Today's News

WASHINGTON:

FAILING to prevent the Chemical-Chase merger at the regulatory level, New York-based community activists have filed suit in federal and New York State courts in an effort to disrupt the deal.

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SMALL-TOWN bankers outflanked White House aides recently to crash a presidential dinner party, resulting in a friendly impromptu tete-a-tete with President Clinton.

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REGIONAL BANKING:

MIDSIZE BANKS, buoyed by robust loan growth and fee income, reported generally strong fourth-quarter earnings this week.

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KEYCORP IS CAPITALIZING on the spectacle that is the Super Bowl to launch a new slogan and a new image of itself as an affable, customer- oriented bank.

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COMMUNITY BANKING:

CALIFORNIA'S small-bank executives are attacking a report that blames the sector's recent problems on the state's weak economy and sour commercial real estate investments. Who do the execs blame? Bank managers.

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NEW YORK lawmakers Tuesday were poised to pass a bill opting in early to interstate branching and allowing out-of-state banks into the Empire State by buying a branch.

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INVESTMENT PRODUCTS:

GREAT WESTERN Financial has set up its growing retail brokerage as an independent company. James H. Overholt was named president and chief executive of the new brokerage.

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WITH MUTUAL FUND investors shifting from bond to stock funds, Aim Management is being transformed from a wallflower to a big winner in its market, doubling its sales during 1995.

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MORTGAGES:

GREAT WESTERN FINANCIAL, Washington Mutual, and other large thrifts reported solid 1995 earnings despite increases in their short-term funding costs.

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The former chief executive of Chemical Residential Mortgage is in the midst of a deal to buy a small St. Louis-based firm, Patriot Mortgage.

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CREDIT/DEBIT/ATMs:

The denial of a Toys 'R Us card to Fed Governor Lawrence B. Lindsey was a crushing blow to statistical credit scoring systems and an embarrassment to bankers.

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AMERICAN EXPRESS complained to the European Commission that Visa had employed anticompetitive tactics by seeking to prevent member banks from issuing other brands of cards.

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TECHNOLOGY:

THE NEW Electronic Federal Tax Payment System will increase administrative burdens for corporate taxpayers and impair their cash management practices, according to a prominent trade organization.

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THE ALLIANCE of transaction processor Verifone and Internet software developer Netscape helps allay bankers' fears that they might be ignored in the world of cyberbanking.

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FINANCE:

ANALYSTS slashed by more than 8% the earnings forecasts for Bankers Trust New York Corp., in the wake of the firm's disappointing earnings for 1995.

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The latest accounting proposals for derivatives deals could force the development of new risk management products to replace common interest rate swaps.

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