Community Banker articles from March 2000

Community Banker archives from March 2000

Building the Foundation for Our Shared Future.(America's Community Bankers)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2000... This has been the most exciting time of my professional life. I can think of no better position that I could hold than being accountable for leading the national trade association that represents the nation's community banks of all charters and...

The Lessons Learned from Bank Failures.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2000... In the prologue to his tragedy "Irene," the 18th century English essayist and lexicographer Samuel Johnson described himself as "studious to please, yet not afraid to fail." Good thing, too: "Irene" was a flop. The Office of Thrift...

First Fed District `Solid' in New Year.(First Federal Reserve District of Boston)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2000... Reports from businesses in the First Federal Reserve District of Boston were positive in the early weeks of 2000, according to data from the Federal Reserve System's latest "Beige Book" commentary. Retailers reported solid sales growth in...

Keeping Up with the GSEs.(Government Sponsored Enterprises)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
March 1, 2000... In early February, the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight, an independent agency within the Department of Housing and Urban Development that is responsible for regulating the financial safety and soundness of Fannie Mae and Freddie...

Bankruptcy Law One Step Closer.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2000... America's Community Bankers hailed the passage in early February of bankruptcy legislation by the Senate as a victory for consumers and community bankers alike. The bill takes a "needs-based" approach to help distinguish between debtors...

Sorry, Sacagawea.
March 1, 2000... As several of our dedicated and assiduous readers have pointed out, in an item in the January 2000 edition of Community Banker we misspelled Sacagawea, the name of the Shoshone woman who served as a guide on the 1803-06 expedition of ...

ACB Defends Mutuals At FASB Hearing.(America's Community Bankers,Financial Accounting Standards Board)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2000... America's Community Bankers questioned the treatment of mutual savings institutions in the Financial Accounting Standards Board's proposal to require use of the purchase method in accounting for mergers and acquisitions and eliminate use of the...

It's Just Not What It Used to Be.(Phoenix Home Life Mutual Insurance)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
March 1, 2000... In an indication of things to come under Gramm-Leach-Bliley, Phoenix Home Life Mutual Insurance of Hartford, Conn., has kicked off a $5 million public relations campaign to position itself as the "wealth manager" of choice for high net worth...

Selling Sales.
March 1, 2000... Building the Right Culture and Environment for Increasing Sales at Your Bank The idea of building a bank sales culture is old hat. But the reality, too often, is that the hat doesn't fit. Although U.S. culture is almost by definition a...

Telco on the Go: Cellular Phones.
March 1, 2000... The Second of a Two-Part Series on Wireless Communications What need have we, really, for wireless telephones? Some used to say it was simply a question of safety, bringing to mind a conflation of media images involving a young mother, a...

The Competitive Implications of Financial Modernization.
March 1, 2000... Enactment of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act on Nov. 12, 1999, opened the door to the creation of "financial supermarkets," or single companies offering the full range of financial services products from life insurance and annuities to brokerage and...

BANKING ON BUSINESS.
March 1, 2000... Five years ago, the management and board of directors for Abington Savings Bank, a $690 million community bank on the southern fringe of metropolitan Boston, made a bold decision: They would expand the bank's business banking activities,...

the Emerald City Beckons.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2000... Nestled Between Puget Sound and Lake Washington, Seattle, the Host City of the 2000 ACB Annual Convention & Business Show, Provides a Pleasant Blend of Past, Present and Future From the soaring Space Needle to the rich tradition of the Pike...

Point, Counterpoint.(stock buyback)(Column)(Statistical Data Included)
March 1, 2000... Someone asked me a thorny question the other day. Should a bank use excess capital to repurchase shares or should it concentrate on using wholesale assets funded with wholesale liabilities? Both sides of the argument have supporters. Let's look...

Complying with the New Privacy Requirements.
March 1, 2000... The federal privacy law in the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act of 1999 protects the financial privacy of consumers at banks and other financial service companies. Compliance personnel at banks are expected to ensure compliance with the new law and...

Looking at the Life Insurance Industry.(Industry Overview)
March 1, 2000... The Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act broadens the community bank's operating environment and strategic options. Now, financial companies can provide a range of financial services, including insurance. Under the new rules, community banks can offer...

Business Lending Strategies from Capital Partners.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2000... The recent passage of financial services modernization legislation means that community bankers are now facing more competition than ever before. As a result of that pressure--and because mergers and acquisitions have left many smaller...

Minority Women Surveyed on Career Growth Factors.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2000... By 2006, the number of African-American, Asian-American and Hispanic women in the U.S. workforce will grow by 35 percent, 78 percent, and 225 percent respectively, according to Catalyst, a New York City-based nonprofit research organization...

Executive Demand Increased in 1999.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2000... Last year, demand among U.S. companies for executives and senior managers increased by 26 percent over the previous year, according to Exec-u-net, an Internet-based recruiting firm in Norwalk, Conn. "The challenge of recruiting and...

The Price Paid for Experience.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2000... With the job market tighter than it's been in three decades, one economist proposes eliminating the Social Security earnings test as a means to keeps experienced--and willing--workers in the labor pool. In an article in the January issue of...

Year-end Trends for the Housing Sector.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
March 1, 2000... Preliminary estimates by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development suggest that 1999 was the fifth "good" year in a row for the nation's housing industry. * New-home sales set a new record at 904,000 housing units in 1999, up 2...

Hear No Evil, Speak No Evil.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2000... Water cooler chit-chat is a good thing, according to a survey of 150 executives from the nation's 1,000 largest companies. The study, developed by OfficeTeam of Menlo Park, Calif., and conducted by an independent research firm, found that...

Virtual Loan Officer.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2000... Despite its growing pains, the Internet is a powerful educative tool. Financial service websites that offer clear and concise "virtual" tours and product demonstrations go miles towards de-mystifying financial services and making them a normal...

Web Trading Woes.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2000... As indicated by the recent Flurry of raids on prominent transactional websites, e-commerce is still Far From operating with the efficiency of a battleship. Though most glitches have more to do with gremlins than hackers, problems are common...

Business Banking Connectivity.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2000... Woodforest National Bank, a $628 million community bank headquartered in the Woodlands, Texas, is putting itself in the vanguard of small business banks with an initiative to provide online banking connectivity for QuickBooks, a leading small...

Online Market Surveys.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2000... Community bankers who'd prefer to test the waters of demographic research with a gingerly extended toe rather than a swan dive into a full-blown survey might be interested in a product called QuickTake from QuickTake.com, a unit of Greenfield...

USABancShares.com: `We're Pretty Plugged In'.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2000... You might have difficulty imagining how avid Bowie, an eccentric multi-millionaire rock star, and a small, four-branch community bank in Philadelphia could be linked in any meaningful way. In fact the connection is quite immediate: Bowie...

data bank.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
March 1, 2000... Internet The U.S. online population will reach 137 million by the end of 2000, which is still less than 50 percent of the population. U.S. consumers spent about $6 billion online during the 1999 holiday season, up from $3.1 billion in...