WASHINGTON
Delivering a second dose of bad news, House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Bill Archer predicted that legislation to protect thrifts from $3 billion in back taxes will not be enacted this year. Page 2
Banks and thrifts could offer interest-bearing checking accounts to business customers under a bill expected to be introduced next month. Banks are split on whether they want to pay interest on business checking accounts, but as a sweetener the bill would also let them earn interest on reserves they must keep. Page 3
COMMUNITY BANKING
A handful of Massachusetts thrifts just north of Boston could be sitting ducks for Citizens Financial of Rhode Island, the Royal Bank of Scotland unit buying Bank of Ireland's New Hampshire subsidiary. Page 5
The high multiples offered to thrifts last year are becoming a distant memory. This shift was underscored by the decision of Delaware's WSFS Financial not to sell. Page 5
CREDIT/DEBIT/ATMs
FRANK WOBST, chairman of Huntington Bancshares, took the wraps off of a secretive Bankers Roundtable technology task force. One of several bankers at a congressional hearing last week, he said the elite trade group will support actions that preserve banks' access to and competitiveness in payment systems. Page 16
REGIONAL BANKING
U.S. Bancorp's deal to acquire California Bancshares was preceded by an unsolicited offer from a local rival, Westamerica. Page 6
Centura Banks said its chief executive will retire next year, after 26 years at the North Carolina company and its predecessors. Its president is to succeed him. Page 7
COMPLIANCE
The Bank Administration Institute's 1996 compliance conference, which begins Monday in Orlando, features a heavy dose of technology in addition to more traditional topics. Page 9
At the securities unit of Virginia's Crestar Financial, the head of compliance has instituted a comprehensive program with a single focus: risk disclosure. Page 8
INVESTMENT PRODUCTS
The National Association of Securities Dealers continues to tinker with its proposed rule governing sales of securities by bank brokerages. Page 12
State Street Boston has brought $700 million of assets into its proprietary funds by selling them through other the 401(k) plans that KeyCorp, Star, and other banks and nonbanks run. Page 12
MORTGAGES
The action at the slot machines is likely to seem tame to home mortgage executives gathering today in Atlantic City for their eastern regional conference. Page 14
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Mortgage executives who's gone through mergers in the wave of the last two years have found that keeping employees informed is crucial to getting their cooperation. Page 14
TECHNOLOGY
Fleet has established a beachhead on the World Wide Web. At first its Web site will provide information only, but later this year it will offer interactive services like retirement planning, the bank says. Page 18
FINANCE
The Clinton administration appears ready to nominate Washington lawyer Brooksley Born to be chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, industry sources say. Back page
The head of head of loan syndications at Bank of Boston is jumping ship to Fleet, where he'll lead media and communications lending. The departure is considered a blow to Bank of Boston's growing corporate finance business. Back page
