In Brief (two items)

March 14, 2000, 2:00 a.m. EST 7 Min Read

117 Deemed Financial Holding Companies

WASHINGTON - The Federal Reserve Board on Monday said that 117 companies have qualified as financial holding companies under the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act.The approvals represent the first batch of companies that may take advantage of the expanded powers granted under Gramm-Leach-Bliley, which took effect March 11. The first approvals went to bank holding companies and foreign banking organizations rather than securities or insurance companies, which were not previously regulated by the Fed.

The largest banking organizations on the list include: Bank of America Corp., Chase Manhattan Corp., Citigroup Inc., First Union Corp., FleetBoston Financial Corp., Huntington Bancshares, J.P. Morgan & Co., KeyCorp, Mellon Financial Corp., SunTrust Banks Inc., U.S. Bancorp, Wachovia Corp., and Wells Fargo & Co. But a majority of the companies on the list are smaller ones such as Community Bankshares of Cornelia, Ga., and Yardville National Bancorp of Hamilton, N.J.

Dean Anason

Bank Holding Companies and Foreign Banking Organizations Which Have Effectively Elected to Become or be Treated as Financial Holding Companies as of March 11, 2000

Acadiana BancShares, Inc., Lafayette, Louisiana Admiralty Bancorp, Inc., Palm Beach Gardens, Florida
Aliant Financial Corp., Alexander City, Alabama
Australia and New Zealand Banking Group, Ltd., Melbourne, Australia
The Banc Corporation, Birmingham, Alabama
BancFirst Corporation, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
BancFirst Ohio Corp., Zanesville, Ohio
BancMidwest Corporation, St. Paul, Minnesota
Banco Santander Central Hispano S.A., Madrid, Spain
Bancshares of Missouri, Inc., Kearney, Missouri
Bank of America Corporation, Charlotte, North Carolina
Brannen Banks of Florida, Inc., Inverness, Florida
Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, Toronto, Canada
Caymen Investment Company Omega, George Town, Caymen Islands
Central Progressive Bancshares, Inc., Hammond, Louisiana
Century Bancshares, Inc., Gainesville, Missouri
CERA Stichting VZW, Leuven, Belgium (KBC Bank NV, Brussels, Belgium)
Charter One Financial, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio
Chase Manhattan Corporation, New York, New York
Citigroup, New York, New York
Citizens Bancorp, Covallis, Oregon
Citizens Financial Corp., Midwest City, Oklahoma
Colonial Banc Corp., Eaton, Ohio
Commercial Bancshares, Inc., Texarkana, Arkansas
Commercial Capital Corp., Dekalb, Mississippi
Commercial National Financial Corporation, Latrobe, Pennsylvania
Community Bankshares, Inc., Cornelia, Georgia
Community National Corporation, Grand Forks, North Dakota
Compass Bancshares, Inc., Birmingham, Alabama
Cortland Bancorp, Cortland, Ohio
Cullen/Frost Bankers, Inc., San Antonio, Texas
Den Danske Bank Aktieselskab, Copenhagen, Denmark
Doral Financial Corporation, San Juan, Puerto Rico
Elk River Bancshares, Elk River, Minnesota
Eggemeyer Advisory Corp., Rancho Santa Fe, California
F & M Bank Corp., Timberville, Virginia
FCB Bankshares, Inc., Cullman, Alabama
First BancShares of Cold Spring, Cold Spring, Minnesota
First Community Bancorp, Beecher, Illinois
First Company, Powell, Wyoming
First Financial Bancorp, Hamilton, Ohio
First Gilmer Bankshares, Gilmer, Texas
First Mutual of Richmond, Inc., Richmond, Indiana
First Okmulgee Corporation, Okmulgee, Oklahoma
First Pryor Bancorp, Pryor, Oklahoma
First Security Corporation, Salt Lake City, Utah
First State BancShares, Inc., Scottsbluff, Nebraska
First Tennessee National Corporation, Memphis, Tennessee
First Union Corporation, Charlotte, North Carolina
Firstar Corporation , Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Fleet Boston Corporation, Boston, Massachusetts
Florence Bancorporation, Inc., Florence, Wisconsin
Foresight Financial Group, Inc. Rockford, Illinois
Forrest City Financial Corp., Forrest City, Arkansas
GBC Bancorp, Los Angeles, California
Graff Family, Inc., McCook, Nebraska
Grange National Banc Corporation, Laceyville, Pennsylvania
Gulf West Banks, Inc., St. Petersburg, Florida
Haviland Bancshares, Inc., Haviland, Kansas
HBancorporation, Inc., Lawrenceville, Illinois
Hibernia Corporation, New Orleans, Louisiana
Honor Bancorp Inc., Honor, Michigan
HSBC Holdings plc, London, United Kingdom
Huntington Bancshares, Incorporated, Columbus, Ohio
IBT Bancorp, Inc., Mt. Pleasant, Michigan
International Bancshares Corporation, Laredo, Texas
J.P. Morgan & Co., Incorporated, New York, New York
KeyCorp, Cleveland, Ohio
Krey Co. Ltd., Pratt, Kansas
LCNB Corp., Lebanon, Ohio
Lea County Bancshares, Inc., Hobbs, New Mexico
Liberty Shares, Inc., Hinesville, Georgia
Lincoln Investment Company, Lenox, South Dakota
LNB Bancorp, Inc., Lorain, Ohio
M & P Community Bancshares, Inc., Newport, Arkansas
The Marquette National Company, Marquette, Nebraska
Mellon Financial Corporation, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Merchant's & Manufacturers Bancorporation, Inc., New Berlin, Wisconsin
Merrill Merchants Bancshares, Inc., Bangor, Maine
Mid Iowa Bancshares Company, Algona, Iowa
Midwest Bankers' Bancorporation, Inc., Jefferson City, Missouri
MNB Bancshares, Inc., Malvern, Arkansas
Nacogdoches Commercial Bancshares, Inc., Nacogdoches, Texas
National Bancshares Corporation of Texas, San Antonio, Texas
Newburg Insurance Agency, Inc., Newburg, Missouri
Oxford Financial Corporation, Addison, Illinois
Penseco Financial Services Corporation, Scranton, Pennsylvania
Pinnacle Bancorp, Inc., Central City, Nebraska
Platte Valley Financial Service Companies, Scottsbluff, Nebraska
PNC Bank Corp., Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Pointe Financial Corporation, Boca Raton, Florida
Republic Bancorp, Inc., Louisville, Kentucky
Royal American Corporation, Inverness, Illinois
Royal Bank of Canada, Montreal, Canada
RSNB Bancorp, Rock Springs, Wyoming
Security Financial Services, Inc., Hibbing, Minnesota
Simmons First National Corporation, Pine Bluff, Arkansas
SouthTrust Corporation, Birmingham, Alabama
State Street Corporation, Boston, Massachusetts
Stichting Prioriteit ABN AMRO Holding, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Stratton Bancshares, Inc., Stratton, Colorado
Suntrust Banks Inc., Atlanta, Georgia
Superior Financial Holding Corporation, Two Harbors, Minnesota
Susquehanna Bancshares, Inc., Lititz, Pennsylvania
Talbot Bancshares, Inc., Easton, Maryland
Team Financial, Inc., Paola, Kansas
Tescott Bancshares, Inc., Tescott, Kansas
Texas Bankers, Inc., Austin, Texas
Trinity Capital Corporation, Los Alamos, New Mexico
U.S. Bancorp, Minneapolis, Minnesota
Umpqua Holdings Corporation, Rosenburg, Oregon
Valley Financial Corp., Caro, Michigan
Wachovia Corporation, Winston-Salem, North Carolina
Wells Fargo & Company, San Francisco, California
Whitewater Bancorp, Inc., Whitewater, White Water, Wisconsin
WJR Corp., Rancho Santa Fe, California
Yardville National Bancorp, Hamilton, New Jersey

