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REGIONAL BANKING: ROBERT COX, chief executive of Summit Bancorp., isn't running scared, though most bankers in New Jersey are fearful of larger competitors who may eat them for lunch. Lunch is on his agenda, but he doesn't intend to be the meal. Page 4 WASHINGTON: JUST TWO DAYS after proposing to cut bank deposit insurance rates 83%, FDIC Chairman Ricki Tigert Helfer reminded bankers that thrifts will continue to pay historically high prices for government backing and admonished bankers to become part of the solution. Page 2 INTERNATIONAL development bank funding may be in jeopardy because of the new GOP majority in Congress, key Republican and Democratic members of the House Banking Committee warned. Page 3 COMMUNITY BANKING: JOEL KOVNER, who founded First Professional Bank in 1982 to serve the medical profession, has a prescription for the future of community banking: Find a demographic niche and stick to it like a Band-Aid. Page 6 STATE BANKS want to make sure they can get in on the action after the U.S. Supreme Court's decision to let national banks sell annuities. Page 7 MORTGAGES: AMERIN GUARANTY Corp. announced that its 1994 volume of new business, at $2.5 billion, had increased 811% from the year before. It is the newest and most unusual entry in the private mortgage insurance sweepstakes. Page 8 CREDIT/DEBIT/ATMs: FIRST BANK SYSTEM introduced a Visa purchasing card for companies with fleet operations in a joint venture with International Automated Energy Systems. Page 12 TECHNOLOGY: WILLIAM FENIMORE is no psychologist, but after only five months at Meridian Bancorp, he has begun to cure the bank's self-diagnosed ailment: technology that was operating too independently from the bank's business units. Page 14 TOTAL SYSTEM Services tapped Matthew S. Jacobs, and AT&T Universal Card Services chose John T. McGee as senior vice presidents to direct systems development and operations. Page 15 INVESTMENT PRODUCTS: RICHARD STIERWALT, chief executive of Concord Holding Corp., had already been in acquisition talks with senior officials of Bisys Group when Concord went public early last year. Investors who expected the stock to have a long trading life were unaware of the talks, which later produced a buyout deal. Page 10 FINANCE: A CUT PROPOSED by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. in U.S. banks' deposit premiums would increase the industry's earnings by at least 6% annually, analysts said. Banks with a strong retail focus would get the strongest boost. Back page TWO SUPERREGIONALS from North Carolina, NationsBank and First Union, have reduced their equity and loan commitments in Delcor Inc.'s latest bid for National Gypsum Co. Back page

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