Treasury Unveils Reg Reform
The Treasury’s blueprint for Financial Regulatory Reform could have fit on a cocktail napkin: Deregulate, self-regulate, trim the ranks of regulators. U.S. Banker and American Banker each provide summaries of Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson’s plan. Among other things, the plan:

• Calls for broad expansion of the Federal Reserve Board;
• Creates a single federal financial institutions charter, effectively merging the federal bank, thrift and credit union charters;
• Puts federal regulation of state-chartered banks in the hands of one regulator, either the Fed or the FDIC; and
• Proposes changes to the FDIC. (3/29/08-4/1/08)

Officials Criticize Treasury Plan
A Treasury Department plan to overhaul financial regulation could lead to higher costs for property insurance and less local oversight of state banks, and it won’t do much to help resolve the credit crisis, Wisconsin industry leaders and officials said. “We believe that our banks are heavily regulated, and a lot of the problems that are occurring are not occurring from our community banks here in the state of Wisconsin,” said Lorrie Keating Heinemann, secretary of the state Department of Financial Institutions, in a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel article. (3/31/08)

Bank Opens Leasing Division
North Shore Bank in Milwaukee recently opened its North Shore Bank Leasing LLC division. The service can lease cars, trucks, sport utility vehicles, cargo vans and other vehicles from any manufacturer. It also leases equipment for commercial businesses, ranging from medical devices for physician offices to printing equipment to fork lifts to ovens and refrigeration equipment for restaurants to electrical equipment such as HVAC systems, according to the Small Business Times. (4/1/08)

Holding Co. Names Directors
Lake Shore Wisconsin Corp., the proposed holding company for Lake Shore Bank in Sheboygan, announced the formation of its board of directors. James Meisser will become the nation’s first profoundly deaf bank president and CEO. Also serving on the board will be COO and controller Jeanene Meisser, and chief credit officer and managing director Thomas Schueller. Lake Shore Bank is expected to open by early third quarter 2008, the Small Business Times reported. (4/1/08)

National City Mulls Options
National City Corp., which has 24 branches in Milwaukee, said in a news release that it has retained Goldman Sachs as an adviser and that its board is “reviewing a range of strategic alternatives for the company.” The Cleveland-based bank has seen its shares fall to the $10 level, after trading as high as $38.32 in the past year, according to the Business Journal of Milwaukee. (4/1/08)

Record Job Loss Predicted
The financial research firm Celent issued a report saying that it expects the U.S. commercial banking industry to lose 200,000 of its 2 million jobs over the next 12 to 18 months. In 2007, the entire financial services sector — which consists of mostly commercial banks — announced job cuts that totaled a record 153,000, according to an Associated Press article in the Wisconsin State Journal. (4/1/08)

Bankers Comment on RE Downturn
The rise in delinquent loans and leases, largely in the residential real estate category, is causing a slight tightening of commercial credit, Milwaukee area bank presidents say in the Milwaukee State Journal. (3/15/08)

Peoples Bank Plans Waterford Location
People’s Bank, based in Elkhorn, has proposed a new standalone bank in Waterford at 4103 Buena Park Road. Tom Oehler, president and CEO of People’s Bank, said the bank aims to break ground on the new branch in mid-summer and hopes that it is open by the end of the year, reported the Small Business Times of Milwaukee. (3/7/08)

Harris Announces Leadership
Upon completion of its acquisition of Merchants and Manufacturers Bancorporation Inc. of New Berlin and Ozaukee Bank of Cedarburg, Harris Bank and BMO Financial Group have named the following leaders: Tom Bolger will serve as president, Harris Wisconsin; Jim Rothenbach will serve as Harris regional president for the Wisconsin North Region; and Mel Hahs will be regional president for the State Region. Mike Murry and Mal Hepburn will continue to chair Harris community boards and will provide ongoing advice and business development support, according to The Business Journal of Milwaukee. (3/4/08)

North Milwaukee Bank Hires New CEO
After a year without a key leader in place, North Milwaukee State Bank has hired Erbert Johnson as president and CEO. Johnson, who spent the past decade in Cleveland working in public finance and banking, returned to the community to get the bank more deeply involved in small-business lending and economic development, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.(3/4/08)

Chilton Bank Names Senior VP
G.W. (Jerry) Propson has been named senior vice president of commercial lending at Community Bank & Trust's Chilton office. Propson, who has more than 36 years of banking experience, will be responsible for commercial lending, business development and business deposits in the Chilton area, according to The Sheboygan Press. (3/2/08)

Read February's news articles.