WASHINGTON
Thrifts May Have To Repay Tax Breaks
Legislation to rescue the Savings Association Insurance Fund may require thrifts to repay past tax breaks, adding at least $2 billion to the industry's cleanup tab. If Congress does decide to make thrifts pay back taxes on the so-called bad-debt reserve, the industry may withdraw its support of the Clinton administration's rescue plan.
August 15
18815
Responding to Democratic objections, Senate Banking Committee Chairman Alfonse M. D'Amato is considering dropping a measure that would exempt small banks from the Community Reinvestment Act. The New York Republican is also mulling whether to add a new CRA rating for the best banks.
August 16
18850
Commercial banks will pay 23% of the $6.1 billion cost of rebuilding the thrift industry's insurance fund if the government's plan is adopted by Congress. Why? Because 771 banks own $159 billion in thrift deposits. The government's rescue plan is centered on a one-time fee that will be levied against all deposits insured by the Savings Association Insurance Fund as of March 31.
August 17
18895
Leo Kornfeld, who once fought to save the private sector's student lending system, is now fighting to end it. The head of the Department of Education's financial assistance programs favors the President's direct loan system because it has "one guarantee, one lender," and one debtholder.
August 16
18816
Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin met with six big-bank executives, hoping to win their support for the Clinton administration's plan to rebuild the thrift insurance fund. It was a tough sell. The bankers told Mr. Rubin that they want a comprehensive solution for the Savings Association Insurance Fund, not the narrow financial fix he is backing.
August 18
18949
REGIONAL BANKING
Branching Splits Colorado Bankers
Colorado National Bankshares, a subsidiary of Minneapolis-based First Bank System, has dealt a blow to the state bankers association, pulling out of the 93-year-old group and taking nearly $90,000 in membership dues with it. Colorado bankers are split over interstate branching.
August 15
18797
Continuing its drive to be a leader in shareholder services, Harris Bankcorp has agreed to acquire Banc One's stock transfer business for an undisclosed sum.
August 16
18831
Wells Fargo is in talks with processing companies about hiring one of them to run its check processing systems, sources said.
August 18
18944
The teamsters union escalated its feud with NationsBank, joining with a civil rights organization to request a Justice Department investigation of its the bank's lending practices.
August 14
18521
Bank of California, in one of its last earnings reports before combining with Union Bank, posted a 26% decline in after-tax net income for the quarter ended June 30.
August 17
18860
COMMUNITY BANKING
Small Texas Banks Jockey for Position
The Lone Star State is being swept by a new wave of mergers. This time, though, it's community banks that are riding the swells. Just about every community bank in Texas, it seems, is thinking merger.
August 15
18807
Jerry Shearer is used to being called a thrift raider, but begs to differ. Mr. Shearer, managing partner of Mid-Atlantic Investors in Columbia, S.C., prefers to think of himself as a "shareholder activist," someone who makes a thrift realize its true value - which normally means selling it.
August 14
18524
Almost 70 community thrifts insured by the Savings Association Insurance Fund would drop to lower capital classifications if forced to pay a proposed one-time assessment to recapitalize it, according to an American Banker study.
August 18
18948
With the axe poised over farm subsidies, agricultural lenders - and their customers - are rethinking some long-held assumptions about their business.
August 14
18507
In search of fees and a new way to fight off big competitors, community bankers are reaching into the baronial world of trust. During the last 18 months there has been more interest among small banks in starting or expanding trust operations.
August 16
18844
SMALL BUSINESS
Wow! Money Store Is Still the Champ
Money Store Investment Corp. of Sacramento, Calif., once again tops the list of lenders using the U.S. Small Business Administration's 7(a) loan guarantee program.
August 15
18779
COMPLIANCE
Quicker Action For Soundest Banks
National Banks that meet OCC standards for special treatment will have fewer forms to fill out and can expect a quicker turnaround on applications to do such things as open or relocate branches, the agency's office says.
August 17
18878
A Ralph Nader group's attack on bank fees is rekindling a long-running debate on disclosure - just as Congress considers whether to reduce reporting requirements.
August 17
18877
A Secura Group compliance consultant has defected to KPMG Peat Marwick, which also nabbed a national bank examiner to expand its regulatory practice.
August 17
18879
CREDIT UNIONS
Loan, Profit Growth Slow To Business as Usual
Performance has dipped to par for the course again, after last year's lending boom. During the first six months of 1995, credit unions saw loan growth and net income cool to the average levels of the past 10 years, according to preliminary call report data.
August 14
18529
Shirlee P. Bowne, a director of the National Credit Union Administration, says the regulator may be going too far in its campaign to shield small institutions from competition.
Photo: Bowne, p. 13
August 14
18528
CUNA Mutual Group intends to buy the other half of CUNA Mortgage's $4 billion loan serving portfolio. The co-owner of the portfolio, the Credit Union National Association, is said to have considered it a drain on resources. Plans to sell to PHH U.S. Mortgage fell through.
