Community Banker articles from April 2000

Community Banker archives from April 2000

Broadening OFHEO's Role.
April 1, 2000... There are many important issues facing the mortgage industry and they arise in a climate of uncertainty. Automation is changing the way the industry operates. And this automation--along with the new activities and growth of the...

'99 Thrifts Set New Earnings Record.
April 1, 2000... For the third year running, the nation's thrift industry posted record earnings: $8.2 billion in 1999, surpassing by 9 percent 1998 earnings of $7.6 billion. According to a report issued by the Office of Thrift Supervision, fourth quarter...

The Lowdown on No Down.
April 1, 2000... Norwest Mortgage of Des Moines, Iowa, has introduced a loan program called "No Money Down Plus" to attract potential homeowners who feel antsy about up-front mortgage costs. The program lets qualified purchasers finance up to 100 percent of...

New York Fed District's Economy `Flat'.
April 1, 2000... The Second Federal Reserve District's economy continued to run flat in early 2000 with labor shortfalls continuing and signs of increased wage pressure, according to data from the Federal Reserve System's latest "Beige Book"commentary. ...

Calls to Halt Spin-off Of Ginnie Mae, HFA.
April 1, 2000... Prompted by a report of the strong financial condition its Mutual Mortgage Insurance Fund, a number of national trade associations have come out against privatization of the Federal Housing Administration and Ginnie Mae. At $16.6 billion,...

House Urged to Reconcile E-Signature Bills.
April 1, 2000... House conferees on electronic signatures legislation have been urged by America's Community Bankers and other financial institutions and national and state banking trade groups to "quickly reconcile differences" between House and Senate...

He Wuz Robbed.
April 1, 2000... In the March issue of Community Banker we ran a story by Tom Zeller called "Telco on the Go: Cellular Phones," the second installment of a two-part investigation into the latest developments in wireless technology. Perhaps we were carried...

Great Expectations.
April 1, 2000... What Your Customers Really Want In banking, as with real estate, location matters--a lot. Your customers want to bank close to home and work. They also want convenient lobby hours and 24-hour access to account information. They want...

Core Marketing Strategies.
April 1, 2000... Community Bankers on Customer Acquisition And Retention Ask William Donius about his most valuable work experience, and the chairman and chief executive of $245 million Pulaski Bank in St. Louis, Mo., will tell you about his post-college...

Trust Services: A Growth Industry for Community Banks.
April 1, 2000... Is the trust business a growth industry? With the aging of the baby boomer population, coupled with other factors, including an environment of steady economic growth and wealth creation, it's easy to guess that the answer is yes. Community...

New Rules for the FHLB System.
April 1, 2000... Report on a New Funding Paradigm The modernization of the Federal Home Loan Bank System, enacted in the fall of 1999 as part of Gramm-Leach-Bliley, will have far-reaching implications for community bankers. Among other things, it presents...

Today's Strange Yield Curve.
April 1, 2000... Why is today's yield curve shaped the way it is? Normally, the yield curve is positively sloped, indicating that long-term bonds offer higher returns than short-term bonds. This is the normal situation since long-term bonds have more...

The Electronic Revolution.
April 1, 2000... As community bankers know, we are in the early stages of a technology-driven revolution in financial services. The changes include a growing number of online financial firms and new arrangements that, over time, will dramatically change the...

Who's Afraid of the Big, Bad Web?
April 1, 2000... For community bankers, the web represents a world of opportunity. But not surprisingly, some encounter roadblocks to taking advantage of all the opportunities the Internet offers. It can, after all, be expensive, difficult to implement and hard...

Mutual Funds In Europe.
April 1, 2000... European savers are starting to look more like their American cousins, because they are shifting more savings from bank accounts to mutual funds, according to Datamonitor, a London-based market analysis firm. However, although European...

More Generous Expense Accounts.
April 1, 2000... If you've noticed you're getting more latitude to spend on business entertainment, you're not alone. In a recent survey developed by Robert Half International, a Menlo Park, Calif.-based staffing service, 62 percent of the 1,400 chief financial...

Pure-play Virtual Helps Sell Investments.
April 1, 2000... Virtual banks are ahead of traditional banks when it comes to solving a persistent brand image problem--namely that banks are no place to buy investment products. A small survey of 207 online bank consumers found that nearly 40 percent of...

Search Firms See Job Market Growth.
April 1, 2000... A recent survey of 314 executive search firms conducted by Exec-u-net, an Internet-based center for executive career management, revealed great expectations for executive demand growth in 2000. While the average projected growth for the year is...

Online Brokerage For Community Banks.
April 1, 2000... Regency Systems of Dallas has teamed up with Minneapolis-based Stockwalk.com, the online trading unit of the Stockwalk.com Group, to offer private-label online brokerage services to community banks that use Regency websites. "This...

Have Credit, Will Travel.
April 1, 2000... AnyTime Access, a provider of outsourced credit origination, underwriting and fulfillment services to the financial services and e-commerce industries, and Carlender.com, an online vehicle financing specialist, have formed an alliance to...

Site Highlights Credit Deals.
April 1, 2000... A company called iMoneynet of Ashland, Mass, has launched iMoneynet.com to provide financial and business news websites with information on daily rates and trends that affect consumer borrowing and investment decisions. The new Internet...

Commercial Lending Service Bureau.
April 1, 2000... To provide a way for mid-sized financial institutions and non-traditional financial services entities to enter the commercial lending market, Alltel has opened a service bureau using the Little Rock, Ark.-based application service provider's...

Anti-Fraud Information.
April 1, 2000... HNC Financial Solutions of San Diego has launched Falcon Data Mart, a new website dedicated to combating credit card fraud. In addition to general interest information that is available to all site visitors, Falcon Data Mart offers detailed...

Nationwide Mortgages.
April 1, 2000... Mortgage brokers and lenders who feel comfortable expanding their market reach nationwide may be interested to know that e-nitiatives Inc., a point-of-sale e-business "solution provider" for the financial services industry has finalized an...

Impartial Advice For Online Investors.
April 1, 2000... As equity fever shows little sign of cooling, and as stories of the perils of online trading get more media coverage, amateur investors are hungry for unbiased information about buying and selling equities online. By late February, after...