Today's News

COMMUNITY BANKING: THE DISAPPEARANCE of farmers from the highly competitive dairy business is forcing agricultural loan officers to consider whether highly leveraged smaller farmers can survive. Page 13 WASHINGTON: KEY HOUSE leaders appear ready to move legislation barring the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency from expanding bank insurance activities under the agency's "incidental to banking" authority. Page 2 GETTING INFORMATION, say, for a lawsuit, from an examiner's report isn't easy. But now, thanks to a rule issued by the Office of Thrift Supervision, supplicants at least can find out how to apply. Page 2 COMPLIANCE: BANKERS ARE SPLIT over a Federal Reserve proposal that would let lenders collect data on borrowers' race, color, gender, religion, and national origin. Page 9 THE FEDERAL DEPOSIT Insurance Corp. plans to pare by at least 25% the time its examiners spend in banks checking compliance with consumer-related rules. Page 9 CREDIT UNIONS: DAVID MARQUIS, the National Credit Union Administration's top examiner, has established himself after nine months on the job. He has become a member of Chairman Norman E. D'Amours' kitchen cabinet. Page 10 ALTHOUGH STRONG competitors on auto and unsecured loans, credit unions are lightweights in mortgage lending - failing to hold even 1% of the market. Page 11 MORTGAGES: BANKS MISSED the boat on home equity lending, an opportunity he saw and exploited after founding the Money Store in 1967, says Alan Turtletaub, the company's chairman. Page 14 ORIGINATIONS of home-purchase loans fell 17.5% nationwide in the first quarter of 1995. The sharpest decline, 26.7%, was in New Mexico; the smallest, 2.3%, in Connecticut. Page 15 INVESTMENT PRODUCTS: ESSEX CORP. was the top marketer of mutual funds and annuities through banks last year, according to a consultant. Aided by its fixed annuities niche, Essex had $2.6 billion of total sales. Page 17 CREDIT/DEBIT/ATMs: GEMPLUS CARD International has joined the Electronic Business Co-op, a consortium of technology companies developing secure transaction systems for computer networks. Page 20 MASTERCARD International said it has joined a group organized by Oracle Corp. to share ideas and discuss technical standards for interactive television. Page 20 TECHNOLOGY: HOGAN SYSTEMS, a bank software firm, has hired Morgan Stanley & Co. to explore "strategic alternatives" for it. The move could be interpreted as a prelude to a possible sale, an analyst says. Page 22