Financial Institutions Bureau Commissioner Patrick M. McQueen today announced that Michigan moved from a 42nd place state-ranking of attractive business climate to 14th place in a 1997 DRI/McGraw Hill survey of the payments industry.

MasterCard International commissioned the surveys conducted by DRI/McGraw Hill and the law firm of Jones, Day, Reavis, and Pogue. The studies evaluated the relative attractiveness of the states to the payments industry, in particular, issuers of credit cards. In the first survey conducted in 1994, Michigan ranked near the bottom of the states.

Noting the dramatic improvement in Michigan's ranking among the payments industry, Commissioner McQueen stated that "clearly the 1995 passage of credit reform legislation is responsible for much of the improvement in our state." Michigan's ranking in the most important "Legal and Regulatory" category climbed to 8th overall. In the "Quality of Life" category, borrowed from Money Magazine, Michigan jumped to the upper third of the rankings.

Copies of summaries of the surveys can be obtained by calling the Financial Institutions Bureau at (517) 373-7279.