Contents

REGULATION, 4A Financial Modernization and the FDIC Everyone wants reform, but the FDIC role in performance-based regulation is unclear. CALL CENTERS, 5A Making Call Centers Turn a Profit With strategy, technology, and well-trained staff, call centers can add to the bottom line. COVER STORY: NEW MERGERS, 6A Boon, Boogie Man, or Bogus? Cross-industry mergers will change the face of financial services. Who will play; who will win? POINT OF VIEW, 8A What Makes a Top Retail Performer? Leaders are predatory, obsessed with keeping customers, and engaged in management. RISK MANAGEMENT, 10A Forecasting Asset-Based Liability ALM technology enables bankers to unify balance sheet performance and risk projections. MORTGAGE, 12A Mortgage Lenders Meet New Technology Cutting origination costs could attack banks' shrinking profit margins, declining market share. Q & A, 14A CoreStates Chairman Terrence Larsen The chairman and CEO talks about diversity, integrity, and ties to the CoreStates community.