Community Banker articles from December 2004

Community Banker archives from December 2004

A misty landscape.(front matter)(Brief Article)(Editorial)
December 1, 2004... Ah, the future. It is, as the great humorist Ambrose Bierce put it, "that period of time in which our affairs prosper, our friends are true and our happiness is assured." That tongue-in-cheek assessment neatly sums up the optimism that...

The big three for 2005.(chairman's corner)
December 1, 2004... Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan gave a fascinating speech at America's Community Bankers' 2004 Annual Convention in Washington, D.C., in October. He wove in an impressive array of data on household debt, and concluded, "household...

Going strong, looking ahead.(president's message)
December 1, 2004... This has been a great year for America's Community Bankers. And 2005 is shaping up to be even better. Throughout the past year, we were successful in several efforts to intensify our focus on improving your bottom line. Today, ACB is the...

Feedback on ACB's 2004 Annual Convention gives high marks for location, speakers expo.(acb news)(Americas Community Bankers )
December 1, 2004... Now that America's Community Bankers' 2004 Annual Convention, Market Expo and Directors Forum has been inscribed in the history books, it's a good time to look back and see what programs and events struck a chord with attendees. According to...

Convention scrapbook.(acb news)
December 1, 2004... [ILLUSTRATIONS OMITTED] Captions: Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Chairman Donald Powell (second from left), who Addressed attendees during Monday's general session, with (,left to right) F. Weller Meyer, who is now ACB's first vice...

Few ripples expected for banking panels as GOP bolsters its majority in Congress.(nationwide news)(Grand Old Party)
December 1, 2004... Republicans increased their majority in both chambers of Congress in the Nov 2 election, and all members of the banking committees who faced the electorate regained their seats. In the Senate, the Republicans had a net increase of four...

Finance board addresses some SEC registration concerns.(nationwide news)(Securities and Exchange Commission)
December 1, 2004... Which provisions of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act apply to the Federal Home Loan Banks? Must the Federal Home Loan Banks implement new capital plans before registering with the Securities and Exchange Commission? These are two of the...

Julie L. Williams becomes acting comptroller of the currency.(nationwide news)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2004... Julie L. Williams became acting comptroller of the currency on Oct. 14, succeeding John D. Hawke Jr., who completed a five-year term of office and served as comptroller for nearly six years. Williams has been first senior deputy comptroller...

Remember to have fun.(grass roots)
December 1, 2004... There are approximately 140 employees at First Federal Savings of Lorain, both full- and part-time. Every few years, we ask them how many nonprofit organizations they're involved with. In 2002, the last time we did this, they listed 116...

You've got spam!
December 1, 2004... Does dealing with the deluge of unwanted e-mails ever make you feel like screaming? "There's a sense of being invaded," said Frank Kunst, senior vice president of technology at Fairfield County Bank. "It's like a telemarketer who just won't...

Deja vu for home mortgage lenders?(Mortgage Outlook)(Cover Story)
December 1, 2004... For the past several years, bankers and economists have been forecasting that the mortgage market had hit its peak, and that, although the market would remain strong, it wouldn't be able to touch the previous year's benchmark. But, year...

Lending to businesses is on the upswing.(Mortgage Outlook)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2004... Commercial lending is poised to bounce back in 2005 From a sustained period of" poor performance, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. "It's coming back. We had 13 consecutive quarters of shrinkage, then it increased about 1.8...

Used cars offer unique auto lending opportunities for community banks.(Mortgage Outlook)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2004... "We are coming to the end of another strong sales year-17 million new cars, 43 million used cars-and we expect a slightly better year next year," said Bob Kurilko, vice president of Edmunds.com, an online provider of automotive pricing data....

Consolidation limits student loan market.(Mortgage Outlook)
December 1, 2004... For community banks looking to make student loans, the market "is not likely to get any better and could get further squeezed" in the coming year, said Fritz Elmendorf, vice president of communications at the Consumer Bankers Association. ...

Technology spending inches its way up.(Mortgage Outlook)
December 1, 2004... Bank spending on technology in 2005 will remain at relatively the same level as in previous years, said Alenka Grealish, manager of the banking group at Celent Communications, a Boston-based research and consulting firm. Celent anticipates...

