Executive Briefing

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

For reprint and licensing requests for this article, click here.
MORE FROM AMERICAN BANKER