Today's News

Some community banks are trying to make selling a passion for their employees. Meanwhile, as some establish call centers to help automate customer interactions, others are experimenting with ads that criticize big banks as impersonal outsiders.

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THE CHAIRWOMAN of a failed West Virginia bank said she has been subpoenaed to appear before a grand jury this week. Page 2

COMERICA has opened its first Los Angeles office in a cooperative venture with Family Savings, a thrift already established in the community. Page 6

U.S. LENDERS to Korea's Daewoo Group are uneasy about the company's debt restructuring plan, which is to be unveiled this week. Page 7

TRINTECH, an Irish Internet payment software company, has filed for an IPO. Page 12

WASHINGTON MUTUAL intends to form strategic alliances with Internet companies, one of the thrift's executives said. Page 12

M&I DATA SERVICES is now processing electronic payments made using Microsoft's latest personal financial management software. Page 13

FULL-SERVICE broker PaineWebber has rolled out on-line trading to investors but says it's not fashioning itself as a discount operation. Page 14

SEVERAL FACTORS are fueling speculation that West Coast, Oregon's largest independent bank, is on the block. Page 17

OLD NATIONAL of Evansville, Ind., made its first move into Tennessee with plans to acquire a $228 million-asset bank. Page 17

OCWEN FINANCIAL is out of the subprime lending business in the United States and will focus entirely on loan servicing. Page 19

CARD ADVERTISERS have seized on a new way to generate attention: sports giveaways offering fleeting brushes with fame, wealth, or privilege. Page 22

IF FEDERAL RESERVE policymakers aimed to let some air out of the stock market as a way to cool the economy and cut the threat of inflation, they have little to show for their efforts so far. Page 33

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