Today's News

CREDIT UNIONS: WILLIAM BROOKS, chief executive of Lafayette Federal Credit Union, has been a harsh critic of Norman E. D'Amours since Lafayette lost $200,000 it had invested in Capital Corporate Federal Credit Union, which failed in January. But today, Mr. Brooks and others are taking their case for a refund to Mr. D'Amours. Page 8 A HANDFUL of cutting-edge credit unions are reaching out through the Internet, where members can send messages, fill out loan applications, or transfer funds. Page 9 INVESTMENT PRODUCTS: MUTUAL FUND executives saw commercial banks two years ago as thriving sales outlets for their products. Today, many of them are trying to understand why banks haven't lived up to advance billing. Page 10 NBD BANCORP will overhaul its retail investment business, creating a brokerage unit and ending its relationship with investment marketing firm Essex Corp. Page 11 MORTGAGES: PRICES of mortgage-related stocks have climbed with the market in recent months. As a result, analysts have downgraded some stocks on the basis of price rather than business fundamentals. Page 13 FIRST MORTGAGE Corp. has reported disappointing results for its 1995 fiscal year. The lender, based in Diamond Bar, Calif., lost $548,000 for the year ended March 31, compared to a profit of $5 million the previous year. Page 15 TECHNOLOGY: THIS YEAR's National Operations and Automation Conference is placing more emphasis on community banking and high-technology issues in an effort to reignite waning interest among bankers and vendors. Page 18 COMMUNITY BANKING: AT LEAST SEVEN new banks plan to open their doors this year in North Carolina, a sharp jump from recent years that could signal a new round of start-ups. Page 22 WISCONSIN agricultural bankers reported higher loan-to-deposit ratios, fewer funds for farm loans, and more non-real-estate agricultural loans than neighboring states in a recent Fed survey. Page 23 CREDIT/DEBIT/ATMs: BUSINESS IN CHINA and the Asia/Pacific region grew at an unprecedented pace in the first quarter, and MasterCard's global credit and debit card volume jumped to $103 billion, 26% above the year-earlier level. Page 24 IDEON GROUP, the parent of SafeCard Services, took a beating on the New York Stock Exchange last week after reporting poor results from its cobranded PGA Tour Partners credit card and lower-than-expected earnings. Page 25 FINANCE: AN IMPORTANT way in which banks have fought the loss of market share on both the asset and liability side is by activities that do not appear on the balance sheet, writes consultant Anat Bird. Page 30

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