Hoping to boost fee income and win new business, Firstar Corp. has reached a deal with a Cincinnati online medical firm.

        Firstar, successor to Star Banc Corp, signed a one-year deal with HealthBridge, a provider of secured data to doctors, insurance companies and hospitals in southern Ohio and Northern Kentucky.

        The deal calls for joint marketing to HealthBridge's 20-member hospitals and 155 doctor practices.

        Financial terms were not disclosed.

        The deal will allow doctors to do such things online as access business accounts and make transactions, including determining whether checks have cleared and whether wire transfers have been deposited.

        He said it also will allow doctors to access and make transactions on personal checking accounts, including transfering money from one accounts and paying bills online.

        The deal also will allow Firstar to cross-sell other banking services in the HealthBridge network. Healthcare offers doctors access to many medical outlets, including the Clinical Information Systems of The Health Alliance, Mercy Health Partners, Tri-Health and St. Elizabeth Medical Center and Children's Hospital of Cincinnati.

        The alliance also is part of a strategy by Milwaukee-based Firstar to build relationships and generate extra revenue by doing such things as expanding its Internet banking operations.
       

Firstar closes Bancorp purchase

        Firstar Corp. said Tuesday that it closed its $22.5 billion purchase of U.S. Bancorp Inc., creating the ninth-largest financial holding company in the United States.

        The combined bank, which will be known as U.S. Bancorp, has assets of $160 billion, or about 3.1 percent of the nation's bank assets.

        The deal called for an exchange of 1.265 Firstar shares for each U.S. Bancorp share. U.S. Bancorp's stock closed Monday at $29.50.

        Milwaukee-based Firstar agreed to sell 11 bank branches in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area to satisfy antitrust concerns raised by the Justice Department. Firstar was also required to sell branches in Council Bluffs, Iowa.

        The new U.S. Bancorp will continue to trade under the symbol “USB.”

        U.S. Bancorp is based in Minneapolis.
       

Groups provide home-loan help

        A local housing group and two large lenders have teamed up to offer mortgages for low-income residents to buy homes.

        The Home Ownership Center of Greater Cincinnati, Union Savings and Guardian Savings have set up a down payment assistance program. It will provide $2,300 to first-time home-buyers wanting to purchase housing in the city and who are at 80 percent of the median income or lower.

        Harry Yeaggy, president of Union Savings, said in today's environment, in some cases, a persona only needs 3 percent to 5 percent to buy a home. He said that means that the down payment assistance money only needs to be supplemented by a minimum amount from the borrower's savings.

        The Home Ownership Center of Greater Cincinnati said it now has six programs available to help residents buy homes with its latest deal. For more details: call 961-2800.

        Jeff McKinney covers banking for the Enquirer. Have news? Call him at 768-8499, e-mail at jmckinney@enquirer.com or fax 564-6991. Dow Jones News Service contributed to this report.

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