Today's News

WASHINGTON House Banking Chairman Jim Leach said he'd support letting banks invest no more than 10% of capital in nonfinancial activities. Page 2 REGIONAL BANKING With many banks entering structured finance and asset securitization, it's getting harder for search firms to find the right candidates. Page 5 Southern National said the chairman of United Carolina, which it's buying, agreed to retire and not work for rivals. He's to get $6.4 million. Page 7 COMMUNITY BANKING A well-known Texas banker is planning to horn in on NationsBank's business of lending to cattle operations. Page 8 What began as a private plan for a merger has deteriorated into a public relations battle between two Southern California community banks. Page 8 Most marketing is so gimmicky that when you get a mailing with a little common sense, it makes you sit up and take notice, writes Paul Nadler. Page 9 TECHNOLOGY IT's not only banking that technology is transforming; our idea of money will be redefined too, says the CEO of Visa U.S.A. "We're moving beyond value exchange to information exchange," says Carl Pascarella. The result: "infomoney," a way to do business at the touch of a button. Page 16 MORTGAGES The MBA conference examined the often surreal world of mortgage banking with satire straight out of the "Dilbert" comic strip. Page 10 the message that subprime lenders seem to be sending to banks is, "You can buy us, you can fund us--just don't try to run us." Page 11 INVESTMENT PRODUCTS INSURANCE: Banks are teaming up with brokerage and insurance companies to fight restrictions on insurance sales that independent agents are pushing throughout the country. Page 12 Fidelity Investments formed a new asset management and trust unit and appointed a prominent private banker to run it. Page 13 CREDIT/DEBIT/ATMs Motorola has leaped headlong into the smart card business, lending further credibility to the burgeoning technology. Page 14 Just as banks are fully embracing the World Wide Web, along comes "push" technology, which threatens to turn the Internet on its digital head. Page 17 MARKET MONITOR It was a flight to safety in the derivatives market last year. The strongest growth was in "plain vanilla" rate swaps. There were few innovations to drive up the market. Page 22

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