as Wal-Mart was telling attendees to the...

On Deadline: ...At Same Time CUs Becoming Big Partner.
May 5, 2006... MIAMI -- The partnership between Wal-Mart Stores and credit unions is continuing to grow, even as community banks are seeing the retail giant's banking plans as a direct challenge. While community bankers said during FDIC hearing last week...

Rating A Response: Analysts Urge CUs To Take Action On Repricing Deposits, Especially As Some Banks Get More Aggressive.
May 5, 2006... SAN DIMAS, Calif. -- The glory days of cheap deposits are waning. Analysts told The Credit Union Journal that rising rates have hit the point where credit unions are going to have to bite the bullet and begin repricing savings accounts and...

DFCU Financial Fights For Its Board: The CU's Latest Project: Saving Its Endangered Directors.
May 5, 2006... DEARBORN, Mich. -- A week after abandoning its controversial bid to convert to a savings bank, DFCU Financial took on a new project-saving the jobs of its nine directors who voted for the charter switch. The $1.8-billion credit union...

Tapping the CD Flow.
May 5, 2006... Certificates of deposit (CDs) are growing ever more popular in the bank channel, thanks largely to rising rates. And these aren't just $1,000 accounts, either. According to data from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, CDs holding $100,000...

2005: Another Tough Year for Most Banks.
May 5, 2006... Bank investment sales were dismal to modest last year. There were exceptions: community banks such as $470 million PeoplesBank, based in York, Penn., which saw investment fee income-mainly from mutual funds and variable annuities-jump 26% in...

Program Managers Tout Personal Challenges Over Pay.
May 8, 2006... A first-of-its-kind survey of bank investment program managers' activities reveals how real life often falls short of ideals, and vice versa, and that-believe it or not-the job's challenges outweigh paychecks in terms of job satisfaction....

Primevest Urges Clients to Adopt Fee Business.
May 8, 2006... Primevest leaned heavily on its clients to adopt more fee business in its Las Vegas Primevest Management conference in early March. The third-party marketer has a clear motive: it's parent, ING Advisors Network, has invested "significant" funds...

IP Networks: Small Firms Get VoIP For Less $: ACBB partnership with Cisco subsidizes platforms.
May 8, 2006... As a de novo community bank, Team Capital Bank is looking ahead to its future networking needs right out of the gate. The $40 million start-up launched last fall with a fully deployed VoIP network for its first branch in Flemington, NJ. The...

Letters.(Letter to the editor)
May 8, 2006... To the editor: Please permit me to respond to a few things in "Patently Unaware" (April 2006). What is a patent troll? According to some, a patent troll is a firm who licenses patents they do not themselves commercialize. Yet many of the...

Police Arrest Trio - But Not Ringleader - Of Hackers Who Have Been Hitting CUs.
May 8, 2006... WHITTIER, Calif. -- Police have arrested what they believe are three low-level accomplices in a local credit card ring that has duplicated cards from more than a dozen credit unions and banks, most of them based in the southern California,...

Informing Members: What NCUA Requires Be Disclosed During A Bid To Change Charters.
May 8, 2006... ALEXANDRIA, Va. -- Just how big of a road block are NCUA's regulations for credit unions seeking to convert to mutual bank charters? U.S. Rep. Patrick McHenry, (R-NC) has suggested NCUA interference is what drove Dearborn, Mich.-based...

Witnesses Tell Court Of Intimidation, Humiliation, Call For Jail Time For Ex-CEO.
May 8, 2006... HIGHTSTOWN, N.J. -- At the sentencing hearing for former New Jersery league CEO Thomas Shaughnessy, several league representatives submitted statements, with employees claiming Shaughnessy oversaw a reign of intimidation and humilation. Below...

Ex-NJ CUL CEO Sentenced For Embezzling $300,000.
May 8, 2006... HIGHTSTOWN, N.J. -- Thomas Shaughnessy, who pleaded guilty to embezzling nearly $300,000 while CEO of the New Jersey Credit Union League, has been sentenced, but only after several employees of the league submitted statements to the court...

Brokerage: Investment Unit Income Slipped 9.5% in 2005: Still, it remains an attractive source of fees.
May 8, 2006... Bank brokerage programs had a tough go in 2005, mostly because of a difficult sales market for fixed annuities amid a flattening yield curve. The industry saw income fall 9.5 percent in 2005 to $5.53 billion, from $6.11 billion in 2004. ...

