Today's News

REGIONAL BANKING: ANTHONY L. FURR, a longtime Wachovia Corp. veteran, announced his retirement Monday as part of a systemwide corporate restructuring. Page 5 COMMUNITY BANKING: THE $38 MILLION jury decision against Mississippi's Trustmark Corp. has set off a firestorm of complaints against the bank and other institutions in the area, the plaintiff's lawyer says. Page 6 WASHINGTON: A TOP 10 LIST of the worst regulations, compiled by Sen. Christopher S. Bond of Missouri, included Truth-in-Lending and CRA. Page 3 SMALL BUSINESS: A GROWING NUMBER of collateral control companies, like Dallas-based Diversicorp, are offering services that help lenders monitor the assets backing their loans. Page 8 MORTGAGES: BROKERS who have settled comfortably into the luxury end of the New York market are seldom affected by fluctuations in the overall mortgage market. Page 10 INVESTMENT PRODUCTS: TOWERS PERRIN consultant William Arnold says banks should step on it, now that they have the green light on insurance. Page 13 CHARTER ONE Bank is an old hand at selling annuities, and now the Cleveland-based thrift is leaning on that experience to help it sell mutual funds. Page 12 CREDIT/DEBIT/ATMs: MASTERCARD and Visa have begun buttressing the case for stored-value payment cards through market research. Page 14 WACHOVIA CORP. is offering a secured card backed by deposits held in interest-bearing savings accounts. Page 16 TECHNOLOGY: CHECKFREE CORP.'s patent-infringement suit against a home banking competitor has industry experts bemoaning the scope of recent patents and the rules applied to granting them. Page 19 CADIX International Inc., a software company based in Atlanta, has developed an on-line signature verification system that company officials claim detects nearly 100% of unauthorized signatures. Page 18 FINANCE: MERCURY FINANCE Co.'s hard-hit shares have gained back some ground recently amid growing murmurs on Wall Street that short-term interest rates could be near a peak. Page 24 NEW YORK BANCORP has agreed to what amounted to a $5 million increase in the price to complete its acquisition of Hamilton Bancorp. Page 24