Community Banker articles from July 2003

Community Banker archives from July 2003

Helping customers to safety. (front matter).(Increasing number of community banks offer advice and investment products to)
July 1, 2003... It's a jungle out there. In June, unemployment rates hit a nine-year high. Then--despite job losses and recent corporate restatements--the Dow Jones Industrial average surged to a near one-year high in response to new orders among New York...

Federal agencies plan three-year review of regulatory burden. (acb news).
July 1, 2003... Wielding tree shears and a chainsaw, banking regulators and trade association officials took aim June 3 at a two-foot tall, 9,000-page stack of regulations that will be scrutinized as part of an interagency effort to cut red tape. The act...

Credit unions plan for growth in business lending. (acb news).(Brief Article)
July 1, 2003... America's Community Bankers recently addressed concerns regarding proposed changes to business loan regulations for credit unions. In a comment letter addressed to the National Credit Union Administration on June 3, ACB said the proposal...

Buyers Guide wins National award. (acb news).(Brief Article)
July 1, 2003... Community Banker has received a bronze award for the 2002-2003 Annual Buyers Guide. The prize was awarded June 16 at the Society of National Association Publications Gala Event in Washington, D.C. The Buyers Guide was selected from...

ACB underwrites Habitat for Humanity's "Congress Building America" project. (acb news).(America's Community Bankers)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2003... America's Community Bankers has become a national underwriter of Habitat for Humanity International's "Congress Building America" project. This congressional effort brings together leaders from the private and nonprofit sectors to provide...

Professional development: responding to the challenges of today's community bank. (acb news).(Brief Article)(Illustration)
July 1, 2003... Professional development Responding to the Challenges of Today's Community Bank Executive & Strategic Issues National School of Banking July 11-20 Senior Leadership Institute ...

Reporter's notebook: Spring Management Conference attracts a worldly crowd. (acb news).
July 1, 2003... Motivating staff and developing sales and marketing strategies were top issues at this year's ACB National Spring Management Conference and Marketplace in Phoenix. The April 27-30 conference drew an international crowd, with roughly 120...

From Highlights for Children magazine, money matters with training wheels. (nationwide news).
July 1, 2003... Highlights for Children magazine has teamed up with two former Treasury Department officials to demystify money and banking for its school-age readers. Sheila Bair, who served as Assistant Treasury Secretary for Financial Institutions...

Fair Credit Reporting Act gaining traction. (nationwide news).(Brief Article)
July 1, 2003... On June 4, the Financial Institutions Subcommittee of the House of Representatives held a second hearing on legislation to renew the uniform federal standards of the Fair Credit Reporting Act. Also, the Senate Banking Committee held a hearing...

Pentegra tops list of plan administrators. (nationwide news).(Pentegra Group)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2003... In June, the Pentegra Group, an ACB Partner based in White Plains, N.Y., was named by 401(k)Exchange.com, Inc. as the "Number One Plan Administrator in the Nation" for plans with assets between $1 million and $10 million. Pentegra, which...

Strict foreclosure laws mean smaller loan sizes. (nationwide news).(Mortgage loans)
July 1, 2003... The size of mortgage loans in states with strict defaulter-friendly foreclosure laws tend to be smaller by between 4 percent and 6 percent than the national average, after adjusting for local variances, according to a report issued by the...

Parseghian takes the helm as Freddie Mac revamps. (nationwide news).(Brief Article)
July 1, 2003... Freddie Mac has named Gregory J. Parseghian as its new chief executive officer in the wake of a June 9 management shakeup that claimed the lobs of three top executives. The change in command came amid an investigation by a Freddie Mac...

Compliance corner. (nationwide news).
July 1, 2003... Under requirements of the USA PATRIOT Act, financial institutions must institute a board-approved Customer Identification Program by Oct. 1, 2003. The Treasury Department and regulatory agencies, on May 9, issued a joint final rule addressing...

How the Sarbanes-Oxley Act affects non-public institutions. (of mutual interest).
July 1, 2003... The enactment of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 has generated much discussion about corporate governance. It has caused many companies to re-evaluate and, in many instances, change their corporate governance practices and policies. To...

Marketing your investment know-how.(Seminar marketing is a leading marketing tool among financial institutions)
July 1, 2003... It's all well and good that more and more community banks are offering their customers mutual funds, annuities and investment advice. But that's not enough. Many bank customers are likely to pass by their local branch on the way to the...

Strength in numbers: Virginia Banks create their own broker-dealer.
July 1, 2003... Banks are used to financing entrepreneurs' dreams. But now 28 members of the Virginia Bankers Association are about to find out what it's like to be entrepreneurs themselves. These banks have ponied up a total of $8 million--an average of...

