Autumn in New England

Well our boat "OFFLINE" is now truly offline. We had a great sail from Salem Harbor to Marblehead Harbor where the boat is now in storage for the winter.

Boating season is over, now on to hiking. Franconia notch is a short 2.5 hour drive north of Marblehead. Hiking is very relaxing, a real great way to lose a few pounds and gets you totally grounded. We did a short hike to the top of Indian Head, had a relaxing lunch and then I took a few photos.

The FDIC is conducting a web services pilot for data distribution, so Marian has been testing their prototype to see how it will improve our work flow. Pretty awesome stuff from a publishing perspective. I sure hope the SEC does something similar for distribution of their content. This is truly one of those paradigm shifts.

I've been catching up on some of the XBRL specs and requirements. The Dimensions Spec is interesting reading, addresses some issues we have, and seems straightforward to implement.

This week, we refocus on iBanknet. We've been doing "cold calls" and are pleased with the results. I want to apologize for interrupting all you busy people and thank-you for your words of encouragement. It's pretty amazing when you actually talk to people that have visited our site.

Maybe the telephone is the best social networking tool of all.

New York - Nostalgic Publishing

This weekend we increased our coverage to include New York State.

As I was reviewing the banks and credit unions, I reflected on how much New York had touched my life and in such a positive way. As a youth in my "Family Vacation", visiting Frontier Town, Ausable Chasm and Fort Ticonderoga. As a college student hiking between 10 to 15 peaks in the Adirondacks (Mount Marcy, Giant Mountain, etc.). As my career in banking started, living near Buffalo and enjoying the Bills and frequent visits to Niagara Falls. And then, as my career evolved, being re-located to Battery Park City and working at the Chase Plaza. And then spending many fall and winter evenings reading Gotham by Burrows and Wallace.

It was a quite a nostalgic experience clicking on the state map and checking results. New York State is the first in what I consider to be a "jumbo" banking states(over 700 Banks/Holding companies and Credit Unions) on iBanknet.com. We certainly hope you are finding iBanknet a useful resource on the Internet and don't hesitate to drop us a line with suggestions for improvement.

Thanks and have a nice week,
Chris

TD to Acquire Commerce Bancorp Inc.

We covered the TD/Commerce Bancorp merger yesterday and posted a balance sheet and income statement comparison at the following web address(in excel, rtf, pdf and html):

http://www.ibanknet.com/spotlight/institutionspotlight2007100201.shtml

We normally make this content available, since most financial portals(the free ones) try to shoe horn banks into corporate and industrial financial statements. Many times you only end up with a few items in their statements.

It's very interesting to see TD's expansion, now includes census bureau Division 1 and Division 2, thus having a strong presence in Region 1(Northeast). Meanwhile BMO expanded into Region 2(Midwest) and RBC in Region 3(South). I don't think any Canadian Banks have moved into Region 4(West). Yet.

We seem to be following TD ... we have finished publishing Division 1 - New England, and we will soon start publishing content in Division 2 - Middle Atlantic later this month. Our new infrastructure, designed and developed by Marian Albert, is performing exceptionally well.

Have a great day!! Chris