According to the American Bankers Association, only 13 percent
of household financial assets were held in banks last year, compared
to 35 percent in 1973. With 9,000 banks nationwide, competition
for those assets is keen. Banks are offering incentives from free
checking for elder patrons to round-trip airline tickets for new
customers. With the absorption of smaller banks into ever larger
mergers, the historical comfort of working with your "hometown"
banker is dwindling and banks are turning to incentives and technology
to market services.
$$$
According to the October issue of Incentive magazine, "One
of the biggest causes of workplace woe is the stress of financial
burden. Employees are spending their days thinking about credit
card debt, overspending and poor investment decisions. The recent
findings from Virginia Tech's National Institute for Personal
Finance has found:
- 54 percent of the workforce worry about their debt
- 53 percent are dissatisfied with their financial conditions
- 34 percent rate their financial stress from 'high' to 'extreme'
- 33 percent admit their money worries hamper job performance."
$$$
There are two articles in the October 18 issue of InformationWeek
magazine about banking business conducted over the Internet. Chase
Manhattan Bank has developed a program to let customers view and
pay their credit card bills on-line, and are phasing that in for
business customers next year. In November, the bank plans to launch
ChaseShop.com, an online mall running in partnership with ShopNow.com
Inc. "The venture - a departure from its financial roots
that puts Chase in the merchandising and Web hosting business
- comes on the heels of a redesign of the bank's Website and a
revamping of its Internet infrastructure.
"The moves mark the bank's commitment to make Chase.com a
premier online business, says Mike Mazza, VP and technical director
of Chase's Internet project office. Chase.com is 'now operating
as a kind-of dot-com company,' Mazza says."
$$$
The October 26 issue of Daily Shipping News reads as follows:
"China could lower import tariffs from a current average
of 15 percent to below 10 percent in the next few years even if
it doesn't enter the World Trade Organization, Ken Davies, Economist
Intelligence Unit chief economist said. He also predicted China
would devalue its currency, the yuan, by 10 to 15 percent next
year, to strengthen trade. Davies said the lowering tariffs would
hasten the demise of China's inefficient domestic enterprises,
which is part of Premier Zhu Rongji's overall reform strategy.
Work toward this goal would also facilitate China's entry into
WTO, he said. Davies said China's WTO entry this year is not a
foregone conclusion, since China Premier Zhu Rongji's WTO offer
to the United States in April does not yet have the full support
of pro-WTO members of the Chinese government." LCB
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