Office of Thrift Supervision

OTS Approves Thrift's Plan To Offer Banking Services In 25 Safeway Stores

WASHINGTON, D.C., Sept. 25, 2000 – Amicus, a federal savings bank in Cicero, Ill., has received approval from the Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS) to establish 25 agency offices in Safeway supermarkets in California and Colorado that will offer a variety of retail banking services and products. The offices will operate under the name Safeway Select Bank.

Amicus was acquired on April 14, 2000, by Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC), which changed the thrift’s name from St. Anthony Bank. CIBC earlier established a national bank franchise in Florida where it operates electronic banking pavilions in certain Winn-Dixie grocery stores. It then bought Amicus to expand the supermarket retail banking strategy into multiple states. CIBC, the second largest Canadian bank at $170 billion in assets, has successfully operated retail banking outlets through a major grocery store chain, Loblaw, in Canada. It also maintains banking offices in New York City, Atlanta, Los Angeles, San Francisco and elsewhere in the U.S. through its CIBC Delaware Holding Inc. subsidiary.

Amicus, which has approximately $32 million in assets, will set up pavilions in each of the 25 Safeway stores in a pilot program and will open four business offices. It is planning a substantial expansion of pavilion operations over the next 2 to 3 years. Each pavilion will provide a computer terminal with access only to the

institution’s web site, a dedicated phone line to the thrift’s call center and Amicus-employed customer service representatives who will be available 14 hours a day to help customers. Fully automated ATMs with deposit-taking capability will be accessible to the retail store customers as well.

Deposit products will include no-fee, noninterest bearing checking accounts, savings accounts, CDs and ATM cards. Credit services will include home equity lines of credit, personal lines of credit and consumer loans. Amicus in-store representatives will not be able to accept deposits, approve loans, access customer funds, negotiate interest rates or otherwise commit Amicus to any banking transactions or activities.

Because of the anticipated rapid expansion of in-store pavilions, OTS is requiring Amicus to maintain 8 percent core capital during each of the first three years of the operation, and well capitalized status thereafter, and notify OTS promptly if its ratio of fixed assets, represented by the pavilions and equipment, to core capital exceeds 100 percent. To exceed the ratio would require OTS approval, as would any material deviation from its business plan.

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The Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS), an office of the U.S. Treasury, regulates and supervises the nation's thrift industry. OTS's mission is to ensure the safety and soundness of thrift institutions and to support their role as home mortgage lenders and providers of other community credit and financial services. For copies of news releases or other documents visit the OTS web page at www.ots.treas.gov.

Created: Monday, 9/25/2000