European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - May 10, 1977, Darmstadt, Hesse Page 10 the stars and stripes tuesday May 10, 1977 Blip or Bill younger people accept electronic Bank no but older people. Don t want to change Moines not the most ambitious test of the banking Industry s March into the electronic age is having Startup troubles. The Bankers aim Here is to change Money and checks pieces of paper that cause endless amounts of work in Banks into electronic blips the problem is convincing customers that a Blip is As Good As a Bill. The system known As electronic branching is regarded Here As the Bank ing system of the future. It is operated on a limited scale elsewhere in the country but Iowa has the Only statewide Hookup so far. The Iowa operation to seen As a Model for other states. Bankers talk of a National Hookup and. Eventually an International system. Iowa is a test of electronic funds trans said Dale Dooley who administers the Iowa system. If we Are successful it Means the others will have to change their entire marketing at the Younkers department store Here Karen Iwanicki. A clerk who wraps gifts lakes payments cashes checks and an Swers the phone has added a new task. Now she also serves As a Teller for the Cen trial National Bank and Trust company handling deposits withdrawals and other transactions from a customer service counter through a Small Telephone like computer terminal. Central National one of Iowa s largest Banks has 13 such terminals in the pcs Moines area. The Bank s computer connects with a switching system operated by the Iowa Transfer system which is Hooke to 33 Banks throughout the state. The system allows a Central National customer in Dubuque or Davenport or anywhere Elsein Iowa to do his banking at any of More than 70 participating retail outlets. As now projected in the future a Cus Tomer of the Central National Bank would be Able to buy something in a Greenwich Village shop and pay for it with plastic Money furnished by Central National. The Purchase would be instantly charged to his account. The cardholder could also Purchase air plane tickets to the Caribbean or Europe or he could use the card in hotels and restaurants abroad. A clerk or cashier would tap the computer and. If the transactions were approved the entire trip would come out of the customer s account at his Home town Bank. Presumably a customer could quit carrying several credit cards and get along on Only a Little Cash. This is the banking of the future. If you ask me How far in the future. I won t be Able to give you a time Frame. But this is the Way it s going to Raymond o Johnston president and chief executive officer of the Central National Bank predicted in an interview. First however the system has much to overcome one problem is Public acceptance which has been slower than John Ston and other proponents Here expected. Legal problems May arise Over the possibility of monopoly. Some organizations fear an invasion of privacy. And some Bankers in Iowa resent what they feel is resistance from the big Bonks of the East and West and National credit card companies. At the moment the Sellers of the system Are fighting a reluctance of Many prospective customers to use it. Johnston and others believe better promotion is needed. A Good number of people Are resisting. But that s a matter of educating the Public and we re working on that Johnston said. Younger people seem to be accepting it and they think it s great he said. But Bow wow As Ca Kiryo Morris practices her violin on the front porch in St Louis her Pel bound Bridget takes Over the Barker role. Bridget has not quite made up her mind As to whether Cathryn who is a music major at Webster College will be a Bowling Success As a violinist or just Tutak by. Dpi photo unauthorized spying affy. Gen. Of decide on Fri indictments Washington a atty. Gen. Grif Fin Bell says he personally will decide whether to seek indictments against More Fri agents for allegedly unauthorized spying on Domestic political groups. Bell made the statement in a . News it world report interview release sunday. There has been a report made to me which would involve More than one Bell said. Whatever further indictments May be made will rest with me whatever i decide to do about it. Indict ing an Fri agent is a very hard thing to do. But i have to go by the Law and my con John Kearney. 