Commercial Lending: Loans in Hurricane Areas Count as CRA Investments: Small banks can lend outside home markets.
May 8, 2006... Anne Arvia, president and CEO of Chicago-based ShoreBank, focuses on making loans in inner city neighborhoods to help revitalize low-income areas. And now she wants to help in the rebuilding efforts in the Gulf area after hurricanes Katrina...

Pipeline.
May 9, 2006... New Alliance Aims to invest in financial industry Lithos Capital Partners, a new private equity firm founded by former Pacific Exchange chairman and CEO Philip DeFeo and Vestar Capital Partners, is earmarking $500 million for private-equity...

Banks, Other Financial Firms Join To Fight 'Net-Bought Child Porn.
May 9, 2006... Fourteen of the globe's most prominent financial organizations have joined the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, and its sister organization, the International Centre for Missing & Exploited Children, to stop the flow of...

Worth Noting.
May 9, 2006... MACU To Merge Into Illinois CUL NAPERVILLE, Ill.-The Midwest Association of Credit Unions, one of the last remaining non-CUNA-affiliated state trade associations, is no more. The group, which includes 59 credit unions among its membership,...

One CU CEO's Novel Idea For Pursuing A Career.
May 9, 2006... Once upon a time, in a Credit Union Land not that far, far away, a CEO looked out the window and longed to do something else, to visit lands she had not set foot in and to take others with her. Oh, not the black rocks of the Big Island or the...

Coalition For CU Charter Options Was Mischaracterized.
May 9, 2006... I am a longtime reader of The Credit Union Journal and especially look forward to reading the editorial opinions written by Credit Union Journal Publisher Frank Diekmann and the many guest editorial writers in each weekly edition. In a...

Get Outside The CU In Order To Create A Brand From Inside.
May 9, 2006... Brand building is a lot like losing weight. Everyone is thinking about it, reading about it, talking about it. Yet very few credit unions are actually doing it. One of the most important steps to successful brand building is to always...

If Financial Crime is Rising, Then Security is Job #1.
May 9, 2006... When talking about security and the rising occurrence of financial crime, there are several factors to be considered, all of which are interconnected and imperative to resolve. These include understanding the changing nature of financial crime;...

Medical Banking: Paper Processing Is No Rx For Payments: Hospitals and insurers still don't have electronic remittance issues settled despite 10-year-old HIPAA standards. Seizing the market opportunity, banks are stepping into the void.
May 9, 2006... A recent survey of hospital and insurance executives show they each bemoan the complicated, inefficient and nearly unworkable electronic remittance processes they share. Ninety-one percent of hospital officials complain they must resubmit all...

Curian Staffs Up for SMA Push.
May 9, 2006... Curian Capital is ramping up its sales effort on separately managed accounts that offer low enough investment minimums to be affordable even to mutual fund investors. The Denver-based firm is increasing its wholesaler staff by 35% and...

Morningstar: Some Funds Are Getting Too Big.
May 9, 2006... A relatively small number of funds have attracted a large share of capital in recent years, and that could mean trouble, according to Russel Kinnel, an analyst with Morningstar in Chicago. In fact, in the past six years, the number of funds...

Product News.
May 10, 2006... The American Stock Exchange has listed five additional ETFs: Deutsche Bank's Liquid Commodity Index; PowerShares' Zacks Small-Cap; and State Street Global's SPDR Biotech, SPDR Homebuilders and SPDR Semiconductor. (800) 843-2639, or...

Doing It the Hard Way: Why First Interstate's Kerry Hatcher left behind a $35 million book to start anew back home.
May 10, 2006... Kerry Hatcher, a trust and investment specialist and market manager at First Interstate Financial Services, part of First Interstate Bank in Billings, Mont., knows about sacrifice-and about triumphing over adversity. Committed both to his...

News Makers.
May 10, 2006... Experian, gus to split; Expect LSE Listing GUS PLC and Experian announced a de-merger of the financial information and credit reporting firm from its parent organization. The spin-off, expected to be completed in the next six to 12 months,...

Fraud: Catching Crooks, or Crimping Customers?: Are the United Kingdom's practices of imposing transfer limits and delays on Web banking transactions the answer to U.S. fraud issues? Not bloody likely.
May 10, 2006... To combat a rash of fraud losses from phishing scams, Barclays in England earlier this spring imposed a strict limit on external online account transfers of 1,000 pounds (about US$1,748) on their Web banking customers. Although the...

