WASHINGTON Leach Bill Would End Need for Nod by Fed House Banking Committee Chairman Jim Leach has modified his Glass-Steagall bill to make it easier for banks to offer new products and support securities affiliates. Under the new language, it would no longer be necessary for bank holding companies to receive Federal Reserve permission before undertaking new activities that have previously been authorized for other institutions.
Feb. 23
18971
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency approved the creation of a multistate bank in a state that bars the practice, Kansas. The ruling set up a possible challenge to the interstate branching law's "opt out" provision.
Feb. 23
18969
New Mexico's insurance superintendent has given up his legal challenge to the controversial Retirement CD, paving the way for First National Bank of Santa Fe to offer the product. Banking advocates said the move will encourage other banks to embrace the product, but the insurance industry said New Mexico acted prematurely.
Feb. 21
18883
A bill that would make it harder for borrowers to back out of mortgage contracts is expected to be introduced this week by Rep. Bill McCollum, R- Fla. The bill aims to mitigate some of the problems home lenders face because of the Rodash court decision. The bill would place a three-year limit on a borrower's right of rescission for disclosure error.
Feb. 22
18922
First National Bank of Chicago agreed to pay $7.9 million to settle a longstanding dispute with institutional investors, regulators announced. The settlement, reached with the Comptroller's office, was prompted by three-year-old complaints from investors over a real estate investment fund managed by the bank, the regulator said.
Feb. 21
18885 REGIONAL BANKING Fleet Agrees to Buy Shawmut for $3.7B Fleet Financial Group Inc. announced it has agreed to acquire Shawmut National Corp. for $3.7 billion in stock, creating the ninth-largest banking company in the United States. The megamerger would increase the assets of Fleet, currently 17th in the country, to $81 billion from $49 billion, and would give it the No. 1 share of most key consumer and business markets in New England.
Feb. 22
18924
By saying it will divest $3 billion of deposits as part of its acquisition of Shawmut, Fleet may have preempted the antitrust threat that hangs over mergers of banks with common market areas.
Feb. 22
18925
When he takes the helm at Northern Trust Corp. this summer, William Osborn will set his sights on a region where the Chicago-based banking company has no presence. "We have our eyes on the Northeast," said Mr. Osborn, elected last week to succeed retiring chairman and chief executive David Fox.
Feb. 24
18982
In the latest bizarre twist of the Compass Bancshares proxy fight, chairman and chief executive D. Paul Jones Jr. is said to have discussed an in-market merger with one or more of the other four large Alabama banks.
Feb. 23
18966
To make itself a household word in Washington State, Keycorp's Seattle- based subsidiary will pay $15 million to put its name on the city's renovated basketball arena.
Feb. 24
18981 COMMUNITY BANKING Intrastate Branching Curbs Attacked in Ga. While most states wrestle with the prospects of nationwide branching, Georgia's legislature is sweating over a controversial bill that would dismantle some of the most restrictive intrastate branching laws in the country.
Feb. 21
18864
Commerce Bancorp of Cherry Hill, N.J., raised $27.6 million from a stock offering this month to help it build 50 new branches, but a Philadelphia coalition of community groups has vowed to block each opening until the bank improves its lending record.
Feb. 22
18901
The $230-million merger deal between Durham, N.C.-based CCB Financial Corp. and Security Capital Bancorp of Salisbury could crumble due to CCB's depressed stock price. Officials of boths companies, however, expressed confidence that the deal will still close.
Feb. 23
18931
Colorado's legislature became the first in the nation to pass legislation preventing banks from branching into or out of the state. Proponents of the bill hope it will embolden eight other states, four of which are contiguous to Colorado, to pass legislation to opt out of the so- called Riegle-Neal Interstate Banking and Branching Act.
Feb. 24
19019 SMALL BUSINESS Entrepreneurs Seen As Credit Card Niche It may not be the biggest segment of the credit card industry, but small business is one of the fastest growing and among the most lucrative. Bankers have come to view credit cards as critical to their small business programs.
Feb. 21
18856
The Small Business Administration is asking state treasurers to help get community banks involved in its LowDoc loan-guarantee program.
Feb. 21
18858 COMPLIANCE Anticrime Unit Vows To Cut Bank Red Tape The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, defending its budget before Congress last week, promised to reduce the regulatory burden on banks. The Treasury agency is asking for $24.4 million for fiscal year 1996, an 8.2% budget increase from the previous year.
Feb. 23
18939
Regulators in 1994 issued fewer enforcement actions against banks, as record profits in the industry improved compliance. Just 168 national banks were hit with formal actions last year, down 42% from 1993 and off 67% from 1992.
Feb. 23
18940
Critics say the Fed is going too far in its new interpretation of the Equal Credit Opportunity Act by substituting a "business necessity" standard for the less-strict "legitimate business need" used today. This new definition will make it harder for a bank to prove it has a business purpose for a policy that inadvertently disadvantages a particular group of people, experts said.
Feb. 23
18953 CREDIT UNIONS Patelco Insiders Testify Against Merger Plan Even insiders at Patelco Credit Union voiced opposition during a seven-hour NCUA hearing on its proposed combination with First Technology Federal. The agency is expected to make a decision on the record-breaking $1.3 billion merger by March 16.
Feb. 21
18848
The Office of Thrift Supervision has delayed a decision on Lusitania Federal Credit Union's application to become a mutual savings bank. Sources say regulators are trying to avoid offending the NCUA, which opposes the thrift agency's new streamlined process for charter conversions.
