Wauwatosa Savings Bank to change name to WaterStone Bank
Wauwatosa Savings Bank plans to change its name to WaterStone Bank SSB May, the bank announced Monday. 
"A name change is necessary to better reflect what we are now, and what we plan to be in the future," said Doug Gordon, president and CEO of the bank. "As we continue to expand geographically to other communities, “Wauwatosa” does not clearly define our intentions to be the premier community bank in all the communities we serve."
The bank polled more than 1,700 of its customers during February, asking them to help choose a new name. Choices included WaterStone Bank, Granite Bank and Security First Bank. 
Wauwatosa Savings Bank operates branches in Wauwatosa, Franklin/Hales Corners, Germantown/Menomonee Falls, Oak Creek, Oconomowoc, Pewaukee, Waukesha, and West Allis. For information, visit www.WSBonline.com.

Commerce State Bank surpasses $200 million in assets
West Bend-based Commerce State Bank surpassed $200 million in assets at the end of February. The bank opened in August, 2005, and focuses on commercial loans, low transaction volume/high balance deposits and home mortgage products.
Joe Fazio, the bank's chairman and CEO, said Commerce State Bank's rapid growth is due to hard work and a focus on customer service.
"There is nothing magical about what we are doing," he said. "Everyday we say thanks and proactively call on clients. We also commit to providing them with a fast yes or a fast no; slow no's or maybes simply waste time. Perhaps our secret is that we do this consistently each and everyday."

QPS acquires another Wisconsin staffing company
Brookfield-based QPS Companies Inc. has acquired N.E.W. Contracting, which has offices in Green Bay and Appleton.
With the acquisition, QPS, a staffing company, will add an estimated 20 percent to the business already generated by its own locations in Appleton and Green Bay.
N.E.W. was acquired from owner Blaise Krautkramer, who will no longer oversee the firm. The N.E.W. employees will be retained and will become QPS employees. The N.E.W. name will not be retained.
"We're excited about the expansion and growth we're experiencing in the Fox Valley area, which ultimately allows us to expand our geographical reach and better serve both our customers and applicants," said Dan McNulty, executive vice president and chief operating officer of QPS. "The acquisition is just another step in our 2008 growth and development plan."
QPS has more than 200 employees in 20 office locations throughout Wisconsin and Illinois.

Manpower acquires Dutch staffing firm
Manpower Inc., a world leader in the employment services industry, announced recently that it has acquired Vitae, a leading professional placement firm in the Netherlands. Vitae, which has offices in 10 locations, will initially operate independently under its own brand, affiliated with Manpower Professional within Manpower Netherlands. Vitae's current directors will remain active in the company.
"This acquisition of Vitae is part of our ongoing strategy to broaden our portfolio of recruitment services within our Manpower Professional brand to provide our clients with all of the talent they need, particularly the technology and finance professionals that are currently in high demand," said Jeffrey A. Joerres, Manpower Inc. Chairman and CEO.
Established in 1986, Vitae offers permanent placement for approximately 4,000 candidates per year in 12 different specialist fields. Vitae has a strong reputation for identifying effective solutions specialized in reaching and retaining professionals, and for continually nurturing the professional and personal development of candidates.

Name: Gary Haertlein
Title: vice president and investment officer
Company: Associated Investment Management
City of Residence: Milwaukee
Family: Single
What's new at your company this year? "Associated Bank has a relatively new president and chief operating officer, Lisa Binder. She has initiated a number of exciting new changes and recruited some very talented people to our organization."
What are the most interesting issues you work with clients on? "Managing a client's wealth involves more than just managing an investment portfolio. Setting objectives and risk tolerances, managing expectations, tax considerations, looking at the big picture and planning for the future are all part of the process. While working through these issues, you really get to know people, and I like that part of the business."
What is the most difficult or challenging project you've been involved with? "The late 1990s were the most challenging of my career. The equity markets (technology in particular) went to extreme valuations and the only way you could perform well was to be imprudent. Listening to stories from some clients about how their golf buddy or nephew in college outperformed me because they concentrated in tech stocks was not fun."

Top health insurance companies slash earnings projections
Health care insurers Humana Inc. and Wellpoint Inc. issued lower profit warnings this week, sending their stocks tumbling.
Louisville, Ky.-based Humana warned that it now expects first-quarter earnings of 44 cents to 46 cents per share, down from prior guidance of 80 to 85 cents per share. Humana also downgraded its full-year profit forecast to $4 to $4.25 per share from its previous outlook of $5.35 to $5.55 per share.
Humana attributed the revision to higher-than-expected claims in its stand-alone prescription drug plan (PDP).
In a conference call with analysts and the media, Humana president and chief executive officer Michael McCallister said, "We detected higher-than-expected (prescription drug) claims."
James Murray, chief operating officer of Humana, said the company's lower customer co-pays resulted in the firm absorbing $160 million in additional prescription drug costs.
McCallister and Murray predicted the incorrect actuarial assumptions will be corrected for 2009.
Humana's announcement came one day after Wellpoint's stock fell by more than 28 percent. Indianapolis-based Wellpoint, which operates Wisconsin Blue Cross & Blue Shield, cut its full-year earnings forecast to a range of $5.76 to $6.01 per share from its previous forecast of $6.41 a share.
WellPoint attributed its lower profits to several factors, including medical costs, lower fully insured enrollments and an overall weak economy.
"We are making these revisions to our prior earnings guidance due to higher than expected medical costs, lower than expected fully insured enrollment and, to a lesser extent, the changing economic environment in which we are operating," said Angela Braly, president and chief executive officer of WellPoint. "While we are disappointed with having to revise our 2008 outlook, we are still expecting growth this year, with record levels of membership, revenue and earnings per share. We are taking actions and making investments in our business to further improve our performance during the balance of this year and beyond."

