Today's News

WASHINGTON

The Treasury Department's inspector general is investigating how the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency buys products and contracts for services. Page 2

REGIONAL BANKING

Soaring prices and record profits have made stock options especially effective as a tool for retaining senior managers, experts say. Page 6

COMMUNITY BANKING

The keys to effective charity policy are coordination to avoid duplication and a policy that determines what make the bank look good rather than what makes the top officers feel useful and important, columnist Paul Nadler writes. Page 8

TECHNOLOGY

A new fear is settling into the on-line banking community: The fear of commoditization, which reared its head repeatedly during Online '97, the American Banker's third annual cyberspace banking conference. Page 9

MORTGAGES

Cityscape Financial's problems are only going to get worse, according to some observers. Page 12

INVESTMENT PRODUCTS

Salomon Brothers and Lipper Analytical Services have teamed up to launch two options contracts linked to the performance of a pair of fund indexes. Page 15

Commerce Bancorp of New Jersey focuses on sales of commercial insurance by its growing team of entrepreneurial employees. The strategy is unusual; most banks cater to retail customers in their scramble to sell insurance in the wake of favorable regulatory rulings. "We go the opposite way of everyone else," said Vernon W. Hill 2d, Commerce's chief executive. Page 16

CORPORATE FINANCE

Three big U.S. money-center banks dominate the international corporate banking scene, according to preliminary results of a study conducted by Westport Consulting and FGI Research. Page 18

CREDIT/DEBIT/ATMs

Industry reaction to MasterCard's new advertising campaign was largely positive, with industry observers hopeful that the card association will put a new shine on its image. Page 19

MARKET MONITOR

The growth frenzy that made subprime auto lenders so captivating to investors a year ago is now causing big problems. Prices of several auto lenders plunged after the companies posted earnings that missed estimates because rising loan losses had forced them to build reserves. Page 30

MONTHLY REPORT: MORTGAGE TECHNOLOGY

As lenders selling mortgages via the Internet proliferate, the benefits and drawbacks of this activity are becoming clearer. Page 14

For reprint and licensing requests for this article, click here.
MORE FROM AMERICAN BANKER