Today's News

WASHINGTON credit unions are urging the government to let more consumers qualify for membership. Page 2 REGIONAL Summit of New Jersey announced management appointments for its entry into Connecticut. Page 4 CARDS First there was popcorn. Now video rental stores are adding automated teller machines and accepting debit cards. Page 9 INVESTMENT PRODUCTS INSURANCE: Taking simple precautions and maintaining a good attitude are keys to avoiding problems with insurance regulators paying added attention to bank programs, conferees were told. Page 11 COMMUNITY With their own year-2000 problems seemingly in hand, banks are now scrambling to ensure their borrowers will survive the date change as well. Page 13 SPECIAL REPORT Budgets for outsourcing of technology are expected to reach $6.8 billion by 2001. This special supplement looks at changes in bank-vendor relationships, in-house processing at smaller banks, and how one bank has found gold in joint ventures. Pullout section MORTGAGES Investors got hungry again for mortgage-backed securities in the last two weeks as volatility in the fixed-income markets settled down. Page 15 DIGITAL FRONTIERS ELECTRONIC COMMERCE: Digicash, which invented a virtual cash concept for the Internet, now must reinvent itself in bankruptcy. Page 18 TECHNOLOGY Outsourcing companies appear to be a step ahead of banks in their readiness to pursue brokerage and insurance business. Page 19 CORPORATE FINANCE Local Federal, an Oklahoma City thrift, is financing upscale commercial properties in New York City at a time when larger lenders with household names are sitting on the sidelines. Page 29 MARKETS Urging investors to be more selective about bank stocks, PaineWebber downgraded Bank One, Mellon, and PNC. Page 30