Today's News

FINANCE:

LESS THAN A WEEK after putting a "trading buy" on NationsBank, Brown Brothers Harriman analyst Nancy A. Bush upgraded the stock to a neutral rating. The revision comes as shares bounced back from a slide which followed the announcement of a proposed takeover of Bank South Corp. Back page

CHASE MANHATTAN has completed a $1.5 billion securitization of car and truck loans in what was said to be the largest-ever transaction of its kind by a lender not affiliated with an automobile manufacturer. Back page

WASHINGTON:

TWO HOUSING advocacy groups have declared war on First Union, vowing to derail its $5.56 billion merger with First Fidelity. Page 4

REVENUE from bank trading activities increased more than 60% during the second quarter, thanks mainly to earnings from derivatives. Page 2

REGIONAL BANKING:

THE DRAWN-OUT battle for Nebraska's largest thrift is getting nastier: A Dallas-based investment group plans a proxy fight to gain more leverage at Commercial Federal Corp. Page 7

COMMUNITY BANKING:

START-UPS are flourishing in Texas, one of the most overcrowded community banking states in the country. Page 8

CB BANCORP in Michigan City, Ind., has carved out a correspondent banking niche buying loans from mortgage banks with agreements to sell them back later. Page 9

MORTGAGES:

BANKERS ARE scrambling to extend past Oct. 1 a moratorium that blocks mortgage holders from suing to invalidate their loans because of minor oversights or errors on disclosure documents. Page 10

INVESTMENT PRODUCTS:

PLANCO, which built a multibillion-dollar business by wholesaling annuities to banks and other outlets, has decided to add mutual funds to its product mix. Page 13

TECHNOLOGY:

MICHIGAN NATIONAL Corp. said it is capturing check images at a remote processing site using a new system from International Business Machines Corp. Page 14

ALLTEL HAS signed a five-year, multimillion-dollar contract under which Unisys Corp. will provide check image processing services to Alltel customer Bank of the West. Page 14

CREDIT/DEBIT/ATMs:

AMERICAN EXPRESS has pulled off another striking partnership, announcing that it will issue a cobranded Optima card with Hilton Hotels beginning this week. Page 15

BANK-CARD pioneer D. Dale Browning is taking on a new challenge - revitalizing Procard Inc., the Colorado-based marketer of procurement-card programs. Page 15

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