Banks rush to make most of high call rates

MUMBAI: Banks were trying to make the most of the rise in short term money market rates on Wednesday. Just as interest rates in the inter-bank call market and the market for collateralised operations crossed the 6% mark, banks rushed to park funds in these markets, leaving the central bank with bare minimal cash flows to absorb at the reverse repo window.

While the call money market saw volumes of around Rs 12,301 crore, the market for collateralised borrowing and lending obligations (CBLO) had volumes rising to Rs 27,580 crore. The Reserve Bank of India did not receive any bids in the first session of liquidity adjustment, but in the afternoon session, banks parked only Rs 10 crore with the central bank.

Call money rates opened the day at 4-4.5% levels, but ended much higher at 6.75-7% levels. Similarly, rates in the CBLO market opened at 5% levels, but rose to 7.20% levels later in the day. The central bank offers banks a rate of 6%, when they park funds through reverse repo operations.

For the past few weeks, call rates and rates in the CBLO market had been trading at below 1% levels. This situation had caused banks to look for other avenues to park their cash, and most of them tried to park funds at the RBI’s reverse repo window. Again, this route also had limitations as the central bank would absorb only flows worth Rs 3,000 crore on a given day.

The rising interest rates and shrinking liquidity took a toll on the prices of government bonds. The yield on the benchmark paper, the 7.49% bond maturing in 2017, ended the day at 8.23%, up from the previous close of 8.2%.

The central bank conducted an auction of treasury bills worth Rs 6,000 crore, in a bid to suck out the excess cash flows from the system. The RBI issued 91-day t-bills worth Rs 3,500 crore and set a cut-off yield of 7.39%, higher than the previous cut-off of 7.14%. The central bank set a cut-off yield of 7.66% on the 182-day t-bills, issued worth Rs 2,500 crore. At a previous occasion, the RBI had set a cut-off yield of 7.81%.

The rupee, on Wednesday, ended at 40.97/98 levels, weaker than the previous close of 40.90/91 levels per dollar. Treasury managers attributed the weaker rupee to falling appetite of global investors for risky assets. Oil companies were also seen purchasing the dollar. However, exporters who sold dollars when the rupee breached the 41-mark, helped curb the local currency from falling further.

Meanwhile, a volatile rupee has caused the yields on forward contracts to rise substantially. The yield on the one-month contract rose to 3.9% from the previous close of 1.96%, while the six-month premia closed at 3.34% (2.97%). Similarly, the yield on the one-year contract ended at 3.03%, as against Tuesday’s close of 2.81%.

Stocks can't muster turnaround

End roller-coaster day in the red after Dow rises then falls over 100 points; oil jumps over $1, Treasurys rally.
Stocks made a late-day attempt at positive territory Friday, but in the end finished a roller-coaster day slightly lower as thin trading and rising oil prices overshadowed earlier economic news.

The 30-share Dow industrials (down 13.66 to 13,408.62, Charts) lost about 0.1 percent, while the broader S&P 500 (Charts) and the tech-heavy Nasdaq (Charts) slipped about 0.2 percent. At one point the Dow was up over 100 points, then down by that much.


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"I don't see anything fundamental here, we probably just lost a lot of market participants," said Art Hogan, chief market analyst at Jefferies and Co.

Hogan said trading volume on the New York Stock Exchange and the Nasdaq slowed considerably in the afternoon.

Todd Clark, director of stock trading at Nollenberger Capital Partners in San Francisco, said rising oil prices and continued inflation fears may be eroding the morning gains, but he also noted the upcoming holiday week and thin trading.

Oil rose over $1, bonds rallied and the dollar fell against the euro and yen.

Friday marked the last trading day for the first half of the year.

So far this year, the Dow is up 7.6 percent, the Nasdaq is up 7.2 percent, and the S&P is up 5.7 percent.

For the quarter, the Dow is up 8.5 percent, the Nasdaq is up 7.5 percent, and the S&P has risen 5.8 percent.

For June, the Dow is down 1.6 percent, the Nasdaq is even, and the S&P fell 1.8 percent.

For the week, the Dow added about 0.4 percent and the Nasdaq rose roughly 0.5 percent. The S&P 500 inched higher.

Next week the big number will be the monthly jobs report, set for release Friday.

Other than that, there's little in the way of earnings or other economic reports slated, and markets will close early on July 3 and remain closed July 4 for the Independence Day holiday.

As Clark put it, next week traders will be watching "burgers and dogs on the grill."

Fed holds rates steady again

The nation's central bank keeps a key short-term rate at 5.25% but Bernanke & Co. still worried about inflation.

The Federal Reserve left a key short-term interest rate unchanged Thursday and indicated it was still worried about inflation, a sign the central bank will leave rates alone for a while instead of cutting them despite concerns about a sluggish economy.

In its widely watched statement, the Fed eliminated its characterization of core inflation as being "elevated," saying that "readings on core inflation have improved modestly in recent months."

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But the Fed added that "a sustained moderation in inflation pressures has yet to be convincingly demonstrated." The statement came out at the end of a two-day meeting for the Fed in Washington.

Investors seemed unsure how to react to the news. Stocks extended early gains right after the Fed's announcement but wound up pulling back, closing mixed for the day.

Treasury bonds fell, pushing the yield on the benchmark U.S. 10-year Treasury note up to 5.10 percent from about 5.08 percent late Wednesday. Bond prices and yields move in opposite directions.