League Says Point of Lawsuit Is To Draw Attention From Real Issue.
May 10, 2006... SOUTHFIELD, Mich. -- Following the lawsuit by DFCU Financial Credit Union against the Michigan league alleging the league was interfering in the CU's effort to convert to a bank, MCUL President Dave Adams issued this statement: "We have...

One CEO's Plan: WAM!
May 10, 2006... WASHINGTON -- Credit unions in North Carolina are working on a project called WAM, for "Walk Away a Member," according to Marc Schaefer, Truliant FCU CEO. "What I want to see, when a credit union converts to a mutual bank charter, is for...

Noted and Noteworthy.
May 10, 2006... "Sales leakage" is one the most pervasive customer-management problems facing U.S. retail banks, according to a recent survey of 195 financial institutions by Aite Group. The researcher found that 26 percent of respondents couldn't be...

Can an Outsider Succeed in D.C.?: The ICBA's new chair is determined to pass legislation to ease life for community banks. And, yes, she'd like to get those pesky credit unions to pay their share of taxes.
May 10, 2006... How could the CEO of a tiny rural landlocked bank in North Dakota possibly make waves in Washington, D.C.? Well, you'd just have to meet Terry Jorde, who heads CountryBankUSA, to understand how Midwest "nice" translates into "dynamism" on...

Intellectual Property: Are Banks Patently Unaware of IP Issues?: Bankers breathing easier because their BlackBerrys still work will have no relief from industry patent disputes. IP litigation is a booming business against financial institutions.
May 10, 2006... With a hit list of more than 70 names casting a BlackBerry-shaped shadow over the industry, DataTreasury is the underdog in its legal battles with the big boys. "The U.S. financial industry is treating them...phenomenally worse than...

The Soft, Secret Sell Of Online Street Hawking: Word-of-mouth marketing is valuable, say marketers, but the online practice is blurring the distinction between ethical and unethical conduct. Can bank marketers use this natural buzz?
May 10, 2006... It starts as an annoying buzz, one that seems only seems to fade deeply-but not quietly-into the skull, repeating itself, repeating itself, repeating itself. Some call it undercover marketing; many call it street marketing; others term it...

Noted and Noteworthy.
May 11, 2006... "Sales leakage" is one the most pervasive customer-management problems facing U.S. retail banks, according to a recent survey of 195 financial institutions by Aite Group. The researcher found that 26 percent of respondents couldn't be...

Can an Outsider Succeed in D.C.?: The ICBA's new chair is determined to pass legislation to ease life for community banks. And, yes, she'd like to get those pesky credit unions to pay their share of taxes.
May 11, 2006... How could the CEO of a tiny rural landlocked bank in North Dakota possibly make waves in Washington, D.C.? Well, you'd just have to meet Terry Jorde, who heads CountryBankUSA, to understand how Midwest "nice" translates into "dynamism" on...

CU Innovations On Full Display: CU Journal Conference Highlights Nation's Best Practices.
May 11, 2006... MIAMI -- Who says credit unions can't innovate and compete? Nearly two-dozen strategies, tactics and ideas were detailed during The Credit Union Journal's inaugural Best Practices Conference at the Hyatt Hotel here. The innovative...

Reg Relief Passes, But Many Sought-After Items Not Included.
May 11, 2006... WASHINGTON -- The regulatory relief bill being backed by credit unions and banks for the past five years turned out to be only half a loaf, if that. The Senate Banking Committee last week approved its version of the bill, which was...

DFCU, Opponents Prepare For Meeting: Both Sides Square Off Over Attempt To Recall Board.
May 11, 2006... DEARBORN, Mich. -- DFCU Financial Credit Union has confirmed it will hold a special meeting of members to vote on a recall of the board, but at press time had yet to provide a date or location for the meeting. In accordance with its bylaws,...

High APYs In Some Markets Challenge CUs In Pricing Deposits.
May 11, 2006... ATLANTA -- Not all is peachy in Atlanta when it comes to pricing deposit accounts. Like many markets across the southern U.S., Atlanta has seen a surge in new residents, and financial institutions have noticed, with banks especially...

News Makers.
May 11, 2006... Experian, gus to split; Expect LSE Listing GUS PLC and Experian announced a de-merger of the financial information and credit reporting firm from its parent organization. The spin-off, expected to be completed in the next six to 12 months,...

Fraud: Catching Crooks, or Crimping Customers?: Are the United Kingdom's practices of imposing transfer limits and delays on Web banking transactions the answer to U.S. fraud issues? Not bloody likely.
May 11, 2006... To combat a rash of fraud losses from phishing scams, Barclays in England earlier this spring imposed a strict limit on external online account transfers of 1,000 pounds (about US$1,748) on their Web banking customers. Although the...

