Today's News

CREDIT/DEBIT/ATMs:

CONSUMERS are so interested in smart cards that they'd switch banks to get one, according to a MasterCard survey.

Questioning 2,000 people in 23 U.S. cities and four in Australia showed that 60% of Americans and 55% of Australians would rather switch than go without. Page 14

WASHINGTON:

2 DUBIOUS assumptions underpin the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.'s decision this month to reduce its premiums to 4 cents per $100 of domestic deposits - a rate critics claim is still too high. Page 2

CHEVY CHASE Federal's settlement of a fair-lending case remains controversial a year later. Partisans disagree whether it signaled a new enforcement trend or the high-water mark of a wrongheaded philosophy. Page 4

REGIONAL BANKING:

STANDARD FEDERAL said its $27.15 million agreement to acquire FSB Financial will bolster its presence in the hotly contested Kalamazoo, Mich., market. Page 6

SMALL BUSINESS:

IN RECENT YEARS, changes in the financial services industry have increased the pressure on banks' profits from the small-business segment. Yet in spite of the competitive environment, top-tier players in small- business banking still earn extraordinary returns on equity, writes consultant Charles Wendel. Page 7

MORTGAGES:

BANKERS NATIONWIDE are optimistic that for them, if not for thrifts, this year will end up surpassing 1994 - even with rates continuing to creep up. Page 10

MOST MAJOR commercial banks operate a vertically integrated mortgage origination department. But Wells Fargo has outsourced its business to Norwest Mortgage, betting on efficiency gains, writes consultant David Partridge. Page 11

INVESTMENT PRODUCTS:

BARRY R. SLOANE has added the capabilities of Credit Suisse affiliate BEA Associates, an institutional money manager, to the options the bank's private banking clients may employ. Page 12

HUNTINGTON Bancshares will soon begin selling life insurance through its Michigan branch network. The banking company, based in Columbus, Ohio, signed its first agreement with Aetna Life and Casualty. Page 13

TECHNOLOGY:

VERIFONE said it had agreed to buy Enterprise Integration Technologies, a software and consulting firm specializing in electronic commerce on the Internet, for $28 million in stock. Page 17

BANKERS TRUST is installing document management software expected to improve the flow of information bankwide. The Mezzanine system comes from Bellevue, Wash.-based Saros Corp. Page 18

COMMUNITY BANKING:

A WEST VIRGINIA group has bought 71% of Abigail Adams National Bancorp from Citicorp. Adams was founded in 1977 as Womens National Bank by its current chairman, Barbara D. Blum. Page 8

FINANCE:

INSIDERS at U.S. banks, apparently anticipating a downturn in bank stocks, continued to sell their companies' shares in high volumes during the past month. Back page

BANK OF NEW YORK filed a $1.05 billion shelf registration with the Securities and Exchange Commission, joining a line of banks filing this summer to issue various types of debt. Back page

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