Today's News

SHAREHOLDERS led by a New Hampshire family have killed a merger between their small bank and a Massachusetts thrift. The Fineman family led a shareholder revolt against the proposed acquisition of Finest Financial by Andover Bancorp, saying the price wasn't high enough. Page 8 MORTGAGES: PENNSYLVANIA is the most recent state to demand that Norwest Mortgage stop selling its controversial low-cost substitute for title insurance. Page 10 THE DEPARTMENT of Housing and Urban Development explained to lenders its planned sale of rights to receive $240 million a year of mortgage insurance premiums. Page 11 CREDIT/DEBIT/ATMs: COMMERCIAL CARDS have bankers excited. It's a burgeoning market, with dollar volume for small purchases totaling more than $400 billion per year and $162 billion spent on travel and entertainment. Page 12 TRW INFORMATION Systems and Services has forged an alliance with one of Japan's leading credit bureaus to help lenders in both countries approve Japanese and American expatriates for credit. Page 13 TECHNOLOGY: A GROUP of leading technology companies with an eye on electronic commerce have jointly launched a venture aimed at securing financial transactions over the Internet. Page 14 INVESTMENT PRODUCTS: MARKET TRENDS, a research firm, has concluded that banks are doing a better job of disclosing risk to investment customers than did five nationwide nonbank brokerages in a survey. Page 17 FINANCE: SHORT INTEREST in banking-related stocks traded on the Nasdaq market soared 22% during the month ended June 15, mostly because of arbitrage activity. Short players continued to concentrate on U.S. Bancorp. in the wake of its agreement to buy West One. Back page