Today's News

INVESTMENT PRODUCTS: WASHINGTON MUTUAL Savings Bank is living out a nightmare: Two employees of its brokerage affiliate - John E. Malosh, left, and Christopher R. Millard - have been arrested and charged with stealing an elderly bank customer's life savings. Page 9 AS MANY SMALLER mutual fund companies find the doors of the bank distribution channel slamming shut, several are scrambling to find niches they can serve. Page 8 WASHINGTON: LOAN GROWTH will slow in coming months and drop significantly next year, predicted members of the American Bankers Association's Economic Advisory Committee. They don't expect a recession, however, and don't think banks are in danger from bad loans. Page 2 A TOP REGULATOR from the Office of Thrift Supervision, apparently responding to an article in American Banker, faxed a letter to mutual thrifts nationwide, saying he doesn't want to see any mutuals liquidated. Page 3 COMMUNITY BANKING: BESTED in a battle with the press, Illinois' state-chartered banks must go back to running their call reports in local publications - even though their national counterparts no longer have to. Page 6 FACED WITH a shrinking net interest margin, Cenfed Financial is plunging into the Small Business Administration loan market. It recently bought the operating assets of Government Funding California Business and Industrial Development Corp., an independent SBA lender. Page 7 COMPLIANCE: FEDERAL REGULATORS have proposed dumping the criminal referral form that depository institutions now use to report suspect transactions. It is to be replaced in October by a simpler and shorter form. Page 11 FOR THE FIRST time Friday, the government will use the automated clearing house to collect banks' and thrifts' quarterly deposit insurance payments electronically. Page 11 TECHNOLOGY: ROYAL BANK of Canada has announced plans to convert its entire check processing operation to an image-based platform from International Business Machines. The system will cost $44 million over the next four years. Page 14 MORTGAGES: HOUSEHOLD FINANCE, one of the nation's leading home equity lenders, has lost a key marketing executive. Bruce Crittenden, one of five managing directors, resigned last week. No replacement has been named. Page 16 CREDIT/DEBIT/ATMs: VISA INTERNATIONAL hired IBM veteran James M. Curran to be executive vice president, information and product systems. He joins Visa after 21 years at International Business Machines, most recently as director of distribution channel management in the software solutions division. Page 19

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