Fairfield County Business Journal 041513

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FAIRFIELD COUNTY

BUSINESS JOURNAL YOUR ONLY SOURCE FOR REGIONAL BUSINESS NEWS | westfaironline.com

LEVERAGING IMMIGRATION POLICY

FCBJ this week COMMUTERS AT A RECENT meeting railed against state officials for delays to plans to build a new parking garage at the Stamford train station … 3 ONE YEAR AFTER CONGRESS approved equity crowdfunding, entrepreneurs and investors are still waiting on the SEC to finalize the new rules … 5 A NORWALK AD-MAN is hoping to boost small and midsize advertising agencies and freelancers with a new online lead-generation tool … 9

April 15, 2013 | VOL. 49, No. 15

emploYers saY chaNges Needed to retaiN skilled ForeigN Workers BY JENNIFER BISSELL jbissell@westfairinc.com

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airfield County employers say they need more H-1B visas to fill job openings with highly skilled immigrants, especially in technology fields. For one Greenwich-based technology company, it’s so difficult to find skilled employees in Connecticut that the firm has several international offices to help it meet

An H-1B visa allows a company to hire a foreign employee with advanced skills for six years. A total of 85,000 visas are allotted every year, including 20,000 visas for immigrants with U.S. college degrees. The event was held in part by U.S. Rep. Jim Himes, a Greenwich Democrat, who also attended to get a better sense of the business community’s needs and concerns. The message he received was loud and clear: busi» Immigration, page 6

Technology, with a human face

PHOTO BY BOB ROZYCKI

THE COST OF INPATIENT hospital care rose faster in lower Fairfield County than in most U.S. metropolitan areas from 2008 to 2010, a new report finds … 15

its workforce needs. “I’m struggling to find the talent here,” said Liwen Yaacoby, CEO of TechWuli L.L.C. “A lot of people think offshoring is for the cheaper labor and for money purposes. But that’s not necessarily the case.” Roughly a dozen Fairfield County business representatives met at the Stamford Innovation Center April 3 to discuss immigration policy and how it could better work in their favor.

BANKS TO ADDRESS FALLING REVENUES WITH NEW TECHNOLOGIES BY PATRICK GALLAGHER

pgallagher@westfairinc.com

MEDIA PARTNER

FROM THE HEART

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Robert D. Scinto speaks at an April 9 event in Shelton.

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2 Reinventing

a Bridgeport icon

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IF MORE BANKS FOLLOW Bank of America Corp.’s lead, the “A” in ATM might just become a thing of the past. After closing nearly 200 of its branches from June 2011 to June 2012 — more than any other bank in the country during that period — the Charlotte juggernaut on April 4 unveiled a next-generation automated teller machine that allows customers to video chat with an actual bank teller. The banking industry is at a crossroads as interactive ATMs, mobile deposits and other technologies threaten to supplant tellers and branches. The issue is compounded by the growing number of banks and branches in the region. While reports show there are fewer bank branches nationally than prior to the 2008 financial crisis, the opposite is true of Fairfield County. Thirty-two commercial banks and savings institutions had a combined 409 branches in Fairfield County as of June 30, 2012, according to Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC) data. That represents a 4 percent bump from June 2007, when 32 institutions had 392 » Technology, page 6


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