November 7, 2008

Here are recent stories of interest from around the web.
Click on the hotlinked headlines to read more.

Who’s next to get gobbled up?

This guy forecasted the takeover of National City, and BINGO! He nailed it. Guess who else he picked? Keycorp and Fifth Third, although he also thinks Fifth Third might be in a position to take over Key Corp. If not Fifth Third, then US Bank. Maybe US Bank should swallow Fifth Third while Fifth Third is gobbling Keycorp. Sounds like the best way to maximize bailout subsidies.

575 branches get new TD signs

The original plan was to change the signs to “TD Commerce” following last year’s merger between TD Banknorth and Commerce. But due to unexpected trademark problems including a lawsuit from another Commerce Bank, the newlyweds had to scrap their plans and go with just plain old “TD.” At a cost of about $20,000 per branch, that’s about $11.5 million. Ouch! Now, what do about the signs on TD Banknorth Garden… There is a bright side to the story: The bank completed the sign swap on all 575 branches in only five days (October 31 – November 4).

Grade-A prime media placement

Arizona State CU had the only full page ad in the A-section of the Arizona Republic on election day. 22 pages in the A-section, and theirs was the only ad. It was on the back page. Paul Stull, the credit union’s VP/Mktg. said the paper sold out that day. How cool is that? (You can click on the ad to enlarge it.)

ATM network saves CU members $20 million

The Credit Union 24 ATM network says credit union members saved $20 million in fees so far this year by using its 50,000 surcharge-free ATMs nationwide. At an average fee of $1.50, that means there were 13 million ATM transactions, or an average of 266 transactions per ATM for the year (that’s about one transaction per ATM per day). Kudos to the Credit Union 24 network for not dinging members with fees. Now, can we maybe freshen up the logo a little?

The biggest collection of bank logos ever

This guy’s online collection of bank logos must be a real labor of love. He says he’s uploaded about half of the 5,000 bank logos he has on file. Unfortunately, the library only gets to “E” in its alphabetical listing before the HTML crashes. Doh, FAIL!

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