CREDIT/DEBIT/ATMs: ZIONS FIRST National Bank said it has won a government contract to develop a statewide electronic benefits transfer system for Utah. The bank expects the program to be adopted statewide by mid-1996, serving more than 49,000 households. Page 15 DATACARD promoted Jim Moar to the new post of executive vice president and chief operating officer from corporate vice president and general manager of the Minneapolis-based company's card personalization group. Page 17 WASHINGTON: A BOSTON-BASED economists group has devised a method for scanning a portfolio and spotting the loans most likely to spawn a discrimination complaint. "It is an identification strategy," said David Rodda of Abt Associates Inc. Page 3 REGIONAL BANKING: WELLS FARGO has been prospering by unabashedly turning itself into the incredible shrinking bank - through stock buybacks, business-line exits, and reductions in loan-loss reserves. It has boosted earnings per share and returns on assets and equity. Page 4 IN THE YEAR 2000, analysts are likely to look back on the 1995-99 period as one in which the consolidation movement greatly strengthened the banking industry's competitive position vis-a-vis nonbanks, write James McCormick and J. William Bowen of First Manhattan Consulting Group. Page 5 COMMUNITY BANKING: THE LOWER HOUSE of the California Legislature voted overwhelmingly to opt in early to the federal interstate branching law, a crucial blow to opponents of the measure like the California Independent Bankers. Page 6 INVESTMENT PRODUCTS: DIRECTORS of bank-managed mutual funds make one-third less money than their counterparts at nonbank funds, according to a consultant who studies mutual fund management contracts, C. Meyrick Payne, a partner at Management Practice Inc. Page 9 MORTGAGES: SOME MORTGAGE companies have begun to add to their staffs - albeit just temporary workers - to help handle rising loan applications. As 30-year mortgage rates have dipped below 8%, refinancing activity has perked up. Page 10 FREDDIE MAC said it did a record-setting securitization deal - converting $6.4 billion of adjustable-rate mortgages into securities for Home Savings of America. The nation's largest thrift swapped the loans for real estate mortgage investment conduit, or Remic, securities. Page 10 TECHNOLOGY: INTUIT's chairman and chief executive, Scott D. Cook, told a group of bank technology executives this week that he believes financial institutions will play key roles in the emerging world of electronic commerce. Page 12 AT&T ENLISTED Checkfree Corp. to process bill payments on personal computers and interactive television. The deal becomes part of a raft of product and service offerings that are extending AT&T's reach beyond basic telecommunications to more sophisticated consumer services, such as electronic commerce. Page 13 FINANCE: A NEW RATING system from Standard & Poor's that will make it easier to trade bank loans has been greeted with measured optimism by bankers. "Anything, in our view, that promotes market liquidity is beneficial," said Peter Gleysteen, a managing director of Chemical Securities Inc. Back page
