WASHINGTON
LAWMAKERS working on a financial reform deal adopted 15 noncontroversial provisions, but remain deadlocked on community reinvestment requirements and other major issues. Page 2
COMMUNITY/REGIONAL
MORE THAN A YEAR after losing out in its bid to buy a thrift on Cape Cod, Rockland Trust is finally entering the coveted Cape market by purchasing 12 Fleet branches. Page 7
MORTGAGES
GMAC will station loan officers in several Bank One offices around the country to handle clients who ask for long-term, fixed-rate real estate loans of at least $1 million. Page 8
INVESTMENT PRODUCTS
FIDELITY has started selling its charitable gift fund through its advisory channel and is offering the third parties a distribution fee. Page 9
NATIONAL/GLOBAL
ALTHOUGH HE FACES the task of melding two banking companies into a $74 billion-asset, 13-state business, Firstar president and chief executive officer Jerry A. Grundhofer seems confident. Firstar and St. Louis-based Mercantile "are two very simple and very predictable companies. Mercantile is not at all different from us," he says. "There's not a lot of pioneering here." Page 4
DISAGREEMENT over the CRA could spell the end of financial reform for this year, writes William Isaac, a Washington-based consultant. Page 6
TECHNOLOGY
SWIFT IS TRYING to win the biggest contract of its 26-year life. Page 10
ON-LINE BANKING
AN INTERNET BANK is planning to use an old-fashioned tactic to sell its services -- marketing door-to-door. Page 12
FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS stand to benefit the most from the Internet by using it as one of several integrated delivery channels, some senior executives say. Page 12
THE INTERACTIVE Financial Exchange specification took a step closer to being widely implemented. Page 12
MARKETS
A HANDFUL of regional banks resisted the continuing downward pressure on larger bank stocks. Back page
