Saratoga News

Business Briefs

Saratoga Bancorp has increased earnings

Saratoga National Bank's parent company, Saratoga Bancorp, reported increased earnings for the three- and nine-month period ending Sept. 30.

Net income for the quarter was $467,000, up 55 percent from $302,000 for the same period in 1996. Net income for the nine-month period was $1,070,000, an increase of 47 percent compared to $726,000 in 1996.

Saratoga Bancorp will return a portion of the profits to its shareholders in the form of a 10-cent-per-share cash dividend. The dividend was paid to shareholders on Nov. 14 to those who were on record as of Oct. 31.

FINET Mortgage chosen test site

FINET Mortgage of Saratoga has been chosen as one of six mortgage brokers in Santa Clara County to test Industrywide Mortgage Exchange (IMX), which is a system that allows banks to "bid" on the opportunity to make a mortgage loan.

IMX was introduced in mid-September and developed by a San Ramon start-up software company. As a test site, FINET, an independent mortgage broker, will be able to "post" details of mortgage applications on a private computer network for review by participating lenders. Information displayed includes income, asset and credit information. Names and Social Security numbers of the applicants are withheld.

FINET loan officers then review bids and select the lender with the best offer.

"The search for the lowest rates has just been made a little more foolproof. The real benefit is to our borrowers," Steve Smith, senior loan officer at FINET, said.

Saratogan named VP

Ark Research Corporation in San Jose recently named Saratoga resident Larry Schuster vice president of sales and marketing. Schuster will take on worldwide responsibility for sales, marketing, customer service and communications programs supporting the corporation's new line of continuous data availability systems.

Schuster was hired based on his extensive background in enterprise computing and distributed systems marketing for global technology brands, said James R. Bergsten, Ark Research Corporation's co-founder, CEO and president.

Before coming to Ark Research, Schuster worked for Wyse Technology and Tandem Computers and served as marketing director at Minicomputer Sales and Leasing Inc. in New Jersey.

Saratogan gets rights

Sean Griffin, Saratoga resident and founder of StudioFX, has secured exclusive rights from the Prema Toy Company to sell and promote Gumby and Pokey products through the World Wide Web.

StudioFX plans to build an online Gumby and Pokey Virtual Amusement Park and Cyberstore featuring interactive games, video and audio clips and more.

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