INVESTMENT PRODUCTS:
An SEI Corp. study indicates community bank trust officers are spending the majority of their time tending to back-office concerns instead of working with clients, and the service firm's Richard B. Lieb suggests they throw in the towel and completely outsource operations and systems. Page 11
BANKS' SPENDING to advertise investment products is being cut back sharply as they employ other ways to promote their brokerage units, a research firm has found. Page 10
WASHINGTON:
HOUSE SPEAKER Newt Gingrich told a group of big-bank chief executives that they might be able to gain more securities powers through the Federal Reserve if legislation fails. Page 2
WEBSTER BANK holds a thrift charter, but you wouldn't know that from its name. The Waterbury, Conn., institution is one of the few to have taken advantage of a little-noticed regulatory change allowing thrifts to drop "savings" or "FSB" from their corporate titles. Page 3
REGIONAL BANKING:
IS DAVID COULTER "Continentalizing" BankAmerica Corp.? That's what some insiders see happening, because the new president - who is to become CEO next month - has named two longtime veterans of the acquired Chicago bank to key posts. Page 4
COMMUNITY BANKING:
FIRST MARINER Bancorp, the hungry start-up headed by the man who turned around Baltimore Bancorp, has taken its first big bite out of the Maryland bank market by buying an Annapolis bank nearly twice its size. Page 6
MORTGAGES:
FREDDIE MAC's chief economist says the agency is actually playing catch-up in increasing the size of loans it will buy. Page 9
TECHNOLOGY:
THE BANK Administration Institute retail delivery systems conference confirmed its status this week as banking's biggest and hottest event - but it was no blockbuster in the area of product announcements. Page 14
IN A MOVE to hold on to its corporate cash management customers, National City Bancorp. of Minneapolis said it is testing a Windows-based service for financial electronic data interchange. Page 14
CREDIT/DEBIT/ATMs:
WACHOVIA, one of three southern banks participating in Visa International's stored value project for the 1996 Olympics, unveiled the designs of its first Visa Cash cards - showing athletes performing against a backdrop of the Atlanta skyline. Page 12
FINANCE:
THE ELIMINATION of deposit insurance premiums on Jan. 1 could significantly change banks' fund-raising choices. Back page
WELLS FARGO, through a series of New York meetings with investors and analysts, continued to solidify its position as the front-runner in the race to acquire First Interstate. Back page
