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MORTGAGES: HENRY CISNEROS, secretary of housing and urban development, says his agency wants to transform the Federal Housing Administration into a government- owned corporation. But two think tanks suggested alternative directions for the single-family FHA program. Page 8 CREDIT UNIONS: NEARLY 2,000 credit union executives and volunteers will be spreading the industry's gospel of regulatory relief on Capitol Hill this week. Page 10 REGULATORS have found during special examinations that nearly one-tenth of credit unions with collateralized mortgage obligations don't know how to manage the investments. Page 12 COMMUNITY BANKING: NONBANK COMPANIES like Charles Schwab and Microsoft should worry small-town bankers more than out-of-state bank companies, says J. Joseph Edwards, chairman of the American Bankers Association's Community Bankers Council. Page 15 GLASS-STEAGALL should be reformed but not repealed by Congress, say several community banker members of the American Bankers Association. Page 16 INVESTMENT PRODUCTS: GROWING UP on the rough-and-tumble streets of New York taught George Bernard Jr. to be assertive and make the best of tough situations. That background helps as he steers PNC Bank Corp.'s mutual funds through volatile markets and cutthroat competition. Page 18 THE FEAR of disintermediation is alive and well among community banks, judging from the concerns raised by executives at a recent Independent Bankers Association of America conference. Page 20 TECHNOLOGY: CHASE MANHATTAN joined 13 other leading cash management banks in the start- up payment system known as the EDI Bank Alliance Network Exchange, or Edibanx. Page 21 SIGNET BANKING has started to display student lending information on the Internet, a vital first step toward a fully electronic college lending system. Page 22 WEEKLY DIGEST: WILL A PARADE of big banks follow Chase Manhattan in outsourcing its check processing? That and other stories from last week's American Banker are reviewed. Page 24 CREDIT/DEBIT/ATMs: VISA IS OFFERING issuers who participate in its cobranding program two complementary software packages that it says will provide timely access to targeted customer information. Page 26 FINANCE: FOURTH FINANCIAL announced that a balance sheet overhaul would require a $14.4 million after-tax earnings charge in the first quarter. The move fed merger speculation about the Wichita, Kan.-based bank. Page 30

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