Community Banker articles from April 2003

Community Banker archives from April 2003

ACB's voice shapes the future. (front matter).
April 1, 2003... Big things are happening at America's Community Bankers. On this month's cover, we unveil our branding campaign, which showcases our renewed vitality, growth and movement forward. ACB'S President and Chief Executive Officer Diane Casey...

A fresh look for America's community bankers as we shape our bright future. (acb news) (Cover Story).
April 1, 2003... This month we are introducing a fresh, new look for America's Community Bankers, adopted by ACB's Board of Directors on February 9. The new brand debuted March 10 at ACB's Government Affairs Conference and on our 2002 Annual Report cover. ...

Celebrating financial literacy all year long. (acb news).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2003... While April is Financial Literacy Awareness Month, financial literacy efforts are regular and ongoing at America's Community Bankers. Here are a few of the things that ACB has been doing recently to support financial literacy. ACB lent it...

Wedding bells. (acb news).(marriage of executive members)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2003... America's Community Bankers President and CEO Diane M. Casey and Brock R. Landry, partner at Venable LLP, were married Jan. 11 in a ceremony at Holy Trinity Catholic Church, in Georgetown, Washington D.C. More than 200 friends, family, and...

ACB director Barbara Boyer to retire in April. (acb news).(America's Community Bankers)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2003... Barbara Boyer, America's Community Bankers' director of customer service, will be retiring on April 30. She has been with ACB and its predecessor groups since 1976, and has been in her current position since 1992. Boyer started in...

Interest on business checking bill could stimulate economy. (acb news).
April 1, 2003... On March 5, America's Community Bankers urged Congress to give community banks the option of paying interest on the checking accounts of their business customers. The House of Representatives passed the bill, H.R. 859, on March 13. "The...

Taylor calls for immediate implementation of mortgage broker disclosures. (acb news).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2003... On Feb. 25, America's Community Bankers urged the Department of Housing and Urban Development to immediately implement certain portions of its proposed revisions to the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act. However, other proposed revisions...

NCUA's membership expansion proposal for credit unions would weaken common bond. (acb news).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2003... In February, America's Community Bankers strongly opposed a proposed expansion of membership opportunities for federal credit unions made by the National Credit Union Administration. The proposal "would allow credit unions to serve the general...

ACB supports ID theft and predatory lending bills. (acb news).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2003... Also in February, ACB applauded the efforts of Sens. Diane Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Ion Kyl (R-Ariz.) for their sponsorship and support of the Identity Theft Enforcement Act. If passed, this legislation would increase the minimum sentencing...

Reporter's notebook: 2003 real state lending conference. (acb news).
April 1, 2003... With mortgage volume hovering near last year's record levels, getting out of the office isn't easy for bankers. But the opportunity for professional education and networking at ACB's Real Estate Lending Conference proved a powerful draw. The...

Council to protect financial infrastructure legally formed. (nationwide news).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2003... In March, ACB joined with 22 financial services trade associations, financial institution utilities and exchanges to announce the legal formation of the Financial Services Sector Coordinating Council for Critical Information Protection and...

Promontory sees dramatic growth during first quarter. (nationwide news).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2003... Promontory Interfinancial Network, a new investment group, is giving bankers an opportunity to sell certificates of deposit as large as a customer wants, and still have the deposits fully insured by the federal government. To date, the...

Countrywide expands affordable housing efforts. (nationwide news).
April 1, 2003... Countrywide Home Loans Inc. in February pledged to fund $600 billion in home loans to lower income and minority homebuyers through the end of the decade. Through its House America initiative, Countrywide has funded over $115 billion in home...

Fortune rates best-regarded mortgage providers. (nationwide news).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2003... In March, Golden West Financial, the publicly held holding company for World Savings, topped the list of the most-admired mortgage services providers in America, according to Fortune magazine. World Savings in Oakland, Calif., is an ACB member...

Mancino receives award for Roslyn's housing initiatives.(Brief Article)
April 1, 2003... Joseph L. Mancino, chairman & chief executive officer of Roslyn Savings Bank in Jericho, N.Y., has been awarded the 2002 Community Banking Award in recognition of the banks affordable housing initiatives in its communities. The award, which was...

Life insurance for the mass market: one bank's strategy.
April 1, 2003... In the last few years, a growing number of financial institutions have begun offering life insurance products to their customers. Life insurance sales are a promising source of fee income for community banks, which possess a customer base that...

How to create a framework for managing operational risk.
April 1, 2003... Unchecked operational risks can be disastrous for banks of all sizes. This is why it's important for banks to construct a good framework to manage these risks. Susan DeFeo, senior vice president of retail banking at $718 million-asset...

