Public Service
Government assignments have thinned the boards of two financial companies in recent weeks, and political aspirations have claimed a senior executive of another.
On Wednesday Cullen/Frost Bankers Inc. of San Antonio said Preston "Pete" M. Geren 3d had resigned from its board. Mr. Geren, a former Democratic congressman from Texas, had been a board member since 2001 and a special assistant to the secretary of defense. On July 29 he was named acting secretary of the Air Force.
Mr. Geren left Cullen/Frost just days after Ameritrade Holding Corp. of Omaha said Pete Ricketts, its chief operating officer, would leave Aug. 26. Mr. Ricketts, whose father, Joe, is the founder and chairman of the online discount broker, resigned to "pursue public service," the company said.
Neither Ameritrade nor Mr. Ricketts has disclosed his precise intentions, but he is expected to run for a U.S. Senate seat in Nebraska. Jessica Moenning, a spokeswoman for the Nebraska Republican Party, said Monday that Mr. Ricketts "is a probable candidate" and that his resignation from Ameritrade "would certainly indicate" that he intends to run.
And on July 18, Robert H. Tuttle resigned from the board of City National Corp. of Los Angeles. His departure, after three years on the board, came four days after he was sworn in as U.S. ambassador to the United Kingdom.
Choosey
Jim Rohr, PNC Financial Services Group Inc.'s chief executive, likes northern New Jersey and wants to expand there - but PNC did not bid for Hudson United Bancorp of Mahwah, a recent seller.
Speaking Aug. 8 at a conference in Kohler, Wis., hosted by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Inc., Mr. Rohr told analysts that he would definitely be interested in a deal in that market "should something come up that is appropriate."
Hudson apparently didn't fit the bill. "We looked at Hudson - it was offered to us three times - and we said no," he said. "We didn't even bid."
In July the New Jersey company agreed to sell itself to TD Banknorth Inc. of Portland, Maine.
Like Riggs National Corp. of Washington, which PNC acquired in May, Hudson has had its share of regulatory issues. But on Monday, Mr. Rohr reminded investors again of the Riggs deal's plusses. It was inexpensive, he said, and brought PNC into a "mind-boggling" market with some of the wealthiest households in the country.
Recuperating
Jackson W. Moore, the president and CEO of Regions Financial Corp. in Birmingham, Ala., is on the mend, back at work - but not quite ready for golf, a Regions vice chairman says.
"Jack only did a couple of things in his life; one was play golf and another is to work," Allen B. Morgan said this week. "He can't quite play golf right now, so he just works all the time."
Mr. Morgan spoke at the Keefe, Bruyette & Woods conference, where golf vied with banking on the agenda.
Mr. Moore became Regions' president in June of last year, when it bought Union Planters Corp. of Memphis, of which he had been the CEO. (He became Regions' CEO last month.)
In February he was admitted to a Memphis hospital after a blood vessel near his brain ruptured.
His recovery has been "amazing," and he should be back on the road soon, said Mr. Morgan, who is the chairman of Regions' brokerage subsidiary, Morgan Keegan & Co., and was assigned last month to be Regions' liaison to the investment community.
Modest Proposal
Wachovia Corp. chief economist John Silvia raised a few eyebrows Tuesday when he floated a radical solution for icing the red-hot real estate market.
"I would suggest that if you're worrying about a housing bubble and want to correct it, shut down Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac," Mr. Silvia said. "Don't give mortgages to anybody who doesn't have a 20% down payment. All right?"
He made the startling suggestion during an hourlong panel discussion, "Housing Bubble - Fact and Froth," at the National Press Club in Washington.
Mr. Silvia was not seriously advocating the closure of the two government-sponsored enterprises, but he noted that their mortgage purchases make it easier for more people to buy homes - and that higher demand equals higher prices.
Fellow panelist Anthony Chan, a senior economist at JPMorgan Asset Management, was a good deal more circumspect. The rate at which home prices have risen is "unsustainable," Mr. Chan said, but until rates hit 7% or 7.5% they will not crimp the housing market.
By Geeta Sundarmoorthy, Jim Cole, Paul Davis, and Ethan Zindler
