SPECIAL REPORT:
ESTIMATING EARNINGS is an inexact science, so the analysts who come closest to the mark really earn their keep. Today, American Banker reveals the top sharpshooters on banks, thrifts, and mortgage and finance companies - for the last four quarters and the last five years. Pullout section
WASHINGTON:
WITH THRIFTS' tab for the insurance fund bailout rising as their ranks get thinner, America's Community Bankers is crying foul. Page 4
INSTITUTIONS with large trust departments must start reporting income and expense data next year. Page 2
REGIONAL BANKING:
WELLS FARGO has agreed to make $45 billion of loans and grants to low-income people, minorities, and nonprofit groups if it is successful in its hostile bid to acquire First Interstate. Page 10
COMMUNITY BANKING:
THE FUTURE remains bright for small rural banks, even with big outsiders now free to expand into their markets, according to a recent study. Page 5
D'AUBY SCHIEL has lured eight former colleagues from SouthTrust's Biloxi unit to her start-up - Mississippi's first in two decades. And the CEO hopes many of her ex-customers will follow as well. Page 6
CREDIT UNIONS:
FEDERAL credit unions will chafe at the paperwork requirements of their regulator's new proposal governing investments, industry analysts said. Page 15
MORTGAGES:
ALCHEMISTS in the Middle Ages tried to turn lesser metals into to gold. Today, lenders are attempting to change securitized loans of lesser credit quality into triple-A pools in much the same fashion, says an expert in the field. Page 8
INVESTMENT PRODUCTS:
A SAN ANTONIO financial services firm has come up with a creative way to survive in the rugged fund management game - hiring a larger competitor to help it run the brokerages of 30 credit unions and community banks. Page 16
U.S. BANCORP is rolling out an assortment of marketing ploys to drum up interest in its fledgling mutual funds. Page 16
CREDIT/DEBIT/ATMs:
CAPITAL ONE Financial may be lauded for its rapid growth and low-rate credit card marketing strategy, but it recently won a dubious honor - for the most misleading advertising of 1995 in financial services. Page 12
LATIN AMERICA is fast becoming fertile ground for smart card technology. In a few weeks Visa will launch significant tests of cards with stored value applications in Argentina and Colombia, and tests in Mexico and Brazil are scheduled for later next year. Page 12
TECHNOLOGY:
IN ITS PROPOSED acquisition of BayBanks, Bank of Boston would gain from its former rival's strong retail image as Boston's high-tech bank. But paradoxically, the merger should bring better retail technology to BayBanks than it has had in the past. Page 20
BANK SYSTEMS stocks got hit with some profit taking last week, as investors appeared to take home some holiday gifts after a banner year in the technology sector. Page 18