Managing your customer resources through data mining.
April 1, 2003... Today, most banks glean information from in-house databases to learn their customers' needs and preferences. The challenge is deciding how to put that knowledge to work. Community Banker Senior Editor Leigh Marjamaa asked three industry experts...

Mortage wholesalers leaders of the pack.(Industry Overview)
April 1, 2003... When the mortgage industry rolled up a record volume of $2.5 trillion last year, wholesalers were wearing the biggest smiles of all. In third quarter 2002, the top 20 wholesalers ran riot, chalking up gains averaging 68 percent over volume...

Tips for saving postal pennies.
April 1, 2003... At many banks, postal expenses are viewed as a cost of doing business that is routinely plugged into the budget each year without much thought. But whether a bank outsources its mail or processes it in-house, there are ways to save money and...

Choosing the best FHLBank advance for your needs. (investment management).
April 1, 2003... Federal Home Loan Bank members have an incredible array of borrowing options. To understand these embedded options, let's take a look at the choices available if you wanted to draw down an advance today for the next five years. Option 1:...

Federal Reserve finalizes changes to Regulation B. (compliance review).
April 1, 2003... About five years ago the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System issued an advance notice of proposed rulemaking seeking input on a variety of issues regarding a review of Regulation B. Regulation B implements the Equal Credit...

S&P economist tackles long-term recovery. (market maker).
April 1, 2003... Investors and analysts long have understood that the economic environment has a great effect on the stock market and the valuation of specific equity securities. This is particularly true today, considering the highly uncertain and volatile...

New best practices for audit committee chairmen. (legal briefs).
April 1, 2003... Editor's Note: The views expressed in this article are solely, those of the author. Christopher J. Zinski is an attorney and chairs the Financial Institutions Committee of Schiff Hardin & Waite, a Chicago law firm. He also is a CPA. Today,...

First-rate leadership guides ACB business partners' success. (business solutions).
April 1, 2003... William Donius became chairman of ACB Business Partners Board of Directors in January 2002. He is the president and chief executive officer of Pulaski Bank, a $431 million-asset stock institution in St. Louis. Under Donius' leadership,...

Federal banking regulators release first part of information technology examination handbook. (technology report).
April 1, 2003... The federal banking regulators, through the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council, have released the first in a series of updates to the 1996 FFIEC Information Systems (IS) Examination Handbook. The FFIEC currently plans to issue...

FHFB regulatory archives now online. (Web Watch).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2003... A new section of the Federal Housing Finance Board's Web site will make it easier than ever to access information on the agency's regulatory activities. Located at www.fhfb.gov/fact_asp/fact_main.asp, the Freedom of Information Act Reading...

Customers don't understand ATM signage. (technology report).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2003... Many ATM and debit card users are still confused regarding automated teller machine usage, according to a new study commissioned by the PULSE EFT Association. The survey of 1,000 card users showed that even though ATMs have been part of...

Survey finds community bankers are optimistic about the future. (surveys & trends).
April 1, 2003... A weak stock market and low interest rates combined to make 2002 a better than expected year for community banks, and the majority of bankers are enthusiastic about 2003, according to the Tenth Annual Survey of Community Bank Executives, a...

Teens say they take financial matters seriously. (surveys & trends).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2003... American teenagers are making money, and want a way to save part of it, according to a survey by Synergistics Research Corp. Eight out of 10 teenagers reported some form of income, and 27 percent said they make over $100 per month. The monthly...

American families are spending less, saving more. (surveys & trends).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2003... The net worth of American families rose greatly from 1998 to 2001, according to a report released in February. Based on the Federal Reserve's 1998 and 2001 Survey of Consumer Finances, the report found that the median wealth of families...

Ahead of the curve: U.S. minorities are becoming major economic players. (surveys & trends).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2003... The combined spending power of ethnic minorities will surpass $2 trillion by 2007, according to a report by Celent Communications. This is particularly pronounced among Hispanic-Americans and Asian-Americans, who will see annual increases of...

Data bank.(meshed briefs)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2003... online banking Online banking is equally popular among African-Americans, whites and Hispanics. Among all three groups, 33 percent of the population banks on the Web. Internet banking use nearly doubled among Web users, from 17...

Community banks set the tone for corporate accountability. (chairman's corner).
April 1, 2003... When Congress passed the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, it legislated a substantial overhaul of our nation's securities laws that could reach beyond publicly owned institutions to include privately owned businesses. Almost without exception,...