American Financial Realty Trust Closes Bank Property Acquisition With Heritage Oaks Bank

JENKINTOWN, Pa., June 28 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- American Financial Realty Trust , a real estate investment trust focused on acquiring and leasing properties occupied by financial institutions, today announced that it has completed the sale-leaseback transaction of four fully occupied bank properties from Heritage Oaks Bank, a leading community bank located on California's central coast. Heritage Oaks Bank, headquartered in Paso Robles, California, is wholly-owned by Heritage Oaks Bancorp . The properties were acquired in a cash transaction for an aggregate purchase price of approximately $12.8 million before acquisition costs. The portfolio assets, consisting of three bank branches and an administrative office building, aggregate approximately 38,300 rentable square feet and are located in the municipalities of Arroyo Grande, Paso Robles and Santa Maria, California.

Heritage Oaks Bank will continue to fully occupy the properties under triple net leases, for an initial term of 15 years. The Company anticipates an average capitalization rate (average revenues over the remaining term of the leases less operating expenses divided by the gross purchase price) of approximately 7.00% before transaction expenses based on the projected cash flows. The net rental income under the lease will be subject to annual increases.

The transaction was facilitated under a relationship between American Financial and Sandler O'Neill Partners, L.P., to deliver sale-leaseback financing opportunities to middle market financial institutions in the United States.

"We are pleased to establish a new customer relationship with Heritage Oaks Bank," commented Glenn Blumenthal, chief operating officer of American Financial Realty. "This transaction demonstrates the value of AFR's flexible acquisition structure that enables banks and other financial institutions to rationalize their real estate holdings while maintaining long term stability." Mr. Blumenthal continued, "I'd like to thank our partners at Sandler O'Neill whose knowledge of financial institutions in California's central coast made a seamless execution of this transaction. I look forward to growing and strengthening our relationship with the Sandler team."

About American Financial Realty Trust

American Financial Realty Trust is a self-administered, self-managed real estate investment trust that acquires properties from, and leases properties to, regulated financial institutions. The Company through its operating partnership and various affiliates owns and manages its assets primarily under long-term triple net and bond net leases with banks. The Company is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol AFR.

Grand designs

The porcupine skylines of the world's great commercial hubs are in constant flux. Attenuated offices pierce the smog, while street grids are bounded ever more tightly by great planes of glass, steel and marble, the material language of the corporation. Yet despite this international boom, the corporate HQ is today an endangered architectural typology.

There was a time, at the height of modernism, when corporate architecture drove design, when technological progress, innovation and the avant-garde produced an explosion of superb buildings - the green-glass delicacy of New York's Lever House, the slick black of Owen Williams' art deco Daily Express building in London, and the same architect's awesomely modern factory for Boots in Nottingham. These proud, sometimes pompous structures continue to define both cityscapes and brands, as engrained in the popular consciousness as a city's squares or stations.

Between the 1920s and the early 1960s, the world's best architects spent a great deal of their time building for ambitious corporate clients who wanted their brands, values and achievements embodied in built form. The best have proved remarkably durable, from New York's Woolworth and Chrysler buildings to Chicago's Sears Tower.
But by the final third of the 20th century, large corporations had begun to shy away from self-aggrandising buildings and big civic presences. The increasing difficulty of finding central plots in major cities, allied with a reluctance to invest capital in exorbitant real estate, sent HQ building-projects out of fashion. Instead corporations turned to the flexibility of leasing, unwilling to spend on new architecture in a volatile business world. As the radical speed of change in new office technologies brought with it dreams of hot-desking and home-working, the future of the big HQ looked in doubt.

Yet corporate architecture remains perhaps the most powerful method of expressing brand value. Those few companies - big and small - who make an effort, truly stand out.

The histories of modern architecture and corporate building are intimately interlinked. In 1910, the architect and industrial designer Peter Behrens created the world's first co-ordinated corporate brand, for the German company AEG. His strategy embraced everything from logo to marketing literature to product ranges. But it was Behrens' architecture that was at the fore.

His 1909 turbine factory in Berlin was one of two keystones in the development of modernism. The other was Frank Lloyd Wright's 1904 building for the Larkin mail-order company, in Buffalo, New York, which introduced the now ubiquitous office atrium. Both Behrens' and Wright's buildings were austere, formal creations of brick and glass - blocky, simple and monumental.

Wright's Johnson Wax building (1936-39) in Racine, Wisconsin, attempted to create a humane working environment - fewer hierarchical floorplates; strange, exposed mushroom columns which freed up space; curvaceous streamlined corners - all of which presaged a new, futuristic architecture. Mies van der Rohe's Seagram building in New York (1954-58) remains one of the sleekest and most influential of skyscrapers: a perfect glass box, the colour of the Seagram product embodied in the subtly brown-tinted glazing.

The postwar era also saw the emergence of the campus office, usually associated with companies based on university grounds. Eero Saarinen (architect of JFK airport's sculptural TWA terminal, certainly the best bit of airline branding ever) defined the genre with his General Motors technical centre in Warren, Michigan (1948-56), and subsequently on campuses for IBM, Bell and John Deere.

A skyscraper boom followed in the next few decades, exemplified in Chicago's Sears Tower (1974-76, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill) and New York's AT&T building (1984, now the Sony building), designed by Philip Johnson, the first major expression of post-modernism with a neo-classical tint.

The 1980s did not produce many masterpieces, but it did at least throw up radical ideas. Britain's high-tech architects began to surpass the big beasts of a by-now dulled US corporate-architectural culture, most notably with Norman Foster's Hongkong and Shanghai Bank, and Richard Rogers' Lloyd's building.

The typology arguably never recovered from the recession that followed. But some exceptions continue to reinforce the potential of corporate architecture - not just for brand-building and ego, but also for employees' comfort and pride, and for the enhancement of their city.

30 St Mary Axe (Swiss Re), London 1997-2004

Rising a couple of blocks away from his old partner Richard Rogers' Lloyd's Building, Norman Foster's streamlined skyscraper launched a new generation of ambitious towers in the city. Although a resounding international success and one of the world's most recognisable contemporary structures, it initially proved awkward to let. This was at least partly due to its initial association with its builder, Swiss Re, which was too closely identified with the project for other potential lessees - hence the name change to its address. Nevertheless it has proved a catalyst for major new towers in the city, such as Renzo Piano's Shard London Bridge, due to start construction this year.

