February 2008



Stonier Keynote Speaker Dissects Decision-Making
By Patrick Dalton
Decision-making is a skill that is learned by making decisions and then examining those decisions to understand why things went right, while making sure that anything that went wrong is not repeated, says Michael Useem, director of the Center for Leadership and Change Management at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School in Philadelphia, and the keynote speaker for this year's upcoming ABA Stonier Graduate School of Banking. More >>

Regulatory/Legislative Recap
By ABA Staff
A proposal by the financial regulatory agencies and the Federal Trade Commission intended to improve credit report accuracy and give consumers more power to dispute report items should acknowledge that the current system works well, ABA said in a comment letter. Also in this section, read items about: OTS's potential role in regulating mortgage originators; trends in mortgage fraud; and information about upcoming ABA telephone briefings for directors. More >>

Hostile Resolutions
By Keith Leggett
While credit union minions declare that their cooperative business model puts the members' interests first -- unlike stockholder-owned businesses -- they then adopt positions contrary to that very declaration. More >>

A Technical Leap of Faith Pays Off
By John Ginovsky
Over a three-day weekend, Massachusetts-based Bank of Easton boldly and successfully switched to a completely new core processing system. The bank was one of the first adopters of Open Solutions' core data processing platforms, which recently were endorsed by ABA's Corporation for American Banking. More >>

A Commitment to Volunteerism
By Peter Carlivati
Dave Ramsey, a retiring banker who served as president of ABA's American Institute of Banking for years, drives home the true meaning of volunteerism and service to others. More >>

Parting Words
"The bottom line is that banks that do not serve the credit needs of their entire community do not prosper.  Drill down in a CRA public evaluation and you will read about how we compete for market share across all income levels and all neighborhoods. It is, therefore, not surprising that the banking industry excels at satisfying community credit needs." -- Rahn Barnes, vice president and CRA officer and manager of community development, Provident Bank, Baltimore, in testimony before the House Financial Services Committee.