Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, November 15, 1995 TAG: 9511150044
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B-8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
WASHINGTON - The robust health of the nation's banks will mean another cut in the premiums they pay to the fund that insures depositors.
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.'s directors voted Tuesday to slash premiums, starting Jan. 1, to near zero for an estimated 92 percent of the 11,000 banks that contribute to the fund. They will pay a minimum annual fee of $2,000.
The remaining banks, rated as riskier, will pay 3 cents to 27 cents per $100 in deposits instead of 4 cents to 31 cents per $100 in deposits that they now pay. Most banks have been paying 4 cents per $100 in deposits under a premium cut that took effect earlier this year.
``The FDIC has adopted the lowest average assessment rate in the more than 60-year history of federal deposit insurance for banks,'' said FDIC Chairman Ricki Helfer. ``We estimate this change alone will save the banking industry about $946 million.''
- Associated Press
Railroads report freight traffic up
Freight traffic on the nation's railroads rose slightly in the week ended Nov. 4 from the corresponding week last year, caused in part by a 5,000-carload gain in coal loadings, the Association of American Railroads reported.
Total freight volume, a measure involving both the amount of freight and the distance it travels, was estimated at 25.6 billion ton-miles, a 2.4 percent increase from last year. Carloadings of freight, however, declined during the week. Carload freight was down 0.2 percent from last year nationwide; intermodal freight, which travels in containers or trailers by more than one form of transportation, was down 6 percent.
- Associated Press
Transport board meets Thursday
Virginia's Commonwealth Transportation Board will hold its November meeting at 10 a.m. Thursday at the Hotel Roanoke and Conference Center. The formal meeting will be preceded by a 3 p.m. workshop meeting today at the Donaldson Brown Center at Virginia Tech.
The agenda includes discussion of some minor changes in the right-of-way of U.S. 221 in the Forest area of Bedford County, where a new section of the highway was built.
- Staff report
Rockbridge wine named Va.'s best
Rockbridge Vineyard in Raphine has won the 14th annual Governor's Cup Wine Competition with its V D'or wine, judged the best in the state.
Sepherd Rouse of Rockbridge Vineyard received the award from Virginia Agricultural Commissioner J. Carlton Courter III at the competition in Richmond last month. V D'or wine is made from Vidal blanc grapes, a French hybrid.
Virginia has 47 farm wineries, compared with 17 when the competition began.
- Staff report
by CNB