Today's News

WASHINGTON A FedERAL RESERVE report said even partial application of consumer protection rules to stored-value cards could impede development of this new payment system. Page 3 by ending a 10-year freeze on the issuance of industrial loan company charters, Utah officials have made it easier for nearly any company to offer banking services. Page 3 REGIONAL BANKING Several of Great Western Financial's directors and senior executives sold significant blocks of stock in the company just weeks--in some cases just one business day--before H.F. Ahmanson made its hostile offer. Page 4 Southern National says it is looking for a new home for its credit card operations to escape restrictive North Carolina laws. Page 4 The head of First Chicago NBD's corporate bank received a smaller bonus last year than in 1995, but the chief executive's doubled. Page 4 COMMUNITY BANKING North Carolina's fast-growing Triangle Bancorp plans to swallow its eighth community bank in six years in a deal that would push it well past the $1 billion-asset mark. Page 5 MORTGAGES The MBA hired a prominent public relations firm to bolster its image among consumers. Page 9 INVESTMENT PRODUCTS The new chief investment officer for First Union's private client group is used to feeling the heat--from volatile financial markets and California wildfires as well. Page 10 Alliance Capital Management is touting the high stock fund returns it has been racking up in the past two years. Page 11 CREDIT/DEBIT/ATMs Summit Bancorp in New Jersey has taken an equity position in the NYCE automated teller machine network. Page 13 TECHNOLOGY ON-LINE BANKING: Microsoft used a banking and brokerage conference that it sponsored last week to recant--sometimes with tongue in cheek--its historically negative opinion of the Internet. Page 14 MARKET MONITOR Bank stocks suffered another swoon, falling back from a day of recovery in concert with the broader market. Back page WEEKLY REPORT: INTERNATIONAL Los Angeles-based Imperial Bancorp opened a Hong Kong subsidiary to expand trade finance, becoming the latest midsize U.S. bank to expand abroad. Page 6 Citicorp is refocusing its operation in Hungary, embracing the corporate middle market in a country that's becoming increasingly competitive. Page 7

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