Today's News

CREDIT/DEBIT/ATMs: VISA INTERNATIONAL reported, as expected, that it had a banner year in 1994, with consumer sales jumping 22%. That trailed MasterCard International's 26% growth rate. Page 16 THE NUMBER of automated teller machines in the United States increased by more than 14,000 last year, bringing the total above 100,000 for the first time. Page 17 WASHINGTON: A KEY national bank regulator proposed a plan designed to spur the creation of a secondary market for small business loans. Page 2 REGIONAL BANKING: HARD FEELINGS simmering since NationsBank acquired Dallas-based First RepublicBank Corp. in 1988 have erupted again following the elimination of nearly 100 jobs at the North Carolina bank's Texas operation. Page 8 COMMUNITY BANKING: SECURE AT LAST in reducing excess capital, more community banks and thrifts are buying back their own stock. Page 10 FIRST BANK of Kansas City says it has fixed the problems that led to a poor CRA grade last year, but not everyone in the Missouri community is convinced. Page 11 MORTGAGES: STEVE GINDER is savoring the good fortune of acquiring 10 mortgage production offices from the Bank of New York as he melds them into his company, National Pacific Mortgage Corp. of Anaheim, Calif. Page 12 PRIVATE mortgage insurance companies are continuing to do quite well in the home loan marketplace despite declines in origination volume since the end of the refinance boom. Page 13 INVESTMENT PRODUCTS: THE ELDERLY, women, and minorities are the engines that will drive investment product programs into the future, industry experts say. And speakers at an American Bankers Association retail conference said each customer segment will require a different marketing strategy and, in some cases, changes in bankers' perceptions. Page 14 BANK SALES representatives are doing a poor job of explaining to consumers the risks of buying investment products. That's the conclusion of a recent telephone survey of 100 investment representatives at 20 of the largest banks in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York. Page 15 TECHNOLOGY: NORWEST CORP., the second-largest originator of automated clearing house transactions, has joined a bank-owned network that hopes to loosen the Federal Reserve's grip on ACH processing. Page 19 FINANCE: CHASE MANHATTAN shares led a broad bank stock rally after investor Michael F. Price disclosed a 6.1% stake in the New York bank. Back page