Community Banker articles from November 2003

Community Banker archives from November 2003

From the publisher ...
November 1, 2003... Dear Reader: Chances are you did a double take when you saw this month's magazine cover. If you were surprised to see Community Banker in Spanish, then you can imagine how Spanish-speaking customers feel when they walk into a bank branch...

Times are changing.(front matter)(the influence of hispanic americans on banking industry)(Column)
November 1, 2003... Bankers across the United States are watching with keen interest as the financial power of Hispanic consumers grows by leaps and bounds. At present, the size of the Spanish-speaking market is impressive, representing the largest net...

El Dorado Savings Bank keeps contact with lawmakers to further community goals.(grass roots)
November 1, 2003... The relationship between bankers and local officials has always been an important one. And it is one that we stress at El Dorado Savings Bank. For us, it has always been a priority to keep a consistent line of communication open with our...

Sarbanes-Oxley alters mutuals' policies and best practices.(of mutual interest)(Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002)
November 1, 2003... The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 does not apply directly to privately held companies and mutual savings institutions. However, in the future this law will affect corporate governance of mutuals as federal banking regulators consider and adopt...

ACB changes leadership slate with new officers, directors.(ACB news)(America's Community Bankers)
November 1, 2003... In October, at ACB's Annual Convention in Las Vegas, a new slate of officers took the reins of America's Community Bankers. Also at the convention, 10 new directors were elected to serve on ACB's Board of Directors, and five were reelected to a...

GSE reform shifts to Senate Banking Committee.(ACB news)(Government Sponsored Enterprise )
November 1, 2003... The Senate Banking Committee was scheduled to hold a hearing on proposals to reform the regulation of government-sponsored enterprises as Community Banker went to press during the second week of October. Two earlier markups were cancelled by...

Six ACB members honored by U.S. Banker magazine.(ACB news)(America's Community Bankers)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2003... Six women bankers whose institutions are members of America's Community Bankers have been honored by U.S. Banker magazine. These bankers were among 4,700 nominations received by the magazine. Congratulations to the following five bankers...

Compliance corner: solutions to common compliance mistakes.(America's Community Bankers )
November 1, 2003... Compliance Corner: Solutions to Common Compliance Mistakes Compliance officers need to "get involved and know what the expectations of management are," Paul Osborne told attendees of ACB's 2003 National Compliance and Attorney's...

Reporter's notebook: ACB's National Compliance and Attorneys' Conference & Marketplace.(America's Community Bankers )
November 1, 2003... A feast of regulatory and compliance information was on the menu at ACB's National Compliance and Attorneys' Conference and Marketplace in San Antonio, held Sept, 21-24. Community bank counsels, compliance officers and other senior...

Seiwert, Whiteside join ACB staff as senior VPs.(vice presidents)(America's Community Bankers )(Brief Article)
November 1, 2003... In October, America's Community Bankers expanded its staff expertise to provide member institutions with enhanced support in the areas of commercial banking and mortgage lending. Robert C. Seiwert, a veteran of 30 years in banking, was...

ACB, FDIC co-host Minority Banking Conference.(spotlight)(America's Community Bankers )(Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation )(Brief Article)
November 1, 2003... Here pictured discussing best practices in recruiting, developing and keeping staff during the Minority Depository Institution Banking Conference in Atlanta are John Hamilton of Baltimore, an ACB board member and vice chairman of the MBank...

Weathering the storm: coping with Hurricane Isabel.(nationwide news)
November 1, 2003... On Sept. 18, Hurricane Isabel hit the Outer Banks of North Carolina and roared up the East Coast. Before the week was over, Isabel had roared through eight states and the District of Columbia, leaving billions of dollars of damage in her wake....

Colorful look is just the latest makeover for the $20.(nationwide news)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2003... On Oct. 9, the Federal Reserve System began distributing the new $20 bill, the first piece of U.S. currency to have colors other than green and black since 1905. The switch to color is but the latest move in the long history of the $20 bill....

Art and science converge at Federal Reserve exhibit.(nationwide news)
November 1, 2003... These days, economists at the Federal Reserve Board are studying more than the discount rate. They are also turning their attention to a new art exhibit, titled "Complexity," now hanging in the atrium of the Federal Reserve headquarters in...

Illinois League of Financial Institutions names Stevenson as president.(nationwide news)
November 1, 2003... In October, Jay R. Stevenson was named president of the Illinois League of Financial Institutions, a trade association representing the state's savings and community banks. Prior to his new position, Stevenson spent 26 years in state...

