Contact: Rosie Cataldo 612-204-5261 Date: October 6, 2000 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Features in the October fedgazette

Buyer beware: Despite high costs and warnings from consumer groups, the market for payday loans and other convenience-based financial services continues to grow. What gives?
District News Editor Ronald A. Wirtz takes an in-depth look behind the ads for convenient, confidential and all too easy payday loans and other nontraditional financing in this issue's series of articles. Your interest may peak when you discover how much the average borrower is really paying for fast cash and other fringe banking services.

Financial modernization, the FHLB and agricultural banks
Ron Feldman, assistant vice president of banking supervision, and Jason Schmidt, financial analyst, discuss the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act and how it increases the access that small, agricultural banks have to lower-cost funds from the Federal Home Loan Bank system, a government-sponsored entity. Furthermore, the authors estimate the number of banks that can join this system and their reaction to this opportunity.

In addition to the Ninth District's agriculture and mining news the fedgazette's district news includes:

• Regional airports: Fasten your seatbelt, by senior writer Douglas Clement. In the first of a two-part series, Clement explores the trends and traffic - or lack thereof - at the 43 regional airports in the Ninth District, as well as their uncertain futures.

• Montana's blasting into (aero)space, by staff writer Rosie Cataldo, looks at what Montana officials are doing to fire up the state's aerospace industry and why. With 28 active aerospace companies and a prime location on the globe for take-off into space, officials think the state has much to offer. Find out what incentives the state's offering and who's involved in its aero-mission.

As one of the 12 Federal Reserve Banks, the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis contributes to a variety of Federal Reserve System functions, including operation of a nationwide payments system, distribution of the nation’s currency and coin, supervision and regulation of member banks and bank holding companies, and serving as a fiscal agent for the U.S. Treasury. Additionally, the president of Minneapolis Fed serves as a member of the Federal Open Market Committee, the monetary policymaking arm of the Federal Reserve’s Board of Governors.

Together with its branch in Helena, Mont., the Minneapolis Fed serves the Ninth Federal Reserve District, which includes Minnesota, Montana, North and South Dakota, 26 counties in northwestern Wisconsin and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.

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