Derivatives Revenues Up, Despite Y2K

WASHINGTON - Bank trading revenues rose $335 million in the fourth quarter, to $2.5 billion, while year-2000 preparations pushed overall volume down 2.4%, to $34.8 trillion, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency announced Monday."This is the fourth-largest amount of trading revenues we've seen" since the agency began tracking derivatives in 1990, said Michael Brosnan, deputy comptroller for risk evaluation. "Over the long haul we should expect to see trading revenues go up."

Interest rate contracts fell $462 billion, to $27.8 trillion, while foreign exchange contracts fell $468 billion, to $5.9 trillion, accounting for the bulk of the decrease in overall volume. However, other derivatives such as commodity and equity trading increased $36 billion, to $843 billion.

It was the first quarter in which the volume of interest rate contracts declined, but Mr. Brosnan said that was primarily a factor of the huge volume created over the summer as firms prepared for the year-2000 turnover.

Rising interest rates increased the value of the contracts for banks by $9 billion, to $396 billion, thus exposing them to higher credit risk. But Mr. Brosnan said the 2.2% increase in credit exposure "is too small of a move for me to be worried about. Examiners continue to report that the quality of the customer base is good."

Credit derivatives, which have the potential to address credit concentration risks, continued their steady rise, jumping $53 billion, to $287 billion at yearend.

Seven banks continued to dominate the derivatives market; they controlled 95% of the industry's share of this business. On average, trading revenues contributed 5.4% of gross revenues at these seven banks, down slightly from 5.7% in the third quarter. But J.P. Morgan skews the average, drawing 28% of its gross revenues from trading. That's up from 14% a year earlier.

- Michele Heller