Banking, Finance &
Accounting

Women in Banking event puts focus on leadership, mentoring

By Ken Tarbous
February 22, 2012 02:15 PM

The New Jersey Bankers Association's second annual Women in Banking Conference will feature sessions on leadership, mentoring and other topics of interest to professional women, according to one of the program's organizers.

Tight-knit regulations hit smaller banks in pockets

By Ken Tarbous
February 10, 2012 04:03 PM

Working in one of the most heavily regulated industries in the nation, bankers extol the positive aspects of government efforts to closely monitor “too-big-to-fail” institutions, police less-than-honest actors and protect businesses and consumers — but they also say many rules and regulations bring higher costs and unintended consequences that could cause harm to institutions and their business lines.
Now, say the executive teams at banks, a sense of “regulatory fatigue” is setting in as they consider new rules and regulations from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. And the most damage seems to be felt at the smaller banks.

Laws require banks to focus on customer service, compliance

By Ken Tarbous
February 10, 2012 04:34 PM

Federal legislation enacted in the aftermath of the 2008 financial meltdown, joining sometimes decades-old laws, have placed new compliance and reporting requirements among other new rules and duties on banking institutions, giving bankers more to do beyond serving customers, industry professional say.

With a dim outlook, banks expect more industry consolidation

By Ken Tarbous
February 10, 2012 04:37 PM

For the past several years, the banking world has been abuzz with talk of a new round of consolidation through mergers and acquisitions, with din growing louder as small community banks face tough decisions about their futures because of the need to comply with the costs of new regulations.

Thinking small

By Ken Tarbous
February 10, 2012 03:57 PM

ExpertPlan, a provider of online administration and record-keeping services for defined-contribution and defined-benefit pension plans, has capitalized on its Web-based automated technology serving small and "micro" companies that had been burdened with manual administrative tasks and indifference from larger plan administrators, according to the company's CEO and chairman.
The 13-year-old East Windsor company, with 120 employees, has grown from posting its first positive cash flow in June 2006 to revenue of $30 million in 2011, and now has a client base of 16,000 plan sponsors.

In report, red tape-cutting team says it's made N.J. a better home to business

By Ken Tarbous
February 8, 2012 02:01 PM

The climate for the state's businesses has improved as efforts to establish a more efficient and business-friendly regulatory environment, streamline government, and cut costs for companies have made progress over the past year, according to a Red Tape Review Commission report released today.

Survey: Time to hire is ripe, but few employers creating jobs

By Katie Eder
February 8, 2012 01:01 PM

With the improving economic climate, the stage is set for small-business owners to hire new employees, but a large majority is cautious to do so, according to a Wells Fargo and Gallup quarterly survey that polled 600 small-business owners in various industries nationwide.

Hedge fund managers to offer investment perspectives at conference

By Ken Tarbous
February 8, 2012 12:51 PM

In a bid to raise the visibility of the hedge fund industry's presence in the state, fund managers will present their perspectives on what it means to invest in their products at a conference Thursday.

Bank says sale isn't slowing pace of product innovation

By Katie Eder
February 7, 2012 02:04 PM

While changes of ownership can lead to short-term operational sluggishness and confusion for banks, College Savings Bank, in Princeton, said it has pushed through products on the heels of its sale by Pacific Life Insurance Co. to a group of investors, whose names have not yet been released, according to the bank's chief marketing officer, Dan Davenport.