Today's News

RICHARD K. CRONE, formerly a senior manager at KPMG Peat Marwick, has been hired by H.F. Ahmanson's Home Savings of America to develop and supervise electronic banking initiatives. Page 17 IBM HAS TEAMED UP with trust software vendor Premier Solutions. Its Global Trust software, designed to run on DEC equipment, will be adapted to IBM workstations. Page 16 WASHINGTON: Large banks said they'd accept a two-year freeze on new insurance powers in return for repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act. But the compromise, proposed by the Bankers Roundtable, appears to be too little, too late.

Page 2 LAX SUPERVISION by the Comptroller's office contributed to a $36.6 million loss for the Bank Insurance Fund loss, the Treasury says. Troubles at a California bank that failed last year went back at least to 1988, a report says. Page 3 REGIONAL BANKING: FOUR TOP EXECUTIVES of First Union's Georgia bank have lost their jobs. "Their personal skill sets were just not aligned with the skill sets we needed," says CEO David Carroll, who has been firing officers since becoming president aboard last year. Page 4 FIRST AMERICAN is buying yet another Tennessee bank, Smoky Mountain Bancorp in Galinburg, for 2.1 times book value. It's another in- market deal in a high-growth area for the Nashville company. Page 4 COMMUNITY BANKING: NEW JERSEY's Berkeley Federal Bank and Trust has sold most of its three-state branch network to focus on its profitable asset-disposition business and on subprime lending. Page 7 COMPLIANCE: REGULATORS have again overhauled their instructions to examiners evaluating banks under the revised CRA. Industry officials say the changes didn't go far enough. Page 8 THE FEES BANKS PAY to mortgage brokers should no longer have to be disclosed to borrowers, lenders told the government. But banks are divided over a HUD plan to leave this and other possible changes in real estate lending rules to a committee. Page 8 MORTGAGES: BANKS THAT SERVICE the mortgages in their own portfolios are continuing to hold unrecognized value off their balance sheets, even after the recent change in accounting rules. Page 12 CREDIT/DEBIT/ATMs: VISA U.S.A. said it has begun offering member banks an integrated system for debit card processing that handles both the off-line Visa check card and the on-line Interlink card. Page 14 INVESTMENT PRODUCTS: AFTER TAKING time out to assimilate recent mutual fund acquisitions, First Union has begun introducing new products. "We wanted a real clarity of focus on our business, and I think we have that now," said William M. Ennis 2d, a senior vice president. Page 10 FINANCE: REGARDLESS of who wins the battle for First Interstate, ratings on the California banks involved should improve, according to Standard & Poor's. Back page WHILE BANKERS SING the praises of consolidation, some influential customers have been getting the blues. Overeager cost cutters risk driving clients away as they drive costs down. Page 22