Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!news.media.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!usa-post Newsgroups: usa-today.banks,americast.usa-today.banks From: usa-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: usa-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: banks Thu, Aug 27 1992 Date: Thu, 27 Aug 92 05:59:07 EDT Message-ID: 08-27 0000 DECISIONLINE: Banking & Economy USA TODAY Update Aug. 27, 1992 Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network MELLON SUES EX-EMPLOYEE: Mellon Bank, N.A. Wednesday filed a lawsuit against former Mellon executive vice president Bipin C. Shah. Shah resigned after less than six months to form a start-up company, Transaction Processing Inc., that will compete directly with Mellon in certain businesses. The suit was filed in the Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County. FORMER WORKER HID ACTIONS: Mellon Bank, N.A. in a suit filed Wednesday, charges former executive vice president Bipin C. Shah with breach of his duty of loyalty; unfair competition; diversion of corporate opportunities; and violation of fiduciary duties. The suit asserts that while working for Mellon, Shah set up competing business Transaction Processing Inc. NAFTA COULD EXPAND: The North American free trade zone could expand into South America in the next two years, U.S. Trade Representative Carla Hills says. Hills says the Bush Administration may take the first steps toward bringing Chile into the proposed North American Free Trade Agreement by the end of this year, but cautioned that it might be two years before talks with Chile were completed. COUNTRIES LIBERALIZE POLICIES: Several additional nations, including Chile, have expressed interest in joining the North American Free Trade Zone, according to U.S. Trade Representative Carla Hills. She says that many Central and South American countries are liberalizing trade policies and signing limited trade agreements with neighboring countries. EXPORTS LOOKING UP: Exports, a bright spot for the sluggish economy, should continue their upward trend, according to a Dun & Bradstreet survey. Almost 62% of the 5,000 U.S. exporters surveyed expect higher export sales in the next few months. About 34% of all exporters expect sales to remain the same while just 4% foresee a decline. D&B's Joseph Duncan says the weak dollar should help boost exports. OPEN INTEREST PASSES 4 MILLION: Open interest, a leading indicator of business vitality for a financial exchange, eclipsed 4 million positions Wednesday at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. That's double the level of the next leading U.S. futures exchange and represents more than $3 trillion in assets under management. The record 4.03 million included 2.2 million futures and 1.3 million options. CITIBANK TO KEEP PLANS: Citibank will remain custodian of five New York City retirement plans, city comptroller Elizabeth Holtsman said Wednesday. The plans have more than $44 billion in assets. Citibank has been custodian of the funds since 1979. Citibank, lead unit of Citicorp, beat eight other banks competing for the contract to manage the funds. The contract is for four years. SALES OF DURABLE GOODS DROP: Sales of durable goods hit their largest decline of the year in July. The Department of Commerce said that lower aircraft orders were responsible for about 3.5% of the decline, but other industries reported losses as well. The figures indicate, at best, a partial recovery from the recession. CHRYSLER FILES TO SELL NOTES: Chrysler Financial Corp. filed Wednesday with the Securities and Exchange Commission to sell $300 million of senior notes. It will use the proceeds to repay money borrowed under the company's new line of credit and for general corporate purposes. Chrysler lenders agreed Aug. 17 to extend the maturity of a $6.8 billion credit line given to Chrysler Financial Corp. TREASURY TO SPEED UP PAYMENT: The Treasury said Wednesday it will speed up payment or replacement of U.S. Savings Bonds for Florida victims of Hurricane Andrew. The Treasury said it's waiving the six-month holding period normally needed for Series EE savings bonds "presented to authorized paying agents by residents of the affected areas." ST. PAUL, ELM TO MERGE: St. Paul Bancorp Inc. and Elm Financial Services said Wednesday they signed a definitive merger agreement. The transaction is worth $49 million. Elm shareholders will receive $12.35 in cash and $10.10 worth of St. Paul common stock for each Elm common share. Elm's Elmhurst Federal Savings Bank will merge with St. Paul's Federal Bank for Savings unit, an independent Illinois thrift. UCB JOINS HOME LOAN SYSTEM: The Federal Housing Finance Board Wednesday approved United Carolina Bank as the 1,000th commercial bank member of the Federal Home Loan Bank System. United Carolina Bank, based in Whiteville, N.C., has assets of $2.5 billion. It operates 117 branch offices in 68 North Carolina communities. Bank System members include savings associations, savings banks, credit unions and insurance companies. GOLD, SILVER DOWN: Gold prices fell worldwide Wednesday. On the New York Commodity Exchange, gold bullion for current delivery settled at $338.30 a troy ounce, down from $340.60 on Tuesday. Republic National Bank said gold fell to a late bid price of $338.15 a troy ounce, off $2.35. On New York's Comex, silver bullion for current delivery settled at $3.669 a troy ounce, down from $3.70 Tuesday. DOW JONES OPENS ON UPSWING: The Dow Jones average of 30 industrials opens Thursday at 3246.81 after closing up 14.59 Wednesday. The New York Stock Exchange composite opens at 277.48, up 1.01. The American Stock Exchange market value opens at 379.65, up 0.13. The NASDAQ OTC composite opens at 558.80, up 4.58. DOLLAR OPENS UP OVERSEAS: The dollar opens up on Thursday. It opens at 0.5033 British pounds, up from 0.5025; 4.7890 French francs, up from 4.7725; 1.4053 German marks, up from 1.3988; and 124.75 Japanese yen, up from 124.66. (As of 3 p.m. Tuesday. Source: First American Bank of New York.) 24-HOUR TELEPHONE INFORMATION: USA TODAY Money Hot Line. 95 cents a minute. 1-900-555-5555. Banking & Economy editor: Beth Mann. (1-919-855-3491) Making copies of USA TODAY Update (Copyright, 1992) for further distribution purposes violates federal law. This article is copyright 1992 Gannett News Service. Redistribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American Cybercasting Corporation. For more information, send-email to usa@AmeriCast.COM