Lloyd's of London1979-84

Lloyd's may have started in a 17th-century coffee house, but it graduated to the machine age with Richard Rogers' astonishing building, which marked a new era in London architecture. With services, lifts and guts on the exterior, the interiors were left clear and expansive; while from the outside, the building resembled a huge engine for making money. Rearing up next to the Victorian iron and glass of Leadenhall Market, the Lloyd's building looked at once striking and at home in its context, signalling the dominance of Lloyd's in the market and its presence in the City.

Hongkong and Shanghai Bank, Hong Kong1979-86

Norman Foster's magnificent building is still one of the most dramatic HQs of the modern era. By constructing an exoskeleton, the architect cleared the internal spaces of structure and produced free-flowing floors with astounding views across Hong Kong island. The design also liberated ground space, making the building's undercroft both a shortcut through the island's unbelievably dense fabric, and a heavily used public plaza in a city where civic space is rare. Together with Richard Rogers' Lloyd's building, the Hongkong and imbued a flagging commercial modernism with a sense of daring and excitement - but also managed to harness the scale of corporate building to benefit the public realm.

Hearst Headquarters, New York 2000-06

Another entry from Foster & Partners and another building which looks set to reinvigorate a skyline. New York, home of the skyscraper, had fallen behind: a combination of recession, brutally efficient building techniques (which preclude all but the most basic architectural expression) and the effects of 9/11 had led to a stagnant skyline. The Hearst tower exerts a crystalline presence over midtown, its facets bouncing light back down onto the surrounding streets and sparkling at sunset like pink champagne. The simple act of cutting away the corners gives unexpected views diagonally across the city (as opposed to across the street grid) and also chimes with the theatrical art deco of its retained, 1920s base.

The New York Times Tower, New York Occupancy due in 2007

With its diaphanous skin, Times Tower's 52 storeys seem to dissolve into the sky. Renzo Piano has long excelled at corporate HQs, becoming the established architect of good taste - even if his refinement can occasionally segue into extremely competent blandness. But Times Tower does for Times Square what his Daimler Benz towers do for Berlin's Potsdamer Platz, laying a respectable, slick gloss on the cityscape. Due for completion later this year, the elegant building will be a huge boon to its media brand, and a competitor to the Hearst tower a little further uptown.

Novartis Campus, Basel Under construction

On a huge former industrial site on the banks of the Rhine, pharmaceutical firm Novartis is building the most architecturally ambitious chunk of corporate city currently under construction. Rather than opt for a single, monolithic structure, or even a consistent style, Novartis has carefully employed some of the most high-profile architects in the world - Rafael Moneo, Frank Gehry, Sanaa, and Diener & Diener - to create a dynamic series of places and a virtual museum of contemporary architecture. What I have seen so far remains (perhaps appropriately for big pharma) a little sterile, but is an exemplar of long-term ambition. It has also prompted local rivals Roche to commission a stunning tower - to be Switzerland's tallest - for its campus, designed by Herzog & de Meuron, architects of London's Tate Modern.

McLaren Technology Centre, Woking, England 1998-2004

Foster again, here with a building as streamlined as the Formula 1 cars manufactured inside. The site houses a group of F1 high-tech companies that encompass the whole process - from design and testing to construction - in a series of curvaceous buildings set by a large artificial lake. This provides cooling for the interiors, whose spaces are arranged around a series of double-height internal streets - progress through the building feels more like a stroll through a mini-city than a factory complex. The structures are kept low and unobtrusive, making minimal impact on the surrounding countryside. This inconspicuousness makes the revelation of the brilliantly clean and bright interiors all the more astonishing.

ING Bank, Budapest 2003

A little off-the-wall, this one, but a fascinating attempt at embracing a landmark building and subverting it with a new extension. ING's first Hungarian office - from 1993 - was skilfully inserted into an old palace on Budapest's grandest boulevard by Dutch architect Erick van Egeraat. His second building for ING also sits inside a historic building, albeit one from a very different era - the communist trade union HQ. Grandly modernist, it is a powerful building, adorned with reliefs of heroic proletarian workers. This has been intelligently restored and converted, while a new wing, in glass, ripples along the street frontage, its skewed angles contrasting with the rational modernity of the old building. Old and new meet, clash a little and agree to continue. Extremely clever and hugely recognisable.

BREAKING NEWS: Chittenden Bank to be sold for $1.9 billion

BRIDGEPORT, Conn. -- People's United Financial Inc. said today it agreed to buy Chittenden Corp., Vermont's largest bank, for $1.9 billion in cash and stock, or $37 per share.

Bridgeport, Conn.-based People's United, which operates 160 branches in Connecticut, said the deal will create the "premier regional banking franchise in New England."

The purchase price, which is comprised of 55 percent cash and 45 percent stock, represents a 31 percent premium to Chittenden's Tuesday closing share price of $28.24.

Burlington-based Chittenden operates a number of banks with $6.4 billion in total assets and about 130 branches in Vermont, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine. Chittenden's $4.7 billion in loans consist mostly of commercial loans and residential mortgages.

The boards of both companies have approved the deal. The banks expect the deal to close in the first quarter of next year, pending shareholder approvals.

Take your (pension) lumps

Is it better to take your pension as a lump sum or an annuity? Walter Updegrave tells you how to make sure you're getting the most from your retirement dollar.

