Today's News

TECHNOLOGY: BILL GATES, chairman of Microsoft, is a much less fearsome figure to bankers now that the Justice Department has scuttled his merger with Intuit. The deal would have created the Godzilla of personal finance software. Page 18 SUN MICROSYSTEMS is planning a series of product announcements today aimed at spurring electronic commerce for banks and other businesses. The products are intended to improve access to information-based services on public computer networks and to ensure transaction security. Page 18 WASHINGTON: A COALITION of consumer groups took aim at the banking industry's plan for regulatory relief, proposing instead a four-point plan to reduce paperwork and enhance customer protections. Page 2 CONTRARY to common understanding, the government has no plan to build the Bank Insurance Fund above its targeted level of $1.25 in reserves for every $100 of deposits insured. Rather, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. is proposing to adjust premium rates swiftly in order to keep the fund at 1.25%. Page 3 REGIONAL BANKING: FOURTH FINANCIAL is seeking approval from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to move its Missouri bank to Kansas and operate in both states under one charter, that of Bank IV Kansas. Page 4 SMALL BUSINESS: CANADIAN IMPERIAL Bank of Commerce decided to automate its loan decisions but couldn't just plug into a ready file of information. Canadian credit bureaus have no information on the nation's estimated 1.2 million small companies. That meant the bank had to build a scorecard. Page 5 WHATEVER the disagreements it may provoke, credit scoring is undeniably a tool that bankers nationwide hope will make their loan underwriting more efficient. Page 6 INVESTMENT PRODUCTS: SOME BANKERS at the mutual fund industry's annual confab predicted a shakeout that will see many banks give up managing mutual funds. Page 8 CITICORP, which manages only $3.9 billion of U.S. mutual funds, is homing in on opportunities overseas. It says has boosted its global fund assets to $30 billion, up 50% in the past 30 months. Page 8 COMMUNITY BANKING: BROOKLYN's Bay Ridge Bancorp has agreed to be acquired by a neighboring mutual holding company, the parent of Independence Savings Bank, for $140 million in cash, or 1.4 times book value. Page 10 CREDIT/DEBIT/ATMs: FEW BIG CARD portfolio deals have come down the pike this year like Mellon Bank's $230 million acquisition of 480,000 accounts from U.S. Bancorp in March. In fact, investment banker Robert K. Hammer expects only 20 portfolio sales of Visa and MasterCard accounts this year. Page 16 YORK FEDERAL Savings and Loan became the first member of the MAC regional electronic banking network to take its processing business elsewhere, hiring Mellon Network Services. Page 17 MORTGAGES: MARKET SHARE for government-subsidized loans dropped sharply in the first quarter of 1995, to 12% from 17% a year earlier, according to a survey by TRW Redi Property Data. Page 14 FINANCE: SHORT INTEREST in banking stocks traded on the New York and American stock exchanges rose by 7.1% in the month ended May 15, to more than 156 million shares. See table on page 22 and article. Back page ACTIONS SPOKE louder than words when Chase Manhattan eliminated the ability of shareholders with 25% of the common stock to call special meetings. The bylaw change signaled that "vulture" investor Michael Price is seen as more of a threat than the money-center bank has been willing to admit. Back page

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