WASHINGTON
Glendale Federal will seek as much as $1.86 billion in damages from the government in its regulatory goodwill suit, according to court documents filed last week. Page 2
Sallie Mae is gearing up for a major transformation from a government- sponsored enterprise to an independent company. Page 4
REGIONAL BANKING
Bank of the West, a $4.9 billion-asset subsidiary of Banque Nationale de Paris, created a business banking division with six new offices. Page 7
MORTGAGES
With many of the largest lenders now pushing retail expansion to build market share, emphasis is on identifying and establishing a presence in the most promising regional markets, columnist Edward Kulkosky writes. Page 8
INVESTMENT PRODUCTS
Hoping to polish their image as capable, objective money managers, banks are hiring more and more certified financial planners. Page 10
Mutual fund company Delaware Management Holdings reached into its parent company for a corporate strategist to run its sales and marketing unit. Page 10
TECHNOLOGY
CS First Boston will rely on a new computing platform from Informix Software to bring a paperless trading floor closer to reality. Page 13
Mellon launched an Internet-based electronic commerce service for its corporate customers. Page 14
COMMUNITY BANKING
The chief executive of Kentucky's largest independent bank, Pikeville National, cited "the call of the wild" as reason for resigning after less than two years in the top spot. Page 18
CREDIT/DEBIT/ATMs
CARD FRONTIERS: Visa International is partnering with four South African banks to roll out a national smart-card system. Page 20
Visa U.S.A. pledged to donate at least $1 million to Reading is Fundamental, the nation's largest nonprofit children's literacy organization. Page 21
M&A REVIEW
Independence-minded small regional banks are curbing their merger appetites because acquisition premiums have soared recently, selling for as much as 280% of their book value. Page 26
The average price of buying a bank exceeded twice book value during October, a threshold that typically has signaled that deals are becoming too expensive. Page 26
FINANCE
Norfolk Southern returned to its bank group for more ammunition - a $12.5 billion loan package - in its hostile bid for control of Conrail. Page 30
Analysts continued to cut ratings Tuesday, arguing that the big profits in the bank sector already have been made. Fleet, Barnett, and Signet ratings were cut one notch each by Anthony Davis of Dean Witter Reynolds. He said the three were trading at or near his price targets. Back page