NEW YORK (Money) -- Question: My wife and I are planning to retire next year when I'll be 59 and she'll be 60. Together we have about $600,000 in a 401(k), plus I have a pension that I can take as a lump sum of approximately $1 million or as an annuity that will pay $60,000 a year to me or my wife as long as one of us is alive. I'd prefer to take the lump sum and invest the money myself. I'm thinking of laddering bonds plus investing in some mutual funds to hedge inflation. What do you think of my plan? - Peter, Princeton, New Jersey

Answer: For people like you who are lucky enough to have an old-fashioned defined-benefit company pension, the decision whether to take that benefit as a lump sum or as annuity payments for life can be a toughie. After all, a check-a-month for life takes a lot of uncertainty out of retirement and can give you a nice feeling of security. Indeed, research shows that people who have such pensions tend to be happier in retirement.

But the lump sum also has its advantages. You have more leeway for how much of your money you can take at any given time. And if you and your spouse die before it runs out, you can pass it along to your heirs. Of course, both have downsides. If your company runs into problems and can't afford to pay the pension, you could end up with lower payments. (Yes, the Pension Benefit and Guaranty Corp. does provide backup in such cases, but you could still end up losing some of your benefits.)

Since company pension payments are typically fixed, inflation will eat into your purchasing power over time. And while you may be able to invest your lump sum in a way to provide inflation protection, there's also the possibility that you could run through your money while you and your spouse still have lots of living to do.

But assuming the facts you've given me are correct, I think it's pretty clear that in your situation you ought to take the money and run. Why? Well, if you took the lump sum today, went to an insurance company and bought an immediate annuity that would guarantee you and your wife an income as long as either of you were still alive, you could get about $64,000 a year, according to our Income For Life calculator. And since that figure is based on an average of what insurers are now offering, I think you could easily do better with a little shopping around (which you can do by clicking here.)

It's possible the situation could be different next year, so you should check again closer to retirement time. But unless things change fairly dramatically, it would seem there's no advantage to taking your employer's annuity payments even if you wanted your entire pension in the form of monthly payments.
A retirement mistake Boomers should avoid

Of course, you say you prefer not to take your pension benefit in annuity payments. Fine. But you may want to consider converting a portion of your pension into guaranteed lifetime payments for you and your spouse. You could do that after you retire by rolling both your 401(k) money and the lump sum from your defined benefit pension into an IRA rollover account.

You could then use some of the money in that account to buy an immediate annuity. (Make sure the annuity is held in your IRA rollover. If you withdraw cash from your IRA rollover and then buy the annuity, you'll have to pay cash on your withdrawal, leaving you with fewer dollars for the annuity.) By doing this you would get the advantages both of having an assured income plus the ability to manage your retirement savings on your own.

How much might you consider "annuitizing," as they say in annuity-speak? Well, that depends on how much guaranteed income you think you need. Some people feel comfortable covering much of their basic living expenses with Social Security and other sources of guaranteed income, like a pension or annuity payments. They can then tap other assets like mutual funds, stocks and bonds for discretionary expenses like traveling and entertainment and emergencies.

A diversified portfolio of stocks and bonds can also provide the long-term growth you need to keep your purchasing power ahead of inflation, and act as a reserve in the event you meet big health care expenses later in retirement.

Barclays Bank and NCR Corporation introduce the first biometric-enabled ATM in the UAE

Barclays has selected NCR Corporation for the provision of NCR automated teller machines (ATMs), as well as for their maintenance across the UAE.

Forty years ago comedian Reg Varney (of UK TV's 'On the Buses' fame) changed the face of banking by becoming the world's first cash machine customer at Barclays Enfield branch in North London. On Wednesday 27 June 2007, the cash machine, ATM, or more colloquial 'Hole in the Wall', celebrates its 40th birthday.

The original machines, described as mini-banks or cash dispensers, were designed to allow customers access to cash 24 hours a day, outside of the restrictive opening times of banks during the 1960s. The machine was designed to dispense £10 against a special paper voucher which the customer inserted into the machine followed by a unique 4 digit personal code in much the same way as today. By the end of the 1960s there were 781 cash machines across the world (595 in the UK) by the end of 2006 there were 1.64 million worldwide (60,642 in the UK).*

Times have changed, technology has evolved and Barclays Bank UAE is proud to introduce biometric-enabled ATMs in the UAE for the first time.

The new ATMs at Barclays will be equipped with biometrics technology, which enables customers to be authenticated via fingerprint scanning. Biometrics is a secure form of authentication, a form of identification that can't be lost, stolen or forgotten, minimizing the risk of fraud.

The contract signed also includes a mix of full-function ATMs that can address advanced functions, such as Intelligent Deposit and a personalized Self Service ATM experience, as well as routine transactions including cash withdrawal.

Commenting on the agreement, Amin Habib, Managing Director, UAE and Gulf States said: 'Being different and providing innovative solutions is what Barclays brings to the UAE market .. Once again we are backing it up with the top-quality services that customers expect from Barclays. By the end of the year, Barclays local network will include two branches, three service centres and an ATM network. Our agreement with NCR will help to create a safe ATM network in the UAE.'

'The bank chose NCR because the company understood what we want to deliver to our customers and how that fits with Barclays strategy" said Farhan Waheed, Head of Retail Branch Banking, UAE.

Ahmad Qawasmeh, Gulf Managing Director, NCR said: 'Barclays strategy is focused on delivering growth across the UAE and doing so mandates competitive and differentiated customer service. NCR is proud to have been chosen by Barclays to assist them in achieving this goal. As the world's leading provider of ATMs and self-service solutions, NCR has the business acumen required to live up to the task.

Alleged bank robber arrested

FARMINGTON - The local police department's quick tactical response to an attempted bank robbery Monday may have solved a string of nine bank robberies in the area, including five in Bristol, three in Plainville and one at the People's Bank branch robbery that occurred in Farmington in March.