Feb. 21
18850
In an effort to become a major affordable lending force in Seattle, Credit Union of the Pacific unveiled a 1%-down mortgage program for low- income to middle-income homebuyers.
Feb. 21
18853 CREDIT/DEBIT/ATMs Return on Card Assets Hit 3.9% Last Year Bank card issuers earned an estimated 3.9% return on assets in 1994, investment banker Robert K. Hammer found. The healthy pretax return rose 60 basis points from 1993.
Feb. 21
18877
The U.S. Postal Service awarded its credit and debit card processing business to NationsBank Corp. and its subcontractor Nabanco. The companies will undertake the largest merchant processing installation ever - 50,000 card-accepting terminals in 33,000 post offices.
Feb. 22
18906
Visa U.S.A. said its total payments volume grew 28% in 1994 to $290.7 billion - the highest growth rate in the last 10 years. Credit and debit card volume jumped by 19.3% to $227 billion, while the number of cards rose by 37.5 million to 205.7 million.
Feb. 21
18879
American Express added 250,000 new merchants in the United States - representing 300,000 acceptance locations - last year under Thomas O. Ryder's leadership.
Feb. 23
18955 INVESTMENT PRODUCTS IBAA Program Stuck In the Starting Gate The Independent Bankers Association of America's program to help its members sell investment products is looking suspiciously like a flop. Only 12 of the association's 5,663 members have signed up for the sales program since it was launched a year ago, officials of the trade group said.
Feb. 21
18869
Fleet Financial Group's planned merger with Shawmut National Corp. is likely to have a dramatic effect on both companies' investment businesses. While some business lines, like mutual funds, are likely to benefit by getting bigger, trust and private banking could suffer from staff cuts and other management changes, experts said.
Feb. 23
18977
UJB Financial Corp. and SunAmerica Corp. have scuttled plans to launch a family of proprietary annuities after crossing swords over how to make the products profitable.
Feb. 22
18908
Merlin R. Gackle, the president of Invest Financial Corp. for the past year, is becoming chairman and chief executive as well, the Tampa, Fla., company announced.
Feb. 21
18868 MORTGAGES NationsBank, in 2 Gulps, Becoming Mega-Servicer NationsBank bought servicing portfolios from Keycorp and Source One in a major expansion into the mortgage business that will cost it about $500 million. The back-to-back purchases will make NationsBank one of the nation's top five servicers, handling some $75 billion of loans.
Feb. 24
19021
Only three mortgage companies have signed voluntary fair-lending agreements with the government, far fewer than envisioned when the Mortgage Bankers Association of America signed a pact with the Department of Housing and Urban Development nearly half a year ago.
Feb. 24
19006
Fleet Financial Group's acquisition of Shawmut National Corp. should create a northeastern mortgage dynamo. The two companies together produce 4.6% of all mortgages in Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and Connecticut - more than double the share of the nearest rival.
Feb. 23
18947
The mortgage unit of M&T Corp., Buffalo, has tapped Jeffrey A. Evershed to head up a new West Coast operation. He was formerly president and chief executive of Keycorp Mortgage.
Feb. 21
18873
Eager to hold on to adjustable-rate mortgages, thrifts sharply reduced their sales of loans into the secondary market last year, according to a survey by the trade group America's Community Bankers.
Feb. 22
18903 TECHNOLOGY Chase Hires Fiserv To Process All Checks Chase Manhattan Bank hired Fiserv Inc. to run all of its check processing. The deal, worth at least $480 million over 12 years, is the largest outsourcing agreement since 1992.
Feb. 23
18975
Two months after Bank South restructured its retail banking operation, three of its top technology officers have left the bank. While bank officials insist the departures are unrelated to the restructuring, analysts said they are at least an indirect consequence of cost cutting at Bank South.
Feb. 21
18842
Sun Microsystems Inc. wants to write the banking industry's ticket to the future. The Mountain View, Calif., company has the industry, and financial services generally, in its sights. Sun is convinced its skills, knowledge, and technology are perfect prescriptions for the pains of industry transformation.
Feb. 24
19004
Demand for financial electronic data interchange, the exchange of payments and related information in standard computer format, has vendors scrambling to meet banks' needs. Sterling Software and Servantis Systems Inc. are among those eager to enhance and develop systems for the potential lucrative fee-based service.
Feb. 22
18916
Visa is said to be developing a payment system for small purchases on the Internet. Visa will work with Carnegie Mellon University and the on- line payment system - called NetBill - that the Pittsburgh school has developed, but not tested.
Feb. 22
18915 FINANCE Soft Landing May Mean Hard Times for Banks Bank stocks face tough sledding no matter how the current business cycle ends, according to a veteran Wall Street analyst. But the worst scenario would be a "soft landing" in which a recession is postponed, said Lawrence Cohn of PaineWebber Inc.
Feb. 23
18979
J.P. Morgan & Co. will lead a $1.5 billion loan for the newly merged Lockheed Corp. and Martin Marietta Corp.
Feb. 21
18887
Fleet Financial Group's $3.7 billion purchase of Shawmut National Corp. could signal the rejuvenation of the U.S. bank merger market, observers said. "The game has begun," said one institutional investor.
Feb. 22
18921
Shares of Chicago's St. Paul Bancorp are on the rise again after a brief time-out from their big January gain. But it remains unclear as to whether speculation about an impending buyout is anything more than that.
Feb. 24
19024