Reward programs attract card users.(Mortgage Outlook)
December 1, 2004... As 2004 grinds to a halt, banks offering credit and debit cards are locked in a highly competitive and consolidated landscape, said Sarah Thompson, a vice president in the consumer credit product office for Visa USA. To attract and retain...

Community bank stocks: what will 2005 bring?
December 1, 2004... Community bank stocks enter 2005 with the outlook more uncertain than in recent strong performance still in place. Above all, 2005 may be a transitional Year. The long-anticipated slowdown to housing and consumer borrowing may finally...

Pooled trust preferred securities offer a variety of investment options.(investment management)
December 1, 2004... Trust preferred securities can provide a cost-efficient capital source for growing organizations and have proven to be attractive alternatives for bank investment portfolios. Since trust preferred securities were granted Tier 1 capital...

Federal bank regulators step up enforcement actions.(compliance review)
December 1, 2004... Over the past two or three years, the number of enforcement actions brought by each of the federal bank regulators has increased, and the focus of the agencies has changed. A number of additional agencies and government entities have also begun...

Tax bill removes roadblocks to forming S Corporations.(legal briefs)
December 1, 2004... One of the most important provisions in the recently enacted tax bill is the dramatic change in Subchapter S eligibility requirements for small businesses, and for banks in particular. Subchapter S gives corporations the option of being...

Cost-saving ideas in 20 minutes flat.(business solutions)
December 1, 2004... Anew feature of America's Community Bankers' 2004 Annual Convention as the Exhibit Theatre in the Market Expo. During 20-minute presentations, eight exhibitors shared information about their products and services, and how they can help improve...

Electronic payments: not just for consumers anymore.(technology report)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2004... Electronic payments are catching oil as a way of conducting business-to-business transactions, according to a survey released by the Association of Financial Professionals. Twenty-eight percent of the 3,000 respondents said that their...

The gradual fall of paper check processing.(technology report)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2004... By 2010, the volume of paper checks being presented for payment will have declined to 24 billion, a 37 percent drop from the 38 billion checks expected to be presented this year, according to a report from Celent Communications, a research and...

Endpoint rolls out check 21 clearing services.(technology report)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2004... The Endpoint Exchange Network has launched a pilot check image exchange program to enable financial institutions to exchange check images and create substitute checks through the network. The program went live on Oct. 28, the effective date of...

Consumers say 'No' to fees.(technology report)(Brief Article)(Illustration)
December 1, 2004... Consumer willingness to pay for identity theft dectection and alert services Don't know/depends on cost 4% Very willing to pay for protections 7% Somewhat willing 20% Not very willing ...

Phishing attacks take a menacing new twist.(technology report)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2004... Consumers no longer have to click on Web links to become victims of phishing, according to MessageLabs Ltd., an e-mail and virus security company in New York. A new attack, targeted at online banking users, merely requires a consumer to...

Visa revamps its interchange fees.(technology report)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2004... Visa will increase the interchange rate For PIN debit transactions on its Interlink network, according to a bulletin sent to members in early November. The network has 87 million cards and handles more than 300 million quarterly transactions....

Getting personal is catching on.(surveys & trends)
December 1, 2004... These days, it seems everybody wants everything personalized, from jewelry to clothing to cars. Taking the trend one step further, a number of companies have unveiled customizable ways for consumers to pay for all those things through...

ATM fraud is growing rampantly, says FBI.(surveys & trends)(Automated teller machine )
December 1, 2004... Automated teller machine fraud is nothing new, but it's growing at an alarming pace, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation's financial crimes section. This year, the number of suspicious activity reports citing ATM fraud reached...

Branches flourishing amid mergers and acquisitions.(surveys & trends)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2004... The number of U.S. bank branches has grown steadily, at a time when the number of financial institutions has significantly shrank, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. said in a recent installment of its "Future of Banking" series. While...

Spam it!(bank on itd)(Spam (Junk email))
December 1, 2004... Most computer users now accept spam as just another modern annoyance. But did you know that cases of unsolicited mass e-mails go back 26 years? Although it wasn't called "spam" For another 16 years, it was just: as irritating to those who...