Today's News

SPECIAL REPORT: CLIENT-SERVER computing is spreading like wildfire. The prospect of improving efficiency by many orders of magnitude has prompted historically conservative institutions, like some of those covered in this special report, to begin investing in the architecture's possibilities. Pull-out section WASHINGTON: SOUNDING AN ALARM that the country's economic policy makers need better statistics, Federal Reserve Board Vice Chairman Alan S. Blinder said the agencies must reexamine what data the government buys. Page 2 REGIONAL BANKING: MELLON BANK executives paid the price, through substantial cuts in their bonuses, for last year's losses in a securities lending business, according to the bank's proxy statement. Page 5 MORTGAGES: ON THE BOARDWALK in Atlantic City, life will be peaches and cream, an old song says. And for executives gathered there this week at a regional conference of Mortgage Bankers associations, a few days of respite in a luxury resort may be the best they can hope for. Page 6 WITH PROFITS down or nonexistent, mortgage bankers are desperately looking for answers. The latest rage is restructuring the origination function and reengineering delivery systems. But the critical question is whether to stay in the business, writes mortgage banker Joe Garrett. Page 7 INVESTMENT PRODUCTS: VERY WEALTHY Americans are more worried now about the economy and their finances than they were just after President Clinton was elected, a survey commissioned by United States Trust Co. suggests. Page 11 COMMUNITY BANKING: FORMER DEPOSITORS of a North Carolina thrift are trying to overturn its purchase a year and a half after Centura Banks acquired First Savings Bank, a mutual, in a merger-conversion. Page 12 OPPONENTS of interstate branching in Oklahoma are fighting an opt-in bill instead of pushing for an opt-out law, as they had hoped to do. Page 13 TECHNOLOGY: THE MORTGAGE BANKERS Association of America has set aside $50,000 to help create a mortgage registration data base. Page 14 CREDIT/DEBIT/ATMs: EFT ILLINOIS, a regional electronic banking network, has agreed to turn over its central switching functions to Tyme, a neighboring network in the Midwest. Page 8 VISA'S PLAN to launch a huge stored-value card project in Atlanta in time for the 1996 Olympic Games far eclipses any other U.S. smart card initiative. Page 9 FINANCE: NATIONSBANK continues to be the most active bank issuer of bonds. Its second offering in a month is $300 million of three-year, floating-rate notes. Back page