Bill Zuppe: steps up as ACB chairman.(Interview)
November 1, 2003... Bill Zuppe is a startup maven with a community banker's heart. When Zuppe co-founded Sterling Savings Bank in Spokane, Wash., 22 years ago with his long-time friend, Harold Gilkey, the first thing he did was start knocking on...

Five cool mortgage products.
November 1, 2003... Shopping for a mortgage nowadays is like staring through the freezer doors at a giant supermarket's ice cream selection: there are more flavors and combinations than ever before. "You name the variation and it's out there," said Hank Rams,...

Talking the same language: banking services for Spanish speakers.
November 1, 2003... Demand for banking services by Spanish speakers in the United States was once mainly a phenomenon of urban enclaves such as Miami, New York, and Los Angeles. Not any more. As immigration from Latin America and the Caribbean has expanded...

Sizing up owning a broker-dealer.
November 1, 2003... In February, Chicago-based MB Financial Bank acquired South Holland Bank, building the institution's assets to $4.3 billion. Although it didn't grab headlines, an important aspect of this deal was that it brought MB Financial its own...

The search for flexibility: a banker's guide to core processing.
November 1, 2003... Technologically speaking, the backbone of any bank is its core processing system. At its most basic level, a core processing system is designed to manage the deposits and withdrawals that are a bank's lifeblood. Today, check truncation,...

Growth is the wild card in investment decisions.(investment management)
November 1, 2003... In August's Community Banker, I talked about separating the bank's investments into three separate portfolios to make optimal security purchases. The cash portfolio would represent a constant five percent of assets and be invested to a duration...

Executive compensation and Sarbanes Oxley: the rules have changed.(legal briefs)
November 1, 2003... Designing and implementing effective compensation structures to attract, retain and give incentives to talented senior management are critical components of any bank's operating strategy. However, achieving these goals has become...

Community banks discover benefits of trust preferred securities.(business solutions)
November 1, 2003... Large bank holding companies have issued trust preferred securities into the capital markets for years because of the benefits these securities provide: tax deductible payments and Tier 1 capital treatment without diluting returns to...

ATMs moving toward an open future.(technology report)(Automated teller machines)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2003... The ATM of the future will operate in an open, Windows-based system, according to research from Celent Communications. Currently, 12 percent of all ATMs have converted to Windows, and Celent predicts that the number will swell to 65 percent...

Credit card issuers enjoy the benefits of e-checks.(technology report)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2003... The use of e-checks in the payment world is growing at a fast clip, and credit card issuers are reaping the benefits, according to research from NACHA. The electronic payments association predicts that 1 billion e-check payments will be made in...

Consumers increasingly using the web for financial transactions.(technology report)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2003... Forty-eight percent of Internet users conducted financial transactions online in the third quarter, according to the Consumer Internet Barometer. That's up from 39 percent in the fourth quarter of 2001, the first time the data was collected....

Online banking and bill payment can protect against identity theft.(technology report)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2003... The increased use of online banking, bill payment, and presentment may help prevent one million cases of ID theft and save consumers and businesses $4.8 billion a year, according to a study from Javelin Strategy and Research. The study,...

Community banks attracting more small business customers.(surveys & trends)
November 1, 2003... Community banks are making solid strides in the small-business market, according to a pair of surveys published in September. Banks with assets between $100 million and $1.9 billion held a 26 percent share of the small business market, up 7...

Credit card access to home equity lines does not increase usage.(surveys & trends )(Brief Article)
November 1, 2003... Allowing customers to access their home equity line of credit, or HELOC, via a credit card has not led to an increase in funds usage, according to a recent report. Draws on the lines via credit or debit cards accounted for less than 3...

Successful companies reward top employees, despite cost pressures.(surveys & trends)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2003... With cost pressures a mounting fact of life for businesses, "successful companies" are finding new ways to reward their best employees, according to a recent survey of 260 companies in the United States and Canada. These companies are more...

Customers keep credit cards after introductory rates expire.(surveys & trends)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2003... One out of 10 consumers accepted an introductory rate offer on a new credit card during the past year, according to a recent survey of 4,348 consumers. Of those, only 5 percent decided to close or cancel the card account after the initial...

Bank on It.(Brief Article)
November 1, 2003... Bank on It is a new section that presents illuminating facts on topics related to the banking industry. Each month, this section will incorporate interesting data, anecdotes, and trivia from the world of finance. Our first column is...