NEWS PAPER ARTICLE:
Five star online banking helps the small survive
Texas Technology,
January 2001
www.ttechnology.com
THIS ARTICLES DISCUSSES HOW IBAT HAS BEEN HELPFUL IN ACTING AS A CATALYST FOR THE ONLINE BANKING INDUSTRY.
The Independent Bankers Association of Texas (IBAT) recently bestowed its Five Star Award to FundsXpress (www.fundsxpress.com), an e-financial services company which specializes in providing Internet services and products to community and independent financial institutions. As the IBAT's highest and most prestigious designation, the Five Star Award honors a company that has continually shown a commitment to community banking by the products and services it provides to the industry. The IBAT lists other award criteria as well, including human factor, integrity, never-ending commitment, and exceptional cost savings.
"FundsXpress provides many of our member banks the capability to offer Internet banking services to their customers in order to keep community banks competitive," said Christopher Williston, IBAT president. Williston went on to describe FundsXpress as deserving of the award, as a result of its Internet banking services that allow smaller banks to provide online banking, brokerage, insurance and lending without the cost of internal technology development.
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|  | | | JOURNAL ARTICLE:
Los Angeles Business Journal
August 20, 2001
Author/s: Danny King
Mergers Take Toll on L.A. Banking.(Los Angeles)(Industry Overview)(Statistical Data Included)
THIS ARTICLE SPECIFICALLY TALKS ABOUT US BANKING INDUSTRY AND IT SPECIFIES HOW MERGERS HAVE BEEN TREND TO SURVIVE.
The local banking industry is undergoing yet another wave of consolidations, with four of L.A.'s 25 largest banks disappearing over the past year and more likely to follow.
The result: Only 87 banks are now based in Los Angeles County, about half the 167 based here a decade ago, according to Bauer Financial Reporst Inc.Unlike the mega-mergers that swallowed Security Pacific Bank in 1992 and First Interstate Bancorp in 1996, the current wave of mergers is swallowing mid-sized L.A. banks, such as Imperial Bank, Tokai Bank and First Security Bank.
The remaining L.A. institutions are larger mid-sized banks, most of which have reached their current bulk by consuming smaller competitors, and very small banks -- those not large enough to yet qualify as takeover targets. But even those tiny institutions are now being approached, as ever-more-aggressive large and mid-sized banks realize that buying a single-branch bank is often more cost effective than opening a new branch of their own.
Tiny targets
Anthony Kourounis, president of California Oaks State Bank, a one-branch Thousand Oaks bank with just $56.4 million in assets, said he regularly receives buyout proposals, even though his bank is only three and a half years old.
Contusion swirls
The pace at which the mergers and subsequent operational integrations are taking place was evident last week when a call to the former Beverly Hills headquarters of Republic Bank was answered: "Good morning, Republic, (pause) HSBC."
Institutions that have managed to remain independent and grow internally are moving up the list, primarily as a result of larger competitors getting bought out.
Bay Area Banks Tower Over L.A.'s
The largest Bay Area-based banks
have assets far in excess of those
held by top L.A. banks.
Assets
Rank L.A. Banks (billions)
1. United California Bank $11.0
2. City National Corp. 9.1
3. EastWest Bancorp 2.6
4. Citizens Business Bank 2.3
5. Cathay Bank 2.3
6. GBC Bancorp 2.1
7. California Commerce Bank 2.1
8. Farmers & Merchants Bank of L.B. 2.0
9. Mellon 1st Business Bank 1.9
10. Chinatrust Bank 1.7
ASSESTS:
Bay Area Banks (billions)
Wells Fargo Bank $103.7
California Federal Bank 60.5
World Savings Bank 48.5
Union BanCal Corp. 33.3
Bank of the West 10.6
Silicon Valley Bank 5.6
Bay View Bank 5.5
Greater Bay Bancorp 5.1
WestAmerica Bank 4.0
First Republic Bank 3.8
Sources: Business Journal Research,
San Francisco Business Times
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