REGIONAL BANKING:
BANK OF BOSTON is integrating its financing and advisory services to media and entertainment companies to increase market share amid a whirlwind of mergers and structural changes in the field. Page 5
62-YEAR-OLD Mario Antoci, chief executive of American Savings Bank, says big thrift mergers are inevitable - but may not reach California "until past the time I retire." At American, which failed to sell itself last year, Mr. Antoci says he is content to focus on improving business, partly through in-state acquisitions.
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WASHINGTON:
CALIFORNIA'S SUPREME COURT gave out-of-state credit card banks a major victory Friday, ruling that they can ignore the Golden State's restrictions on fee and service charges. The ruling could help the credit card industry in similar cases pending before four other high courts.
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REP. BILL McCOLLUM was honored recently by the Florida Bankers Association, but discussion grew heated when the subject of rescuing the thrift fund arose. His plan would force banks to shoulder 75% of the tab for bailout bonds.
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COMMUNITY BANKING:
CECIL ADAMS says Oakland, Calif. - notable for crime, poverty, and tough neighborhoods - may be ready for a change, and his community development bank will help. Community Bank of the Bay is expected to open early next year.
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THE MAZE of differing state tax codes conceals profit opportunities as well as pitfalls for banks that branch interstate, writes James C. Engel of KPMG Peat Marwick.
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INVESTMENT PRODUCTS:
"IF YOU BUILD IT, they will come" seems to be working for Leslie E. Bains, hired by Republic National Bank of New York two years ago to build a strong private banking business practically from scratch.
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NORTH CAROLINA's Centura Banks is offering annuities from its neighbor Jefferson-Pilot Life. Brand identity played a key role in the choice; customers in the state know and trust the insurer, a Centura executive says.
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MORTGAGES:
ORIGINATORS risk becoming obsolete as computers take over the jobs they do, says Gary J. Gordon of PaineWebber. "We are cautious about the long- term value of the mortgage loan origination business."
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REAL ESTATE foreclosures in California have stabilized for the first time since 1991, when the state entered an economic recession, according to TRW Redi Property Data
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CREDIT/DEBIT/ATMs:
VISA IS LAUNCHING an $8 million, month-long radio and television campaign for Visa check cards.
It's the first major mass-market advertising in Visa's history devoted to a product other than credit cards.
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SAM'S CLUB, the Wal-Mart subsidiary that is the nation's largest discount warehouse chain, has launched a private label credit card. GE Capital will own the receivables and make credit decisions.
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TECHNOLOGY:
THE WINDOWS 95 DECISION should be easy for bankers - skip it - writes Jerry Weiner of Interactive Planning Systems, which sells microcomputer- based bank software. His general advice is to upgrade to Windows NT.
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PC-BASED BANKING will keep proliferating, says a soon-to-be-released study, and touch-tone services will be ubiquitous in five years. But banks hold the upper hand in the battle to be the primary providers of remote financial services, say many experts quoted.
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FINANCE:
REGULATORS have formally adopted rules that will reduce the amount of capital banks must hold against some derivatives positions.
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OHIO'S STATE TREASURER, J. Kenneth Blackwell, is at the forefront of a movement to bar municipalities from investing in derivatives. "Protection from the creativity of the financial engineers requires a broad prohibition," he says.
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