Change is Constant in Banking

If the only constant in life is change, then the banking industry and American Banker-Bond Buyer have a lot in common. For 162 years, American Banker has served as the industry's daily diary, the only newspaper to chronicle the players and events shaping the history of banking.

In recent years, radical change has ushered in the dawn of new era in banking, and American Banker has been the vital link between bankers and the vast, sweeping change recasting their collective role in the financial services industry-in equal parts the result of deregulation, the entry of new providers of bank-like products and services, and the undeniable forces of technological innovation.

We, too, at American Banker feel the winds of change on our doorstep. As our readers struggle to redefine themselves and prosper in a more complex financial services landscape, the need for new sources of industry-related analytical information became apparent. American Banker believes that, like the challenges faced by its constituency, the future is one of a diversified financial services marketplace, where players can succeed and grow based on the new value they bring to the marketplace.

To better serve the banking and financial services industry, American Banker traditionally has responded with new products that reflect the changing needs of readers. We began this diversification process in October 1992, when American Banker sought to build on its newspaper foundation by launching Management Strategies, a magazine supplement to the newspaper and a precursor to FutureBanking, another magazine supplement that would later become FutureBanker, American Banker's first standalone magazine.

The birth of Management Strategies, which appears monthly in American Banker, marked the company's initial foray into magazine publishing, giving it additional reach through analysis and commentary that bridged the traditional world of banking with that innovation and technology solutions to increase profits.

The editorial mission of MS was to capture the early challenges and opportunities resulting from technology deployment within banks, focusing on how technology could spur greater profitability. But as the strategies of financial institutions became more tightly integrated with that of their respective IT plans, it became apparent that there was a need for a magazine that specifically looks at the various challenges faced by lines of business and functional areas in the emerging electronic world of financial services. Such a magazine is FutureBanker, whose vision and voice provide readers with the required strategic insight necessary to electronically develop and distribute financial products and services to profitably manage 21st century financial enterprises.

This marks the final issue of MS, without which our evolution-and the founding of the American Banker Magazine Group and FutureBanker-would not have been possible. American Banker is committed to providing its readers with a diversified portfolio of financial services information products that accurately gauge where the industry is headed and how our readers can benefit from changes afoot in the marketplace.

- HOLLY SRAEEL

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