Today's News

FINANCE

Standard & Poor's lowered its ratings on $9.3 billion of Bankers Trust debt, saying earnings are not likely to recover soon from "the impairment of the derivatives franchise." Back page

Bank mergers have cost SPP Hambro some partners, but the one-stop- shopping craze has helped the investment boutique to continue building its practice. Back page

REGIONAL BANKING

Bay View Capital, a California thrift whose disgruntled shareholders threw out the CEO last year, is on a roll. Four analysts put "buy" ratings on its stock, reacting to a deal to buy a finance firm. Page 4

The surprise resignation of the top executive at its U.S. operation has triggered speculation that Deutsche Bank's bank's further expansion here will largely be run from London. Page 4

WASHINGTON

Comptroller Eugene A. Ludwig says banks are in danger of being replaced by software companies as the primary point of customer contact. "Banks should be developing financial software," he says. "After all, that is banking." Page 2

Regulators may not need hundreds of new call report entries to estimate rate risk, two Fed supervisors say. Page 2

COMMUNITY BANKING

Two units of a community bank have won Ohio's first general insurance sales licenses for agencies that aren't part of an insurance company. Page 6

After a solid year for small banks across most of the country, 1996 is shaping up as a tough one - especially for those largely dependent on core deposits for their funding. Page 7

CREDIT/DEBIT/ATMs

The Pulse EFT Association has formed a research and development committee to analyze emerging electronic products and services. Page 10

Unisys has been licensed to help sell and deploy Mondex's electronic cash technology worldwide. Page 10

INVESTMENT PRODUCTS

How are companies that market investments for banks doing? The only one that's publicly traded says it downsized drastically last year. Page 12

TECHNOLOGY

The network security company known as V-One has developed software for businesses to use smart cards for secure transactions on the Internet. Page 13

The U.S. Council on International Banking and KPMG Peat Marwick have launched a survey to assess bank performance in the $200 billion letter-of- credit industry. Page 13

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