Today's News

KEITH PIERCE has guided Total System Services to an early lead in processing for commercial credit cards. Though a distant second in overall card processing, the Columbus, Ga., company has signed an impressive array of clients as it seeks to dominate this emerging niche. Page 14 WASHINGTON: THE HOUSE Banking Committee began work on regulatory relief legislation that appears threatened by partisan bickering and industry opposition to provisions limiting national bank insurance powers. Page 2 A NEW BREED of mutual takeovers has surfaced in the states of Maryland and Washington. It works like this: A mutual voluntarily dissolves, following decades-old procedures. A bank or thrift then buys the loans and deposits, and the mutual's depositors get the leftover capital. Page 3 REGIONAL BANKING: BANK SOUTH, following a national trend, is seeking to escape federal regulation by converting to a state charter. Page 4 STATE STREET Bank and Trust, under a memorandum of understanding with Unit Trust of India, will set up a joint company to provide fund accounting services to the subcontinent's estimated $33 billion mutual fund market. Page 4 COMMUNITY BANKING: OVER THE PROTESTS of West Virginia's bank commissioner, a handful of national banks are about to hop across the state line - some in and some out - using the "30-mile rule." Page 6 MINNESOTA BANKERS are worried by a recent spurt in bank robberies that's reversing a four-year decline. Page 6 COMPLIANCE: SOME OF the biggest banks in the country - including Chemical, Wells Fargo, and Natwest - are entrusting their Community Reinvestment Act compliance to a new software product. Page 8 MORTGAGES: R. HAROLD OWENS, hired in April to help form a consumer finance unit, has abruptly left Keycorp to become executive vice president and chief operating officer at World Acceptance Corp. Page 10 INVESTMENT PRODUCTS: THOUGH A NEW survey indicates that young people are desperately seeking investment advice, many bankers apparently are not interested in targeting this segment of the market. Page 13 TECHNOLOGY: FOURTEEN leading financial institutions have significantly reduced the cost of processing foreign exchange trades over the past two years, according to the results of a benchmarking study. Page 16 JACK HENRY & Associates said it has signed a letter of intent to acquire Broadway & Seymour's core banking software business. Page 16 FINANCE: ABOUT $17 BILLION of Citicorp debt has been placed under review for an upgrade by Standard & Poor's Ratings Group. Back page REFLECTING the continued use of derivatives as a risk management tool, Moody's Investors Service assigned counterparty ratings to 23 U.S. bank holding companies. Back page