August 14
18475
Credit unions hooking up with prepaid telephone calling cards are getting ho-hum responses from members.
August 14
18531
CREDIT/DEBIT/ATMs
Banks, MasterCard Will Build Chip Card Network
Moving to jump-start smart cards in the United States, 11 banks will join three leading providers of the technology as owners of a company called SmartCash. The venture aims to build a nationwide network that will enable the use of smart cards in place of cash for payments under $20.
August 17
18897
U.S. companies that serve the consumer credit industry are turning their attention to the rest of Latin America. Brazil, Argentina, Columbia, and Chile are particularly appealing
August 17
18862
Beneficial National Bank USA, the nation's third-largest issuer of private-label credit cards, has launched its first cobranding program. The partner: BJ's Wholesale Club, a chain of 65 discount stores in 12 eastern states.
August 18
18933
First Financial Bank of Stevens Point, Wis. is issuing the Morris MasterCard, featuring the finicky cat famous for his role in 9-Lives cat food commercials. The card benefits animal shelters and humane societies.
Photo: Card
August 16
18830
INVESTMENT PRODUCTS
Mutual Fund Exec Lured Back to Banking
After eight years as president of a big mutual fund company, Donald A. McMullen Jr. wasn't eager to return to banking. But when First Union asked him to run its money management business, he said, "It was clear to me that these people weren't just talking the talk."
August 16
18846
South Carolina has ended its probe of NationsBank's brokerage business, settling months of uncertainty over the company's ability to sell securities in the state.
August 16
18840
Invest Financial was spared when hurricanes ripped the Florida coast recently - but it was prepared for the worst. Chairman Merlin Gackle says that in a matter of hours the Tampa-based investment training company could be up and running in a 60,000-square-foot bomb shelter at a resort in central Florida.
August 17
18874
Bank Leumi's experience helping develop the diamond business in Israel is coming in handy as its New York subsidiary refocuses from the retail market to affluent individuals and midsize companies - including diamond merchants.
August 15
18765
MORTGAGES
American Dream Got More Affordable in '94
Housing was more affordable last year than any other time in the 15 years the publication U.S. Housing Markets has been keeping records.
August 17
18863
Countrywide Credit appears to be on a roll. Its mortgage originations in July climbed to $2.92 billion, $1 billion or 34% over the level in July 1994.
August 14
18527
Where originations are headed this year is hard to determine, because most lenders are unwilling to express an opinion right now - on or off the record. It may well be that few have a positive story to tell.
August 15
18808
As interest rates continue to fall, consumers are rushing to convert adjustable-rate mortgages to fixed loans. Prepayments are coming in twice as fast as two months ago, analysts say.
August 14
18525
Even as Congress slashes the federal budget, a little-noticed move by the Senate Agriculture Committee would give broad new powers to a moribund government-backed institution that securitizes farm and rural-housing mortgages.
August 16
18837
Fannie Mae said its mortgage portfolio grew at an annualized rate of 17.4% and mortgage-backed securities increased by 13.6% as the housing market expanded in July.
August 16
18833
TECHNOLOGY
Visa and Total System In Merchant Venture
Visa U.S.A. said that it will team up with a leading credit card processing company to offer banks a new option for providing card services to retail merchants. The as yet unnamed joint venture, combining the merchant processing activities of Visa and Total System Services, is expected to be in business by yearend.
August 17
18896
When Holly Merrill took the helm of the Arizona Clearing House Association in May, she intended to push it to search for the perfect blend of service offerings while looking for possible merger candidates.
August 18
18907
Citicorp's cash management unit plans to invest around $6 million in a check imaging project using equipment from IBM. An internal document reveals that Citicorp is testing the system with at least one of its corporate customers.
August 14
18476
As the ranks of U.S. banks are being thinned by an unprecedented wave of mergers, the number of large players in the service bureau business is shrinking as well. A consultant reports that only 16 major providers of core processing services remain.
August 15
18804
FINANCE
Amid Merger Mania, Wells Goes Its Own Way
M&A fever? You couldn't prove it by Wells Fargo, which hasn't bought a bank in nearly five years. "What they are telling Wall Street," one analyst says, "is that they find investing in their own stock, which has a 25% return, a better deal than buying someone else's."
August 17
18872
A Smith Barney analyst raised his rating on Federal National Mortgage Association stock, citing the secondary-market agency's July operating results.
August 16
18852
J.P. Morgan, NationsBank, Natwest Markets, and Bank of Nova Scotia won the mandate to finance a major expansion of Universal Studios Florida. Meanwhile, bankers said the Westinghouse/CBS loan was already oversubscribed.
August 17
18902
Liberty Bancorp stock reached new 52-week highs in extremely heavy trading, after executives hinted at a meeting in New York that the Oklahoma City bank was mulling a sale.
August 14
18534
Canadian Imperial plunged into an expensive buildup of its derivatives business just when major problems were beginning to surface in the industry. Robert Mark, who heads risk management for the derivatives unit, says the problems only underscored the need for a big up-front commitment.
August 15
18771