Police Sgt. Paul Lemieux arrested Richard Ferry, 44, of 124 Lakeside Drive, Bristol, just 10 minutes after he allegedly attempted to rob the Farmington Savings Bank branch at Scott Swamp Road and Plainville Avenue, police said.
Lemieux was in an unmarked car heading north on New Britain Avenue when he observed a vehicle matching the description of the robbery suspect's car speeding and operating erratically headed south within minutes of learning of the attempted heist at the bank branch, police said.
Immediately pulling a U-turn and calling for backup, Lemieux followed the suspect's vehicle through Farmington until it got on Route 177 (Scott Swamp Road) and then stopped just over the Plainville town line on Route 177 by the on-ramp to Route 372, according to reports.
"We had patrol officers respond to the bank and we had other officers approaching from the most likely areas where he would make his getaway," said Sgt. Daniel Devine. "Sgt. Lemieux spotted him, pulled him over and called for backup. He was arrested without incident."
Local detectives had been trading information with Plainville and Bristol police on a string of bank robberies in all three towns since March 28 when a suspect matching Ferry's description robbed the People's Bank in Post Office Square.
During that robbery, a lone suspect wearing a Boston Red Sox baseball cap toting a wallet in his mouth made off with an unspecified amount of cash. Devine said the detectives had received information that the suspect was driving a Jeep Cherokee - the same type of vehicle Ferry was driving Monday.
Plainville police said they are currently looking at "the possibility" Ferry may be a suspect in the three bank robberies they've had in recent months. "Certainly we're going to investigate the possibility, since the method of operating seems to be similar to robberies we've had in the past several months," Plainville Lt. Brian Mullins said.
Bristol Detective Lt. Thomas Killiany said city police have not identified any suspects in recent bank robberies in Bristol.
Though the suspect seen in surveillance footage of a May 30 robbery at the Bristol Broad Street branch of TD Banknorth bears a striking resemblance to that of a man who robbed the Post Office Square branch of People's Bank in Farmington March 28, Killiany could not definitively say the suspects are the same man.
Additionally, said Killiany, though the suspect shares similar physical characteristics to suspects from other bank robberies that have occurred in Bristol over the past several months, based on a number of factors, investigators cannot conclusively say those suspects are the same.
Ferry walked into the FSB branch about 10:52 a.m. Monday wearing a pink New York Yankees baseball cap and carrying a folded envelope in his mouth, Devine said, but when he handed the teller a note demanding money, the teller refused to comply and then Devine backed away from the counter and walked out of the bank without getting any cash. No weapon was shown and no one was injured during Monday's robbery attempt. Police in all three towns said the suspect has never shown a weapon during any of the robberies.
Ferry was arrested by Farmington police on charges of attempt at third-degree robbery, attempt at sixth-degree larceny, possession of drug paraphernalia and possession of narcotics.
Devine said officers found a baseball cap and a plaid shirt matching the description of those worn by the suspect in Ferry's car. Police also found small amounts of heroin and cocaine in the vehicle, Devine said.
Ferry was also arrested on an outstanding warrant for first-degree failure to appear issued by Hartford police. The original Hartford case stemmed from drug charges, Devine said.
Ferry was being held on $550,000 bond until his appearance in Hartford Superior Court today.
Farmington police had issued an alert requesting information from the public on the People's Bank robbery a few weeks ago.
Witnesses to the May 30 Bristol robbery described the suspect as being in his mid- to late-30s between 5-foot-7-inches and 5-foot-10-inches tall and weighing between 160 and 180 pounds. They said he wore a long-sleeve white button-down shirt, blue jeans and white sneakers and further attempted to disguise himself by wearing a dark blue Boston Red Sox baseball cap, with that team's trademark red "B" on the front, pulled low on his forehead and sunglasses over his eyes.
At that time, Bristol Lt. Thomas Grimaldi said that by all accounts the white male was alone when he entered TD Banknorth, and attempted to disguise himself by holding a white handkerchief over his mouth and nose. He handed the teller a note with a demand for cash, according to Grimaldi, but there was no mention of a weapon being used and no one was injured.
Anyone with information on the Bristol heists is encouraged to call police at (860) 584-3000 or the Criminal Investigation Division at (860) 314-4561.
Amy V. Talit contributed to this story.

Sale of Amro Unit Is Legal

ABN Amro does not need shareholder approval to sell its U.S. arm, a top Dutch government lawyer said Tuesday in an advisory opinion that increases the chances that the bank will ultimately be bought by Barclays.

The sale of ABN's Chicago-based LaSalle Bank to Bank of America was blocked by Amsterdam's Superior Court last month, bringing the largest takeover fight in the financial industry's history to a standstill.

ABN Amro Holding NV is at the center of a tug-of-war between two rival buyout offers from Barclays PLC and a consortium of banks led by Royal Bank of Scotland PLC.

Barclays' all share bid of roughly 61.9 billion euros ($83 billion) is worth at least 10 percent less than the mostly cash RBS offer, but it's dependent on the LaSalle sale going through. RBS wants LaSalle and its offer is dependent on the sale being blocked.

In a written submission to the Supreme Court, which is to rule on an appeal, Advocaat Generaal Levinus Timmerman said the sale was legal under Dutch law, and the Superior Court decision should be overturned.

The Superior Court had said that shareholders should have been consulted on the LaSalle sale, but Timmerman said the right of shareholders to approve a deal 'must be founded on a widely accepted legal conviction, which is not the case in the present matter.'

The Supreme Court almost always follows advice of the advocaat generaal, but is not bound to do so. Each party involved in the case will have a chance to respond to Timmerman's findings before the Supreme Court rules.

ABN Amro said it was studying the advocaat generaal's opinion and noted that it was an 'opinion ... and not a judgment.' It said it now expects a ruling in mid-July.

Dutch shareholders' union VEB said it would continue to lobby for the LaSalle sale to be unwound.