55, a former Fri supervisor was indicted in new York last month in connection with political spying by the Bureau. Bell said Fri agents Are very upset about the indictment. They feel that the whole Fri has been indicted he said. They re worried about it and so am Bell said he favors a charter for the Agency because i Don t think it s fair for the Fri not to know definitely chapter and verse what it is supposed or not he added right now the Fri s authority comes from my authority. I m the person who has to sign off on the things it does and 1 Don t want to be in a position where i May spend the rest of my life being sued by people who claim that i be authorized something . Ugandans rally to boy s Side new York i api ugandans who live Here and opponents of Uganda president Idi Amin Dada Are campaigning to ensure that a a year old boy who says he fled the african nation will not be sent Back to his Homeland those concerned who asked for anonymity said they were seeking assistance from a . and religious groups. The youth was found last week in Man Hattan dazed and wandering the streets he said his parents had been murdered i Uganda and he managed to get to new York by slowing away on a Bay Speaks limited English and an african dialect his Story including an account of How his parents had been killed by British initially met with scepticism. However. Police now say they believe the youth whose name is listed phonetically As Losh Sadler no kid can be that Good an said a Veteran police sergeant after talking tothe boy. Losh was reported to have been found wandering the East Side on thursday and taken to covenant House a children shelter where he was fed and re clothed. Authorities say he left covenant House and was found again Friday night crying and distraught. Losh is now in the custody of the . Immigration and naturalization service members of the ugandan Community fear he win be returned to Uganda a former British Colony in East Central Africa which became Independent in 1962. If the boy is from Uganda we Don twant to see him sent Back said a Ugan Dan student now attending Columbia University. The student claims he and fellow Ugan dans living Here Are convinced that Idi Amin. Who seized the ugandan presidency in a coup in 1971, has killed hundreds who had been returned after fleeing to Kenya and other neighbouring nations. Older people Are More set in their ways and Don t want to it s the older group that has the most Money in the Bank. Johnston questioned whether any Bank in the Hookup which began in March had made Money yet. If anyone s making a profit. I d be very surprised. Nobody has his volume up that High yet. It s too Early for that he said. But we Hope within a year or two to be at a profit. If it takes longer i Don t spot checks at various Sites with Termi nals bore him out indicating that few customers were using the system. Some of the store clerks resent the added responsibilities for which they receive no additional pay. One clerk said she did t care to become a Bank Teller and i certainly Don t want to replace Bank tellers in their in its first few weeks the system has been plagued by breakdowns though a 21 hour repair and replacement service pre vents Long periods without working term rials. Iwanicki the clerk at Younkers depart ment store said about five customers a Day use the South Ridge banking service during the week and More than a dozen Day on weekends and paydays. At the Younkers store at Merle Hay mall Thelma Marshall reported that a dozen persons Bank on weekdays and 20 on the weekend. Larry Lampkin assistant manager of the by Vee supermarket on Euclid Avenue at interstate route 235, said the store aver Ages 40 Bank customers a Day. A lot of people Are reluctant to use it some say they just Don t Trust computers Iwanicki said. It s not too bad working with it but it does cause some delay. Once we turn on the terminal we can t leave itto help other Dooley whose title is executive director of the Iowa Transfer system which acts As a Clearinghouse for the transaction said that Only two of the More than 30 terminals in metropolitan Des Moines Are registering More than 1,000 transactions a month so far. Cedar rapids by comparison has only14 terminals but two of them Are already handling Nore than 1,000 customers month. Dooley said the difference indicates that customers in smaller cities Are accepting the system sooner than those in Large cities. An inducement for merchants to allow the terminals in their retail outlets is the Prospect that the banking service will at tract additional store customers. At the stores checked however that attraction docs not yet seem to be working. Neil Milner president of the Iowa Bank ers association said the problem so far has been the attempt by some people to run the system on a proprietary basis. It can t be justified on an individual interest. It s got be a snared setup with As Many Banks Able to use it As want to do so. That Way the different Banks can maintain their individual customer services and there is a Strong feeling Here that larg Ebanks in the East and West along with National credit card companies such As american express master charge and Banka Dericard want to see the Iowa test fail. Nebraska was the first state to open a statewide Hookup. Because of Legal questions and a More cautious approach by Nebraska Bankers however Iowa has been Able to Advance beyond its neighbor. Dooley said that he has met with officials of card companies and that they have so far not chosen to Hook into the local system. They Haven t refused he said but they Haven t Romania gives amnesty Bucharest up Romania has announced an amnesty under which nearly. 19,000 convicts will be released from jail and another 9,500 persons will not be put on trial or serve already passed sentences in this country of 22 million
