Supplement to help laid-off RG workers

Supplement to help laid-off RG workers

washington

U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Avon, and U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan of Niles, D-17th, announced new federal resources that will help laid-off RG Steel workers purchase health-care coverage.

The $1.2 million grant, awarded to WorkForce West Virginia, also will benefit Ohio workers thanks to a memorandum of understanding signed between West Virginia and Ohio.

The supplement will provide two to three months of “gap filler” payments for unemployed individuals who are receiving Trade Adjustment Assistance benefits and are eligible for the Health Coverage Tax Credit program.

Under the program, eligible individuals can receive 72.5 percent of premium costs for qualified health-insurance programs. These payments cover the period of time it takes to complete Internal Revenue Service enrollment, processing and first payments under the HCTC program.

Mobile banking

HERMITAGE, PA.

First National Bank of Pennsylvania has announced a change to its mobile-banking service that allows customers to deposit checks using their smartphones.

The FNB Mobile App lets customers take a picture of the front and back of a check, enabling the deposit.

Mobile banking was introduced in June, and now more than 30,000 customers are using the service, according to the bank.

In 2013, First National Bank plans to further enhance mobile banking by introducing customized account alerts and extending PopMoney’s person-to-person payment capability, making it easier for parents to send money to kids at school, pay the baby-sitter or send money to family and friends for any reason.

Small exchange buys NYSE for $8B

NEW YORK

The Big Board just isn’t so big anymore.

In a deal that highlights the dwindling stature of what was once a centerpiece of capitalism, the New York Stock Exchange is being sold to a little-known rival for $8 billion — $3 billion less than it would have fetched in a proposed takeover just last year.

The buyer is IntercontinentalExchange, a 12-year-old exchange headquartered in Atlanta that deals in investing contracts known as futures.

Intercontinental Exchange, known as ICE, said Thursday that little would change for the trading floor at the corner of Wall and Broad streets in Manhattan’s financial district.

But the clout of the two-centuries-old NYSE has been eroded gradually over decades by the relentless advance of technology and regulatory changes. Its importance today mostly is symbolic.

The NYSE dates to 1792, when 24 brokers and merchants traded stocks under a buttonwood tree on Wall Street. But today most trading doesn’t require face-to-face meeting at all. It’s done on computers that match thousands of orders a second.

Vindicator staff/wire reports