WASHINGTON
Bankers endorsed a Fed proposal to more than double the revenue that holding company subsidiaries may earn from underwriting and dealing in commercial securities. Page 2
House Banking Committee's Chief of Staff Anthony F. Cole has often been described as "unflappable." As Chairman Jim Leach's right-hand man, he insists that committee employees remain behind the scenes. Page 4
REGIONAL BANKING
CAREER TRACKS: Sports financing sounds glamorous. But a sports lending specialist at Charlotte, N.C.-based First Union says the business is not all fun and games. Page 9
COMMUNITY BANKING
An Indian tribe's controversial efforts to acquire a San Diego bank have taken another step forward. Page 10
Commerce of Cherry Hill, N.J. is profitable, growing fast, and fighting the superregionals. What's its secret? Focusing on the branch level, Paul Nadler writes. Page 11
MORTGAGES
Although origination volume has slowed from the pace of earlier this year, mortgage insurers have continued to exhibit healthy rates of growth. Page 12
Southern Pacific Funding and Bomac Capital Mortgage are forming a strategic alliance to securitize up to $600 million of nonconforming home equity loans over the next 36 months. Page 12
As a brand new managing director at the asset trading and finance group of PaineWebber, Gordon L. Monsen will be focusing on the booming market for subprime-mortgage securitizations. Page 13
TECHNOLOGY
IBM announced a software marketing partnership that it said will help banks target their most profitable customers. As an option, IBM will bundle Profitvision from Chicago-based Financial Technology with some of its own current offerings. Page 14
Microsoft is beginning to give IBM, long dominant in core operating systems for banks, a run for its money with its client/server operating system, Windows NT. Page 15
INVESTMENT PRODUCTS
INSURANCE: Barnett is fine-tuning a pilot program for selling life insurance to customers in Tampa by yearend. Allen L. Lastinger Jr., president and chief operating officer, said that getting Barnett's insurance business up and running became a priority after a March Supreme Court ruling on banks' authority to sell insurance in small towns. "I think there's a real opportunity there," he said, "and we need to act on that ASAP." Page 16
As banks weigh options for entering the insurance business, more and more are likely to take the aggressive step of buying an agency, an industry consultant said. Page 17
New laws allowing for common trust funds to be converted into mutual funds have given bankers a new issue to grapple with: What should they charge trust customers whose funds have been converted? Page 19
LETTERS Page 24