Landing jumbo loans: how to cross-sell to wealthy clients; leveraging your relationships with high-net-worth clients can lead to significant opportunities.
July 1, 2003... High-net-worth customers and jumbo loans go together like a cane and top hat. And many community banks are looking for ways to tap into this potential pool of mortgages. As median home prices increase, the number of jumbo loans, or those...

Making the connection: how technology integrates call centers.
July 1, 2003... Call center. Contact center. Customer interaction center. Call it what you will, but the name embodies the same concept: understanding and serving the customer. Just a few years ago, these centers were staffed with traditional phone...

Recruiting fresh talent.(Attracting quality employees is challenge for community banks)
July 1, 2003... Attracting quality employees can be a challenge for community banks. Although it has become easier over the past few years as unemployment has risen, finding candidates who add value to the institution remains a top priority. Recruiting...

Finding a realistic approach to rising interest rates. (investment management).
July 1, 2003... In order to understand investing during the rising portion of the interest rate cycle, let's look at the last major upswing in rates. Consider the period beginning Sept. 30, 1998, and continuing to the end of December 1999. This 15-month...

M&A in a risky environment: make sure you get what you pay for. (legal briefs).
July 1, 2003... Though the pace of mergers and acquisitions has seen a definite slowing, potential acquirers are well advised to use this time to reevaluate how they should price prospective targets when the gears begin churning out deals again. In the...

Successful strategies for credit card portfolio development. (business solutions).
July 1, 2003... It's a fact. A well-managed, actively marketed credit card program can be a big moneymaker. It has been shown that a card loan leads to a higher probability of additional consumer loans, generating significant increases in return on...

Debit card usage on the rise. (technology report).
July 1, 2003... Debit cards are becoming a more popular way to make purchases, with use of this payment method now growing at twice the rate seen for credit cards, according to a report released in May by Unisys Corp. The study added that debit card usage is...

Weblinks can create customer confusion. (technology report).(Brief Article)
July 1, 2003... Community banks should be careful when providing weblinks to other company Web sites, according to joint guidance from four regulatory agencies. A weblink, sometimes called a hyperlink, is a button or text on the bank's Web site that, when...

Two new options for fighting check fraud. (technology report).(Brief Article)
July 1, 2003... Check fraud is a growing issue facing financial institutions, costing banks and their customers an average of $18.7 billion per year, with roughly 1.2 million fraudulent incidences reported every day, according to the Federal Bureau of...

Roslyn Savings gives the passbook a facelift. (surveys & trends).(Roslyn Savings Bank in New York)
July 1, 2003... At Roslyn Savings Bank in New York, an old classic has been getting a makeover. This spring, the bank rolled out a revitalized passbook series, complete with a choice of over three dozen designer covers, according to Dan Murphy, executive vice...

The ever-evolving ATM machine. (surveys & trends).(Brief Article)
July 1, 2003... Changes may once again be in store for ATMs, according to a report by Synergistics Research Corp. Financial institutions are focused on "getting the consumer to do more financial applications at the ATM other than just withdrawing money,"...

New $20 bill to enter the U.S. currency. (surveys & trends).(Brief Article)
July 1, 2003... Beginning in the fall, Americans can expect to see a little more color when they open their wallets. Along with the traditional green, a newly redesigned $20 bill will also feature peach and blue in the background. The new currency design...

Financial industry most likely to hire new staff. (surveys & trends).(Brief Article)
July 1, 2003... Fifteen percent of financial executives expect to hire additional personnel during the third quarter, compared to 4 percent that anticipate reducing staff, according to a recent survey by Robert Half International Inc. The 11 percent net...

Fed commissions study on the future of checks. (surveys & trends).(Brief Article)
July 1, 2003... With electronic payment processes increasingly becoming more efficient and available, the supremacy of the check as the leading noncash payment system is being challenged. To determine the current prevalence of check writing, the Federal...

Data bank.(Fannie Mae pledges $2 tril for home financing to 18 mil underserved families)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2003... Fannie Mae has pledged $2 trillion for home financing to 18 million underserved families. In 2002, Fannie Mae provided $24 billion to African-American families, $51 billion to Hispanics, and $217 million to Native Americans for home...

The value of education. (chairman's corner).
July 1, 2003... Fourteen years ago, I graduated from ACB'S National School of Banking. It was one of the best things I ever did for my career because what I learned there propelled me into the leadership of my institution, and led to my involvement with...