REGIONAL
Four years after creating a capital markets group, First Union told investors that the unit is on track for $2.2 billion of revenue this year. Page 3
COMMUNITY
A long-running feud between two Maryland banking companies has ended with one agreeing to pay its aggressive neighbor more than $6 million to go away. Page 5
Regulators have flunked a tiny bank in Wyoming on year-2000 compliance. Page 5
INVESTMENT PRODUCTS
though investors are supposedly more sophisticated about mutual funds, many seem still to be confused about fund fees and expenses. Page 7
MORTGAGES
NOW THAT Fannie Mae has launched its own noncallable debt program, it is hoping to create an alternative yield curve. Page 8
If banks do not closely watch their home equity lending standards, they could face the same problems as finance companies in the sector, the Comptroller's Office says. Page 8
WASHINGTON
The Treasury proposed a low-cost account banks may offer recipients of federal benefits delivered electronically. The account would be aimed at the roughly 10 million Americans who receive government checks but lack a personal account. Page 2
CARDS
This was the year of the feel-good ad in the credit card business. Typifying the trend was MasterCard's "Priceless" campaign, which earned accolades on and off Madison Avenue. Page 10
TECHNOLOGY
Two leading biometric security companies, announcing their merger this week, said they were casting a vote of confidence in the long-awaited emergence of a mass market for their products. Page 12
CORPORATE FINANCE
Standard & Poor's gave Livent, a Toronto theater company, the equivalent of a thumbs-down, cutting its senior unsecured debt to D from CCC. Page 21
MARKETS
Trading in Dime Bancorp and Astoria Financial stock surged as investors speculated that the two New York thrifts would merge. Back page
HF Bancorp, a $1 billion-asset Southern California thrift that agreed to sell to Temple-Inland, said it may take a $2.9 million charge to cover a loss from a customer check-kiting scheme. Back page