ABN Amro shares fell on the news, which brightens prospects for Barclays' lower offer. Shares dropped 1.8 percent to 34.12 euros ($45.93). Barclays shares fell 1.1 percent to 709 pence (10.64 euros, $14.14) in London.

At those levels, Barclays offer is worth 34 euros ($45.61) per share. RBS's offer is worth 37.40 euros ($50.17) _ suggesting investors now believe Barclays is likely to win the bidding war.

ABN's management had agreed to sell LaSalle to Bank of America Corp. for $21 billion (15.5 billion euros) in what was widely seen as a poison pill measure to avoid a deal with RBS.

Shareholders protested, saying that such a large sale should have been put to a general meeting.

The Superior Court agreed, in part because the sale was tied to a buyout of ABN as a whole _ which definitely requires shareholder approval.

But Timmerman focused instead on Dutch corporate law, which said shareholders need only be consulted on sales of assets that constitute more than a third of all operations.

That leaves open the possibility that shareholders could reject the Barclays merger even if the decision on LaSalle is taken out of their hands.

Notably, Timmerman explicitly stopped short of saying whether he thought ABN Amro's board of directors had acted 'unlawfully with respect to its shareholders by selling LaSalle' against their apparent interest.

That leaves open the possibility that ABN Amro's management could be vulnerable to shareholder lawsuits for mismanagement in preferring Barclays' lower offer.

Don't take your passwords to the grave!

Your survivors will have enough on their minds when you die, so take steps now to ensure it won't be a major trauma to access the financial accounts you keep online.

There's no question that online banking, electronic bill payment and personal-finance software make our lives easier.

"I am the co-executor of the trust and the most financially savvy of my siblings, so it was up to me to help mom. But what do you do without passwords?" poster Tuppermom asked. "And most companies don't just give you access -- it is a process that can take weeks and months (if they don't just say 'Oh -- he's deceased? OK, we'll close the account' and then NO ONE has access!!)."

Tuppermom's family got lucky when it stumbled upon a folder that contained passwords for some of her father's work-related accounts and one of his online banks. That provided enough clues to find and gain entry to most of his other accounts. The family's lawyers helped them get access to the rest, although the process took time.

The experience was so traumatic that Tuppermom and her family revised their own estate plans to include complete lists of online IDs and passwords for each of their accounts. Concern about identity theft and security, she wrote, shouldn't go so far that family members are left in the dark.

The family "learned that ID protection is not JUST about nobody knowing the passwords," Tuppermom wrote. "It is also about protecting the asset behind the password -- and making sure that if you can't access it, someone you trust can."

Cooperative Financial Services launches ethical account

Cooperative Financial Services has launched a new ethical student account to cater for the increasing demand for eco-friendly financial products among consumers.

A spokesperson for the group said that four-fifths of respondents in a poll would prefer an eco-friendly product over a non-eco friendly product.

She added: "Customers in general are becoming increasingly aware of the importance of ethics."

Cooperative Financial Services also explained that when choosing a student account it was important for young consumers to assess the whole package rather than simply be won over by various free gifts which many of these packages afford.

Incorporating the Co-operative Bank (with Smile), Cooperative Financial Services commented how the Smile student account won the best online account at the 2006 Your Money awards.

The account provides 3.04 per cent AER interest and a free overdraft of up to £2,000.

StanChart says China to be key in private banking

BEIJING, June 25 (Reuters) - Standard Chartered Plc (2888.HK: Quote, Profile, Research) (STAN.L: Quote, Profile, Research) said on Monday that China could be its largest market for private banking within 10 years, as the Asia-focused bank looks to leverage its growing list of corporate customers.

"I believe China will be the biggest contributor to private banking value for the group," China Chief Executive Katherine Tsang told reporters at the opening of the bank's first private bank office in China.

The bank will open an office shortly in Shanghai and plans to expand rapidly around the country in the coming years.

"We look to be in another eight to 10 towns and cities in China over the next three years," said Peter Flavel, the global head of Standard Chartered's private banking business.

The bank joins rivals such as Citigroup Inc. (C.N: Quote, Profile, Research) and France's BNP Paribas (BNPP.PA: Quote, Profile, Research) which have already set up private banking offices in China, where a 10-percent rate of annual economic growth in recent years has created more than 200,000 high net-wealth individuals.

Over the past month, Standard Chartered has launched its private banking business in 10 markets around the world, and will add another 10 markets in three to four years, said Flavel.

Standard Chartered's private banking targets high net-worth individuals with at least US$1 million in assets, most of whom will be recruited from the bank's list of corporate clients.

"Our clear focus is on business entrepreneurs and senior executives of multinational corporations, which is the natural sweet spot for Standard Chartered," said Flavel.

The bank will offer mutual funds, tax advisory services and inheritance planning as well as products approved for qualified domestic institutional investors (QDII), said executives.

Bahrain's banking community to participate at IMF/World Bank meeting

Bahrain's banking community will be supporting the Financial Services Development department of the Economic Development Board in hosting a showcase reception during the IMF/World Bank meetings to be held in Washington DC, USA, in October this year.

The theme of the reception will be : Bahrain - The Winning Formula - 1st for Finance in the Middle East and will be held at the prestigious Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery on Friday 19th October, 2007. As well as the chance to highlight Bahrain's exceptional status as the financial capital of the Middle East to a global audience, it is an excellent networking opportunity and offers an attractive base for business interests.

Ahli United Bank BSC (AUB) is one of the first banks to confirm its sponsorship of this event. Ahli United Bank is a fully fledged commercial and investment banking group providing wealth management, retail, corporate, treasury, offshore and private banking services through its operations in Bahrain and its subsidiaries in Kuwait, Egypt and the UK and its associate banks in Qatar and Iraq. AUB's strategy is to expand through both organic growth and acquisition in order to act as a 'multifaceted financial bridge' between the international financial markets and its Gulf clients. AUB was awarded 'Best Bank 2007 - Middle East' by Euromoney and Global Finance and 'Bank of the Year 2006 - Middle East' by The Banker.