Fiserv subsidiary launches cell phone banking technology
Information Technology Inc. (ITI), a business unit of Brookfield-based Fiserv Inc., announced recently the launch of Premier Mobile Banking, an integrated mobile banking solution that gives customers the convenience of managing their accounts anytime and anywhere.
Operating on a browser embedded in handheld devices, the product is both carrier-independent and compatible with any web-enabled device. Banking customers are able to check account balances, view recent transactions, receive alerts and transfer funds between accounts in real time with their cell phone or PDA.
Consumer demand for banking services using cell phones and PDAs is rapidly increasing. The newest form of self-service banking is intended to give financial institutions a competitive advantage, helping them acquire and retain customers, especially the younger consumers who lead the market in demand for mobile services.
"This technology was specifically developed for our community bank clients to help them expand their offerings and compete effectively against even their largest competitors, and more than two dozen have already licensed this innovative product," says Tom Cypher, ITI president and chief executive officer. "About 83 percent of Americans now subscribe to a cellular phone service, and Fiserv ITI intends to deliver even more opportunity and value to financial institutions by capitalizing on this important service channel."

Free turnaround advice available for small businesses
Free professional turnaround consulting is available for qualified nonprofit organizations and small for-profit businesses experiencing serious financial, operational or other problems in Milwaukee.
The free service is provided by the Chicago Midwest Chapter of the Turnaround Management Association.
To be eligible, organizations within two hours drive from Chicago, must have an agenda that is neither political nor religious and have annual revenues of $3 million or less.
For more information, contact TMA executive director Christine Glatz at (815) 469-2935.

Arizona office of Fairway Independent Mortgage Corp. makes splash
The Tucson, Ariz. branch of Sun Prairie-based Fairway Independent Mortgage Corporation was named the 16th highest producing office of 100 offices nationwide, in its January listing. The Tucson branch has been open six months.
Fairway was ranked fourth in the nation last year among top brokers in terms of volume by Broker Magazine. Fairway closed $1.62 billion in loan volume in 2007, and has exceeded the one billion mark every year since 2001.

Guardian Credit Union introduces Guardian Mobile
West Milwaukee based Guardian Credit Union recently launched Guardian Mobile, which gives members the ability to use their cell phone or smart phone to access balance information, pay bills and transfer funds. This all-new mobile branch service is a is a simplified version of Guardian Credit Union's existing Online Branch that has been reformatted to be used with mobile devices.  It is free to all Guardian members. 
Guardian Credit Union has branches in West Milwaukee, West Allis, South Milwaukee, Menomonee Falls, Waukesha, Oak Creek and Racine.

M&I Community Development Corp. has announced the promotion of Paul N. Fehrenbach to vice president. Fehrenbach has been with M&I since 1985.

Milwaukee-based MW Bank recently hired John Vivian as trust officer, John Shaw, Jr. as credit administration officer, and Tom Kionka as a courier. The bank also recently promoted Lachelle Haney to lead representative in the client service department.

Associated Banc-Corp. recently named Nick Papachristou executive vice president and chief marketing officer for Associated Bank. He is responsible for leading strategic initiatives in marketing, brand management, product development and pricing, customer database and analytics, and corporate communications. Papachristou is based in Milwaukee. The bank also recently named Cynthia Minuti as senior vice president and director of retail marketing. Based in Milwaukee, she will provide leadership in the promotion of Associated's network of bank branches and retail products and services.

Jannsen & Co. S.C. recently hired Jeanette Schachtner as an accounting services and payroll specialist.

Jackie Portz, assistant vice president and senior mortgage loan officer for Johnson Bank in Milwaukee was recently recognized by her peers for her record loan production in 2007. Portz, who joined the company in 2002, has been in the banking business for nearly 25 years, closed 67 loans for a total of over $27 million. 

Gaining Private Equity/Venture Capital Funding in the New North Meeting, March 25, 9-11 a.m., Northeast Wisconsin Technical College Business Assistance Center, 2701 Larsen Road, Green Bay; presented by the New North Small Business and Entrepreneurial Council; free; for information or to register email info@uniquesolutionsinc.com by Thursday, March 20.