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Bank Investment ConsultantReports of job losses at banks are rife, but one area most aren’t cutting is ad budgets۝in fact, many are bolstering their marketing efforts to capitalize on public unease. And it seems to be working. U.S. Bancorp, which is in the middle of a national ad campaign launched in August, said its third-quarter

Wall Street JournalBanks are responding to the troubled economy by jacking up fees on their checking accounts to record amounts. Last week, Citigroup Inc.’s Citibank started charging some customers a new $10 “overdraft protection transfer fee” to transfer money from a savings account or line of credit to cover a checking-account shortfall. Citibank had already

… capital positions are advertising noticeably more than others said Les Dinkin, a managing director in the New York consulting firm Novantas LLC. …

Novantas predicts that there will be a tremendous growth in guaranteed products, even if they aren’t exactly in annuity form.

The Wachovia bid “demonstrated Citigroup’s willingness to do deals,” said David Kaytes, managing director at consulting firm Novantas LLC.

Last fall, the ‘crunch wasn’t in full swing … and banks believed they could still lend the money out or buy some other debt obligations,’ says David Kaytes, managing director of Novantas LLC, a management-consulting firm. Now, amid rising loan losses and tighter underwriting …

All Business Despite their best efforts, bankers continue to struggle to become the primary financial adviser for wealthy clients. True, banks are increasingly emphasizing financial planning to offer prime affluent customers that most valued and lucrative of services: help from a trusted source. But recognizing what consumers want is not the same as providing it.

Assets in online savings accounts more than doubled, to $112.5 billion, between the end of 2004 and the second quarter of 2006, according to Novantas, an industry consultant. …