Today's News

REGIONAL BANKING: FIRST COMMERCE Corp. has bought the second-largest independent bank left in Louisiana for an eye-popping 2.6 times book value. Central Bank's dominant market position in Monroe "means that First Commerce will be able to compete effectively" in northeastern Louisiana, according to Ian Arnof, the New Orleans bank's CEO. Page 4 STAR BANC CORP. is the latest institution seeking to take advantage of the "30-mile rule" to consolidate subsidiaries in multiple states into one unit. Page 4 WASHINGTON: THE COMPTROLLER's office is quietly trying to reverse the conventional wisdom about bank securities underwriting. Page 3 COMMUNITY BANKING: SHAREHOLDERS are waging a proxy battle to reinstate a Connecticut bank's popular former CEO, who was fired in January. Page 6 THE UNUSUALLY severe storm that flooded New Orleans last week proved that even safe deposit boxes aren't always safe. Page 6 COMPLIANCE: FROM COMMUNITY reinvestment to real estate lending, today's compliance officers must navigate among conflicting regulations. Page 8 NOW THAT Community Reinvestment Act rules are out, compliance consultants are scrambling to help bank clients adjust to the new requirements. Page 8 MORTGAGES: MARINE MIDLAND Mortgage Corp., in a move to expand its third-party home mortgage lending capability, has formed a unit that will deal exclusively with brokers and correspondents. Page 11 INVESTMENT PRODUCTS: Executives at one small Indiana bank seem to have found the secret of doing a brisk business in investments without having to cannibalize their deposits. Page 12 BANKS INTERESTED in building a money management business might do well to take a few pointers from someone who has been down that road. Page 12 CREDIT/DEBIT/ATMs: TECHNOLOGY: USAA FEDERAL Savings Bank is testing home banking software from Servantis Systems. Page 17 TRANSYS, the check processing division of CoreStates Financial Corp., is expanding its market with the opening of a second operations facility. Page 17

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