Today's News

WASHINGTON

TINKERING with credit union laws would give banks a golden opportunity to push for long-sought restrictive amendments, a credit union lobbyist says. Page 2

FDIC DIRECTOR Joseph Neely, a former banker, is leading his agency's charge to streamline banking regulations. Page 3

REGIONAL BANKING

FLEET HAS a deal to let its customers with operations in the United Kingdom get cash management services from London-based National Westminster. Page 4

INVESTMENT PRODUCTS

RIDING THE COATTAILS of the minimum-wage increase is a passel of provisions that could spell good news for banks with investment products programs, including IRAs and 401(k) plans. Page 10

HOWARD STEIN will retire as chairman and chief executive of Dreyfus, clearing the way for Mellon Bank to take its mutual fund subsidiary's reins. W. Keith Smith, a Mellon vice chairman, will be the new Dreyfus chairman. Page 10

COMMUNITY BANKING

CARVER FEDERAL Savings Bank in New York formally rejected erstwhile investment banker Joseph Curry's bid for a controlling stake in the minority-owned thrift. Page 6

A START-UP near South Bend, Ind., is playing up its Notre Dame connection - the head organizer's father was athletic director for the Fighting Irish. Page 6

A FAVORABLE market has helped start-up efforts to proliferate, and such banks are running in the black much sooner than was the case five years ago. Page 7

MORTGAGES

GREEN TREE Financial has fired 25 home improvement account executives in what the company says is a prelude to expanding the division. Page 8

CREDIT/DEBIT/ATMs

BIOMETRICS is the wave of the future, but such identification systems raise legal and consumer-acceptance concerns, writes the editor of a business law journal. Page 11

PEOPLE'S BANK in Connecticut has restructured its credit card division, shifting several executives and separating the business from the rest of the thrift. Page 12

TECHNOLOGY

FIRST CHICAGO NBD will be the first bank offering Intuit's easier-to-use version of its Quicken personal finance software. Page 13

KEYCORP will install a check imaging system in its wholesale and retail lockbox units. Page 13

BANK OF BOSTON has bought derivatives trading and risk management software from Summit Systems, rounding out a two-year overhaul of the bank's trading room operations. Page 14

FINANCE

COMPREHENSIVE INCOME reporting is simply a repackaging of data already provided, so there is little need for such disclosure, a Penn State professor writes. Page 18

GRUNTAL RAISED its price target on BankAmerica, noting renewed confidence in banks after the consumer credit quality scare. Back page

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