The ETF Explosion: They look like index funds, they trade like stocks, and advisers are using them in a million ways to round out their clients' diversified portfolios.
May 11, 2006... Exchange-traded funds (ETFs) may still be snapping at the heels of their behemoth cousins, mutual funds, but their rise in popularity, from virtually nothing in 1996 to $300 billion 10 years later is no less astounding. With this growth has...

How ETF Providers Hope to Beat the Index.
May 11, 2006... ETF providers don't make up the indexes on which to base their funds. Rather, the NASD requires them to use a third party to design the index, although they can set the criteria. PowerShares partners with the American Stock Exchange, which...

Simplicity Guaranty'd: This large regional bank has stuck to its guns-so far-on its platform-only program.
May 12, 2006... It's not uncommon for growing banks to dump their platform programs for full-service investment operations, but Guaranty Bank is different. The Austin, Texas-based institution has a large and thriving platform- only program, which won an...

Finding Your Niche: It can be hard to break in, but once you've cracked it, serving a clique can mean big business.
May 12, 2006... The world is an almost bottomless pit of subcultures and specialties. Some of these can be gems for financial planners looking to find a customer niche. There are college affiliations, of course, and professional ones, such as lawyers or...

Trading Intelligence: Charles Schwab Goes Deep With New Nasdaq Data: It's the first to buy an enterprise license for TotalView, the exchange's top data product, providing traders a wide view of market activity.
May 12, 2006... Daytraders and other active investors crave information on stocks like dogs sniffing out a side of bacon, and Charles Schwab hopes to feed that hunger by signing a deal to provide its active traders access to the most comprehensive source of...

E-banking: Citi Direct(s) A Do-over For Internet-only Banking: Instant account opening, branch accessibility and personal financial management are all on tap for Citibank's counter to ING Direct.
May 12, 2006... Catherine Palmeiri describes differences so stark between Citibank Direct and Citi f/i, she belongs on an episode of "The Frontier House." The managing director of Citibank.com makes old-school Internet banking sound like life without...

On Deadline: New Shares Poured Into CUs During March.
May 12, 2006... MADISON, Wis. -- Credit unions reported one of their best months in several years for savings growth in March, with an estimated $14.2 billion of new shares pouring in, according to CUNA. The savings growth was helped substantially by a...

On Deadline: Hearings on Charter Conversions This Week.
May 12, 2006... WASHINGTON -- Congress will hold hearings this week on credit union-to-bank charter conversions. Witnesses from both sides of the issue will testify. For additional information, see page 12. (c) 2006 The Credit Union Journal and...

On Deadline: ABA Chairman Not Among The Underserved.
May 12, 2006... SALT LAKE CITY -- This year is turning out to be a very good one for Harris Simmons and his banking company, Zions Bancorp, which he heads as president and CEO. When Zions' Board, with Simmons as its chairman, declared a 36- cents a share...

On Deadline: CU24 Eliminates Fee Minimum.
May 12, 2006... TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- Credit Union 24 said last week it has eliminated membership-fee minimums for its member-shareholders in conjunction with its new switch- processing agreement with Fifth Third Processing Solutions. The credit...

Intellectual Property: Are Banks Patently Unaware of IP Issues?: Bankers breathing easier because their BlackBerrys still work will have no relief from industry patent disputes. IP litigation is a booming business against financial institutions.
May 12, 2006... With a hit list of more than 70 names casting a BlackBerry-shaped shadow over the industry, DataTreasury is the underdog in its legal battles with the big boys. "The U.S. financial industry is treating them...phenomenally worse than...

The Soft, Secret Sell Of Online Street Hawking: Word-of-mouth marketing is valuable, say marketers, but the online practice is blurring the distinction between ethical and unethical conduct. Can bank marketers use this natural buzz?
May 12, 2006... It starts as an annoying buzz, one that seems only seems to fade deeply-but not quietly-into the skull, repeating itself, repeating itself, repeating itself. Some call it undercover marketing; many call it street marketing; others term it...

Business Continuity: FIs Have More and Use More Contingency Plans: Recovery plans are big among financial firms. And well they should be: They also have a smaller window before a problem becomes catastrophic.
May 15, 2006... When it comes to disaster planning, banks stand head and shoulders above the pack of other industries. But that's probably because they need those plans more to keep all industry going. A market survey from SteelEye Technology, a data and...

