Today's News

WASHINGTON

Sen. Charles E. Grassley unveiled legislation that would allow judges to force high-income consumers to repay, rather than cancel, their debts. "The bill would discourage casual bankruptcies ... ," he said. Page 2

For all the controversy it's generated, Congress took just two pages to write the Community Reinvestment Act of 1977. Page 3

REGIONAL BANKING

Steep gains from trading operations and tighter credit controls helped banks post some record third-quarter results. Page 4

COMMUNITY BANKING

California's Goleta National Bank may have figured out the secret to making money from consumers who don't use banks: electronic paychecks. Page 8

CORPORATE FINANCE

BT Alex. Brown and Bear Stearns have given Starwood Lodging Trust letters pledging their support in financing the hotel company's $13.3 billion acquisition of ITT. Page 9

CREDIT/DEBIT/ATMs

CARD FRONTIERS: Sun Microsystems took its Java card specification to the next level, and major smart card manufacturers scrambled to show they had gotten with the program. Page 10

Motorola and Matsushita Electronics are joining forces to develop a smart card chip 20 times faster than today's. Page 10

TECHNOLOGY

The war between home banking standards appears to be winding toward a peaceable conclusion. Page 14

Chase Manhattan chose Edify software for Web-based banking services. Page 14

MORTGAGES

HOME EQUITY: High-loan-to-value lenders aren't just the fastest-growing companies in home finance - they're shaking up the way consumers manage their money, says Fidelity First, a new player. Page 16

Lenders are reaping the benefits of a new form of mortgage insurance and failing to pass along the savings to consumers, a California state assemblyman charged. Page 17

MARKET MONITOR

First Union and Freddie Mac racked up a first on Monday by packaging CRA loans into mortgage-backed securities. Page 26

Smith Barney's bid to become a major player in the lucrative world of bank merger advisory work got a big boost this week via a pair of credit card deals. Back page