Wholesale Home Equity

As of year end 2007, Webster has discontinued all national wholesale mortgage banking activities and, as a result, is closing its wholesale lending offices in Seattle, Washington; Phoenix, Arizona; Cheshire, Connecticut; and Chicago, Illinois. As a result, the company recorded severance and other costs of $3.5 million (pre tax) in the fourth quarter of 2007, primarily for lease terminations and outplacement. Webster's remaining mortgage operations in Cheshire, CT will now focus solely on direct to consumer retail originations. Additionally, the company's home equity lending will be solely direct to consumer originations as Webster strives to build more multi-product relationships with customers in its core franchise.

As previously announced, Webster has been exploring strategic alternatives for its insurance operations.

Dollar Mixed As Risk Aversion Increases

The UK gross domestic product increased a stronger-than-expected 0.6% q/q in Q4 2007, the least since Q3 2006, the government said. The GDP rose 2.9% y/y. The UK service sector expanded 0.7% q/q in Q4 2007 following a 0.8% q/q in Q3. The industrial production increased 0.3% m/m, with no change in manufacturing output, the statistics office said.Bank of England Governor Mervyn King said the UK economy could slow “quite sharply" in the near future and the BOE's 5.5% bank rate is “probably" restricting economic growth. “In the short run, [tighter credit conditions] will slow economic activity, possibly quite sharply," King said. “But we start the year from a position in which the bank rate, at 5.5%, is probably bearing down on demand," he added. BOE policy makers voted 8- 1 to keep the interest rate unchanged at 5.5% in January, as inflation concerns led a majority to dismiss David Blanchflower's call for a rate cut.

Clicking with Jesus

Some of GodTube's most popular videos are simple narratives such as "Lifehouse Everything" and "Logan, the Sky Angel Cowboy," an audio track of an extremely poised boy talking to a Christian radio DJ about God after the death of his calf. His perfect pitch as a little kid on the prairie has caused skeptical religious scholars and others to question Logan's authenticity.

For other evangelists, GodTube is also a godsend. When a friend sent her a link to the "Lifehouse Everything" video, Kristin Furr, 27, says, "I watched that, thinking, 'Wow, what an incredible resource. What a great place to share your faith journey with other people."

GodTube demonstrates that "Christianity isn't just sitting in a church on Sunday morning. It's something that everybody lives by every day," Furr says.