Today's News

AFTER THREE YEARS as chief counsel to Comptroller Eugene A. Ludwig, Julie Williams gets almost as much credit as he does for sprucing up the national bank charter. "If Gene is the OCC's architect," says Banc One's top lawyer, "then Julie is the master builder." WASHINGTON Fights over the thrift charter's future will dominate the debate when the House Banking Committee meets today to vote on financial reform legislation. REGIONAL BANKING supervisors dating their subordinates? Most big banks in an informal survey have rules against it. COMMUNITY BANKING North Carolina's first start-up state savings bank, which opened for business only last November, now wants to become a commercial bank. MORTGAGES A wave of servicing portfolios has hit the market recently, but prices are holding up well. Mortgagebacked securities are helping Massachusetts create more comfortable lives for its residents. INVESTMENT PRODUCTS median pay for bank sales reps jumped 24% in two years to $68,000 in 1996, a survey found. CREDIT/DEBIT/ATMs American Express is forging ahead in its bid to take a share of the Latin American card market away from banks. TECHNOLOGY Clarion calls to the Internet are still the order of the day, as American Banker's Future Money conference in Atlanta showed. MARKET MONITOR Losses continue to rise in the securitized credit card portfolios of most banks. Investors caught their breath Monday, taking profits during a comparatively quiet session on Wall Street after last week's explosive run- up of bank stocks and other shares. LETTERS