Other Sponsors of the Showcase Reception so far are Al Salam Bank, BBK, Eskan Bank, Gulf International Bank, Investcorp, National Bank of Bahrain, Securities & Investment Company (SICO) and United Gulf Bank.

Debit Cards’ Popularity Grows, but 45% of Supermarket Transactions Still by Cash or Check

Phoenix Payments on 20th June 2007 announced the results of its tenth annual Consumer Payments Preferences and Usage Study, which examines preferences and usage of payment methods at point-of-sale and for recurring bills. This year’s study delves more deeply than those of prior years into the shift to debit card usage and consumers’ attitudes toward both PIN and signature debit payments.

“Debit card usage is growing, and consumers clearly prefer PIN to signature debit,” stated Ken Kerr, Vice President of Phoenix Payments. “Our analysis shows clients the reasons. We also break down changes in payment behavior by customer segments.”

The Phoenix study evaluates preferences and usage patterns for many payment types including contactless cards, cell phones, and new check processing methods, as well as the two types of debit payments. Phoenix assesses the implications of its findings on banks, processors, and vendors. The study also tracks 30 categories of billers, from mortgages to daycare providers to telecom providers, and 21 categories of merchants from gas stations to hotels.

“Everyone has a cell phone, but the phone as a payments channel is being over-hyped,” continued Kerr, “Consumers have serious security concerns, and few see a compelling reason to switch from cards to phones for payments. The analysis reveals consumers’ appetite for phone and other payment methods, and it identifies barriers to cell phone adoption that must be addressed.”

Banking on ‘Transformers’

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Hasbro Inc. struggled when the toy company tied its fortunes too closely to toys based on movies. But a movie based on its toys? That could be a different story.

Hasbro is banking that the July 4 release of the DreamWorks/Paramount movie “Transformers” — based on Hasbro’s “robots in disguise” toys introduced in the 1980s — will herald a new era for a toy company remaking itself as an entertainment company.

“‘Transformers’ sort of opens another chapter for us,” said Brian Goldner, Hasbro’s chief operating officer. “In the past, I think that the company may have thought too narrowly about its brands as forms of entertainment.”

In 2000, Hasbro lost $144 million after fads for Pokemon trading cards and the electronic pet Furby faltered.

Part of the problem was an over-reliance on movie tie-ins such as the “Star Wars” franchise, said Sean McGowan, an analyst with Wedbush Morgan Securities.

“They would be hot for a while, then not hot,” he said.

In reaction, Hasbro’s executives turned their focus to time-tested “core brands” such as Playskool, Monopoly, My Little Pony, Transformers and others, looking for ways to parlay them into new products that would keep the company growing.

An upside to the Transformer movie is that Hasbro owns the brand, so on most products it doesn’t have to pay royalties. And it’s signed up 230 licensees for the movie for items such as video games and cell phone games, Goldner said.

The idea for the “Transformers” movie started percolating in 2002, when Goldner and his team began re-examining Hasbro’s properties for boys. “Spider-Man” was making its debut as a live-action, blockbuster movie and Goldner thought Transformers could too.

“I looked at Transformers and G.I. Joe as opportunities to enter that same arena,” he said. “Three-quarters of now-adult men had played with these products as children.”

It’s not Transformers first foray onto the silver screen — there was an animated movie in the 1980s, as sell as an animated TV show and wildly popular comic books.

But in recent years, toy companies have ramped up their movie efforts.

Marvel Studios, a division of Marvel Entertainment, has had great success of late with movies based on its comic book characters: “Spider-Man,” “X-Men” and “Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer,” the 20th Century Fox film, which debuted as the No. 1 weekend flick last week with $57.4 million in sales.

Mattel also has released a series of successful direct-to-DVD movies based on Barbie. Later this summer, Lions Gate Films plans to release “Bratz,” a live-action movie based on the MGA Entertainment dolls.

The 1st International Libyan Conference for Development, Banking and Financing Concludes

Functions of the 1st International Libyan Conference for Development, Banks and Financing, which was organized by the National Planning Council and the National Council for Economic Development concluded in Tripoli on Tuesday evening, this is with the participation of throngs of local and international experts specialized in the banking financing from a number of finance institutions from Britain, France, Austria, Lebanon, Tunisia, Emirates, Egypt and Bahrain.

During the two day conference, the participants discussed several scientific papers, which dealt with Libyan banks, reality and horizons, reconstruction of the financial, banking and project financing sectors, the financing and investment institutions and their role in promoting economic and social activities, the inter-financial exchange, and infrastructure and financial services.

The participants recommended the need to develop and diversify financing and banking services methods which are presented by the Libyan banks to include all the methods and services which enable it to diversify income sources and to fulfill requirements of its clients.

They also recommended the formation of a work team to follow the implementation of the proposals that were reached during this conference.