Web Mortgage Applications: Applicants Taking Action After Taking Notes: In a survey of online mortgage trends, Internet applicants are trending-and spending-upwards. Large loans above $500,000 are becoming a favorite Web channel request.
May 15, 2006... For banks who consider the mortgage or refi application process too comprehensive and in-depth to feature in an on-line channel, too bad. The consumer is not waiting around. In a survey of 1,000 house hunters, Synergistics found that 15...

Quantifying the Benefits of Diversification.
May 15, 2006... This article, which describes methods for quantifying the benefits of diversifying an investment portfolio, is part of a series of monthly columns presenting lessons from a certificate course offered by the Investment Management Consultants...

Integrating Trust and Retail Brokerage: These two departments often are at odds, which serves neither clients nor the bank.
May 15, 2006... Recently, many banks have taken steps to integrate their trust and retail brokerage groups. Usually they do this in order to leverage access to new customers, provide a broader range of products and services, streamline the internal referral...

On Deadline: On Deadline: No Rate Cuts For Officials.
May 15, 2006... ALEXANDRIA, Va. -- Federal credit unions may not provide paid employees who sit on volunteer committees a loan rate reduction offered all employees, according to NCUA. "A credit union cannot offer preferential loan rates to any of its...

Indictments Pending In D. Edward Wells FCU Case.
May 15, 2006... SPRINGFIELD, Mass. -- Indictments are expected soon against former officials of D. Edward Wells FCU here, which is currently being operated by NCUA, which has placed it in conservatorship. The Springfield Republican reported that grand...

Record $9.6M Deposited As Part Of Youth Savings.
May 15, 2006... MADISON, Wis. -- CUNA is estimating that credit unions attracted a record-high $9.6 million in deposits from young members as part of the National Youth Saving Challenge held in conjunction with National Credit Union Youth Week. The amount...

Charter Approved For Start-Up CU To Serve Mrtg. Bank.
May 15, 2006... CHICAGO -- NCUA said last week it has approved a charter for a new credit union to serve members of Unified Homeowners of Illinois Association, a group that provides counseling and other services to customers of TWA Corp., a local mortgage...

AD Beat: BB&T's Expensive Bet Offers No 'Opportunity': The bank's multi-million-dollar campaign to rebrand itself, its most expensive spend ever, is confusing, text-heavy and, well, not very communicative. But it works for BB&T.
May 15, 2006... BB&T lost an opportunity. A big one. Its pricey new ad and rebranding campaign, "There's Opportunity Here," makes a brave attempt to differentiate the Winston-Salem, NC-based bank from its competitors. However, the effort falls flat. The...

Power, Progress and Public Responsibility.
May 15, 2006... History Revisited, 1891-2006 As U.S. Banker celebrates its 115th anniversary, the magazine's retrospective revisits the players, policies and power brokers that brought sweeping change to American life while working to maintain the...

Big Sky Business: Montana reps' operations reflect a rapidly changing population as the state shifts gears.
May 16, 2006... Montana, nicknamed the treasure state, is home to reps John Bailey, an Investment Centers of America rep at Sterling Savings Bank in Sterling; Tom Cote, a branch manager and LPL rep at Independence Bank in Scobey; and Jim Turcotte, a Raymond...

For B2B Card Payments, Size Doesn't Matter: IT integration and enhancements make the small biz credit/debit market a viable opportunity for issuers.
May 16, 2006... Asking banks to invest in a segment in which up to one-third of the clientele disappears within four years is a tough sell. But Steve Abrams, svp of MasterCard International's Corporate Payments Solutions, is preaching the pros of corporate...

Sales Marketing Automation: Here's A Concept: Burn The Brochure: Forget the print shop. LaSalle Bank uses an automated collateral tool to deliver about $3 million in cost-savings and enhanced cross-selling to its sales teams.
May 16, 2006... Money doesn't grow on trees, but it sure eats up a lot of paper. LaSalle Bank in Chicago found out how much in December, when marketing vp Jack Thurston tallied up how much the $70 billion-asset bank has saved since it quit printing...

Branch Banking: Umpqua's Strategy Gives New Feel To Neighborhood: Its new 'store' approach to local banking is wrapped in a rich customer experience.
May 16, 2006... "Belly up to the bar" has been given a whole different meaning at Umpqua Bank. But such a diversion from traditional bank thinking-teller bars, coffee bars, and chocolate bars, for example-is nothing new for CEO Ray Davis, whose latest...