Today's News

Special report: auto finance Subprime auto lending isn't the shady business some think it is, a former Mercury Finance partner told the Consumer Bankers of America. Page 13 WASHINGTON Industry officials are vowing to fight proposed changes to Chapter 13 rules that would let borrowers discharge their debts without repaying. Page 2 Eager to boost the market for on-line financial services, industry leaders are asking Congress to step in--but very lightly. Page 3 REGIONAL BANKING After years of watching as other banks participated in a consolidation frenzy, officials at Wachovia said they are finally ready to do deals. Page 4 One of Citicorp's consumer banking chiefs has resigned to join the United Kingdom's Standard Chartered PLC. Page 4 CORPORATE FINANCE Bank lenders were reluctantly committing themselves to a NationsBank-led $1.5 billion facility for Republic Industries. Page 11 COMMUNITY BANKING Even after winning a libel suit against ABC News, Florida's BankAtlantic still hasn't shaken the stigma it got from dealing in rollup securities. But CEO Alan B. Levan has weathered the bad publicity, a shareholder suit, and years of losses in the millions to steer the thrift back to health. Page 6 MORTGAGES insurers fear that New York's warnings about a new kind of relationship between them and lenders will hurt the setup nationwide. Page 12 INVESTMENT PRODUCTS months after NationsBank acquired Boatmen's, it is losing clients it had inherited from the bank. Page 14 TECHNOLOGY SunGard Data Systems is buying Premier Solutions, a software company that in the distant past suffered serious losses and customer lawsuits. Page 16 CREDIT/DEBIT/ATMs MasterCard shifted responsibilities of two senior execs after a third announced his retirement. Page 18 MARKET MONITOR Major investors flocked to the nation's biggest banks in the final quarter of last year, fueling the big rally in their stocks. Page 25 WEEKLY REPORT: SMALL BUSINESS A pair of California community banks have adopted a "Money Store" strategy to take their SBA lending nationwide. Page 8 Intuit says its new software is prodding banks to expand their on-line banking services for small-business customers. Page 9

For reprint and licensing requests for this article, click here.
MORE FROM AMERICAN BANKER