Private banking assets to jump by 30%

London: Private banking assets are set to grow on an average by a record 30% annually over the next three years, led by gains in Asia and Eastern Europe, according to a report by accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (PwC).
Wealth management assets in Asia are forecast to grow on an average by about 34% annually, and by 30-50% a year in Russia, the New York-based company said on Friday. The figures are based on company managers’ forecasts for their own businesses.
“Wealth managers everywhere are anticipating extremely high rates of profitable growth,” PwC global head of private banking and wealth management Bruce Weatherill said in the statement.
Private banking profit margins are rising and will gain over the next three years, according to more than 50% of the finance directors surveyed in the report, PWC said.
Some of the world’s biggest wealth managers, including Citigroup Inc., HSBC Holdings Plc., UBS AG, Deutsche Bank AG and Merrill Lynch & Co. are pushing private banking and asset management operations in emerging markets to counter slower growth in other units.
Most chief executive officers (CEOs) want to enter new private banking markets in the next two years and will consider acquisitions to do so, the report showed.
Private banking revenue in the Asia-Pacific region is forecast to grow on an average 37% annually by 2009, the PwC report found. That compares with a growth rate of 30% in the US and Latin America, and 22% in Europe, West Asia and Africa.
HSBC plans to open private banking offices in China, and push growth in India and West Asia to harness growing demand from wealthy customers. Merrill Lynch, the No. 3 securities firm, plans to double its network of financial advisers and its business in India this year to help it compete with overseas rivals.
The private banking operations of UK lenders are among their fastest-growing divisions by profit.

HSBC Will Refocus on Emerging Markets, Asia CEO Says

June 21 (Bloomberg) -- HSBC Holdings Plc, the world's third- largest bank by market value, will step up expansion in emerging markets such as India after mounting mortgage defaults at its U.S. unit crimped profit, the company's incoming Asia chief said.

``We're going to have a finance-led emerging markets focus,'' shifting away from developed markets, said Sandy Flockhart in a phone interview from Johannesburg. Flockhart, who takes over HSBC's Asia operations next month, said he plans to increase hiring in countries including India and China.

The London-based bank, which gets almost 40 percent of its pretax profit from Asia, is putting more emphasis on emerging markets to counter slower growth and rising consumer loan defaults in the U.S. and U.K. Flockhart should invest more in countries such as India, Taiwan and South Korea, analysts including Kevin Chan at Nomura International (HK) Ltd. said.

``They need to put more emphasis in particular on India,'' Chan said. ``Competition is increasing every day.''

HSBC yesterday said Flockhart will take control of its Asia unit, The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corp. Ltd., in July. The 55-year-old has headed HSBC's Latin American and Caribbean unit since October. He replaces Michael Smith, who's joining Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. as chief executive.

The biggest banks in India, the world's second-fastest growing major economy, may raise a combined $10 billion selling stock in the year through March 2008 as they seek to finance growing demand for loans. HSBC has 69 offices in the country, according to its Web site, trailing Standard Chartered Plc's 81.

`Growing Middle Class'

HSBC will focus on building its consumer and private banking business in India, Flockhart said. ``The middle class is growing, so that's where we can focus a lot of our efforts.''

It is too early to say how many branches HSBC will open in India or how much money it will spend there, he said. The bank will also consider buying minority stakes in competitors, he said. A foreign bank faces limits on how many branches it can open in the country and can't buy more than 10 percent of an Indian bank.

Flockhart, who last served in Asia as chief executive of HSBC's Thailand business from 1992 to 1994, has also worked for 12 years in Hong Kong, where two of his four children were born.

Flockhart needs to be more aggressive in South Korea and Taiwan, where HSBC has expanded at a slower pace than Standard Chartered, Krista Yue, a Hong Kong-based analyst at Deutsche Bank AG, said by phone yesterday.

Valuation Gap

``I think clearly the market is affording Standard Chartered a better valuation as a result,'' she said. ``They have been very aggressive at a very good time.''

Standard Chartered shares trade at 2.7 times book value; for HSBC, the ratio is 1.99, according to Bloomberg data.

HSBC has 14 outlets in South Korea and the same number in Taiwan, according to its Web site. That's dwarfed by Standard Chartered's 403 branches in South Korea and 86 in Taiwan, according to its annual report. Standard Chartered bought Korea First Bank for $3.7 billion in 2005 and Taiwan's Hsinchu International Bank for $1.2 billion in October.

Citigroup Inc. bought Taiwan's Bank of Overseas Chinese for NT$14.1 billion ($428 million) in April. ABN Amro Holding NV this month agreed to take over failed Taitung Business Bank in return for a NT$6.9 billion subsidy from the island's government.

Taiwan and South Korea ``are important growing economies,'' Flockhart said. ``We want to play a part in developing their economic growth.''

Chinese regulator to discipline eight banks for lax lending compliance

According to media reports, Chinese banking regulators are to punish eight banks for poor supervision in their lending business, which resulted in two state companies being able to buy stocks and real estate with the loans.

The eight domestic banks are Industrial & Commercial Bank of China, Bank of China, Bank of Communications, China Merchants Bank, China Citic Bank Corporation, Industrial Bank, Shenzhen Development Bank, and Bank of Beijing, MarketWatch revealed.

According to the Associated Press, the banks will be fined, with a number of bank managers reprimanded. In addition, one bank will be suspended from lending.

"Banks must learn a lesson from this and improve management and stick to good international practice of knowing their customers," the China Banking Regulatory Commission said in a statement, reported by the Associated Press.

This clampdown is expected to deter other firms from violating the banking regulations, which forbid any state firms to invest directly in the stock market, MarketWatch reported.

Internet banking 'will get smarter' - 18/06/2007

Internet banking and online current accountservices will develop into personalised, tailored products as they grow in popularity, it has been claimed.

Online banking is going to become more common across all age groups as younger generations grow into adulthood, according to HSBC.

This will lead to "smart websites" that will adapt the content and services they offer to engage on a personal basis with as many of their customers as possible, a spokesman said.

Nick Staib, e-marketing manager at HSBC, said: "The next generation of Britain's elderly are already using the internet for banking."

He added: "There is the distinct possibility that the 'one size fits all' bank websites of today will soon be replaced by smart websites that adapt their content - such services, speaking directly to the needs of the customer, will be significantly more compelling."

In related news, a recent survey by UK payments association Apacs - to coincide with the tenth anniversary of internet banking - found that over 18 million people in the UK use internet banking.