Financial Services >> Sector Roundtables >> September 11, 2000

Roundtable Forum: Specialty Finance Industry

STEVEN N. WHARTON is a Vice President at Loomis Sayles & Company. He previously worked as an Equity Analyst with Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio. Mr. Wharton received a BBA degree from Ohio University and an MBA from Miami University. He completed Level II of the CFA Program and is a Board Member of New York Bank, Financial Analysts Association and Boston Banc Analyst Association. Profile
MEREDITH A. WHITNEY is a Senior Vice President with First Union Securities, where she follows the specialty finance sector in the financial services industry area. Previously, she was associated with CIBC Oppenheimer as an Analyst. Ms. Whitney holds a Bachelor's degree from Brown University. Profile
JENNIFER S. SCUTTI is an Executive Director and a Senior Financial Services Analyst in the Equity Research department of CIBC World Markets. Since joining CIBC World Markets in March 2001, she has initiated coverage on a number of sectors within the specialty finance niche, including the financial technology sector, the commercial finance group, the credit card/diversified finance issuers and the mortgage finance companies. She has been featured on CNNfn and is regularly quoted in a variety of publications. In 2001, Ms. Scutti was recognized for her earnings estimate accuracy by The Wall Street Journal's 'Best On The Street' analyst survey, after being named the top financial services stock picker on Wall Street by the same survey in 2000. She was also named one of the 25 best stock pickers in Wall Street according to Bloomberg News and named as an earnings estimate sharpshooter by The American Banker in 1996. Prior to joining CIBC World Markets, Ms. Scutti was employed by Prudential Securities from 1994 to 2001 and Lehman Brothers from 1991 to 1994. She began her Wall Street career in 1989 at Brown Brothers Harriman. She has a BA from the University of Delaware and received her MBA in Finance from Rutgers University. She is a member of the Association of Investment Management Research. Profile
DAVID S. HOCHSTIM, CFA, is a Managing Director in the Equity Research Department of Bear, Stearns & Co., Inc. in New York. He is responsible for the firm's equity coverage on non-bank financial companies including credit card companies, Government Sponsored Enterprises (GSEs), consumer and commercial finance companies and mortgage insurers. Mr. Hochstim joined Bear, Stearns & Co., Inc. in 1989 from Shearson Lehman Hutton, where he also worked as an Analyst. Prior to joining Shearson Lehman, Mr. Hochstim worked in the strategic planning department at Security Pacific Bank in Los Angeles, CA. He received a BA degree from Brown University and an MBA from the University of California at Los Angeles, California. Mr. Hochstim is a Chartered Financial Analyst and a member of the Bank and Financial Analysts Association. Profile
TWST: Jennifer, would you paint a picture of the evolving specialty

finance industry for us in Year 2000, the role these companies play in

the financial services' sector and the general