Today's News

SPECIAL REPORT: INNOVATIVE MARKETING technologies and techniques increasingly enable banks to analyze their data bases and target their sales to specific groups - and even individuals. Pullout section WASHINGTON: COMPARED WITH its banking counterparts, the Farm Credit Administration is a homey little agency. The 384-employee FCA regulates a network of six regional farm credit banks, two national banks for cooperatives, and 232 farmer-owned credit associations. Page 3 REGIONAL BANKING: FIDELITY FEDERAL Bank has been forced by continuing loan losses to enter into a supervisory agreement with regulators. Now the troubled California thrift faces a new threat - a lawsuit from the former manager of its real estate owned department, who claims he was forced from his job. Page 4 SLIPPING MARGINS kept Southern National Corp.'s earnings flat in the second quarter, but strong loan growth left analysts relatively optimistic about the rest of the year. Page 4 COMMUNITY BANKING: THE CEO of New Jersey's Commerce Bancorp has made a few concessions following discrimination charges by a community group in nearby Philadelphia. But he has drawn the line at opening a branch in down-and-out north Philadelphia. Page 6 MORTGAGES: MARKET SHARE of adjustable-rate mortgages continued its free fall in June. The Federal Housing Finance Board reported last week that only 25% of home loans made in June carried adjustable rates, down from the previous month's 38% share. Page 13 INVESTMENT PRODUCTS: LAST YEAR's mutual fund rout took its toll on bank brokers, whose pay fell 17% from 1993, a new study finds. Page 21 CREDIT/DEBIT/ATMs: FIRST USA INC. of Dallas posted a 51% increase in net income for the most recent quarter, to $33.2 million. The report, the last of the cycle for the major publicly traded credit card specialty companies, was consistent with the others' record-breaking trends. Page 18 TECHNOLOGY: Two leading banking software firms, Hogan Systems and Jack Henry & Associates, announced higher quarterly earnings last week - both exceeding Wall Street's expectations. Page 14 CREDIT UNIONS: SINCE BECOMING the National Credit Union Administration's top examiner of corporates a year ago, 30-year agency veteran H. Allen Carver has made tough supervision and tough new rules the hallmarks of his reign. Page 8 SEEKING TO stimulate lending, the National Credit Union Administration's board has proposed to relax loan participation rules. Page 9 FINANCE: WITHOUT expert advice, writes Gus Sader, lending to hotels can leave banks stuck with 'Defaulty Towers.' Page 26

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