Signet Bank

Signet Bank of Virginia had two strategies for collecting debt from its credit cardholders. "People in the limelight, celebrities and attorneys" were deemed "not candidates for legal action," according to the bank's collection guidelines. But the bank vigorously pursued other cardholders, such as William Yu, a Fremont, Calif., resident and an employee of Silicon Graphics.

Signet Bank of Virginia had two strategies for collecting debt from its credit cardholders. "People in the limelight, celebrities and attorneys" were deemed "not candidates for legal action," according to the bank's collection guidelines. But the bank vigorously pursued other cardholders, such as William Yu, a Fremont, Calif., resident and an employee of Silicon Graphics.

First Union Corp. said it agreed to buy Signet Banking Corp. for $3.13 billion. The bank offered to pay 3.46 times book value for Signet, which would make it one of the most expensive bank acquisitions ever. "They probably paid at least 10% more than it was worth," said Anthony Gray, a money manager at STI Capital, which owns 534,150 First Union shares. Still, the price may be justified because "if you want to play in that market, you've got to do it now," he said. Charlotte, N.C.

First Union Corp. said it agreed to buy Signet Banking Corp. for $3.13 billion. The bank offered to pay 3.46 times book value for Signet, which would make it one of the most expensive bank acquisitions ever. "They probably paid at least 10% more than it was worth," said Anthony Gray, a money manager at STI Capital, which owns 534,150 First Union shares. Still, the price may be justified because "if you want to play in that market, you've got to do it now," he said. Charlotte, N.C.

U.S. Group Secures Debt Swap From U.S. Bank: Conservation International announced that it had secured a debt-for-nature swap from a U.S. bank, Signet Bank. Marianne Guerin-McManus, the group's conservation finance director, said that Conservation International had used $246,000 from the U.S. Agency for International Development to buy back close to half a million dollars of Mexican debt held in French francs by Signet Bank.

Posing as a Philip Morris executive, a former employee of the tobacco giant spun a fantastic tale of a top-secret, offshore cigarette research project to secure $323 million in loans from at least six banks, the FBI said Wednesday. Edward J. Reiners, 51, of Somers, N.Y., and his alleged accomplice, Judy Rose Bachiman, a 38-year-old secretary from Cliffside Park, N.J., were arrested Tuesday on suspicion of bank fraud.

A Hong Kong businessman helped the Republican Party get money it needed to take over Congress in 1994, and again before crucial elections in 1996. The bailout, reported in Time magazine, could draw congressional investigators' attention to Republicans, who have attacked the White House and Democratic National Committee for alleged foreign money connections. Ambrous Tung Young, who has served as the Asian agent for Western aviation companies seeking to sell planes in China and Taiwan, put up $2.

It's time to start reading the fine print on your credit card statement again. Steadily declining interest rates have lulled many card holders into believing credit costs are a problem of the past. As consumer and political pressures rose in recent years, many card issuers did reduce rates, especially for their better customers. From 1990 until last year, according to Ram Research Corp., a research and publishing firm in Frederick, Md., average credit card interest rates fell from 19.23% to 17.

An indictment alleging that a former U.S. ambassador and two others were covertly paid by Kuwait to push the United States into the Gulf War claims they worked as hard at hiding the money as at urging U.S. intervention. Sam Zakhem, ambassador to Bahrain from 1986 to 1989, was one of three men named in the federal indictment unsealed here Tuesday.

The Cincinnati Reds traded pitcher Jeff Brantley to the St. Louis Cardinals for first baseman Dmitri Young on Monday. Brantley, 34, spent most of last season on the disabled list and did not pitch after May 19 because of injuries to his right shoulder and rotator cuff. Brantley, who is to earn $5.6 million in salary over the next two seasons, was replaced as the Reds' top reliever by Jeff Shaw, who led the National League with 42 saves last season. Shaw will make $650,000 next season.

Who is this lady sitting in Bankruptcy Court? By all appearances, she is successful, hard-working and reliable. Her parents taught her always to honor her commitments, to work hard, to take few risks. She's not the type of person I'd expect to see flaking out on her creditors. Yet, there she is, facing the Orange County Bankruptcy Trustee along with 7,497 others in Central District in July, 1992. Is she unique, the only one who, through some stroke of karma, found herself there? Of course not.

Coca-Cola threw out its crystal ball, as did Signet Bank, Avon and Owens-Corning, and they all looked to Edie Weiner to help map out their future. Weiner isn't your ordinary business consultant--spreadsheets or fancy formulas are not part of her shtick. Instead, she uses a different way of forecasting what's ahead in the ever-changing marketplace, hoping to keep her clients on the leading edge of thinking in today's world.