TREND WATCH

Banking on Insurance: More banks are looking to the insurance market--not for coverage, but for new ways to make money through selling policies, including credit insurance (life insurance for borrowers) and tax-deferred annuities. An estimated 75% of banks now sell these products, and, according to one industry watcher, more sophisticated products are on the way. The president of a third-party marketer, a company that helps banks prepare to sell insurance products, estimates that the $12-billion U.S. market will grow to $40 billion in five years. City Business

Deciphering Software: New products are making it easier for computers to rewrite software by overcoming the problems of reading antiquated computer codes. Engineers given the task of updating software have complained of spending too much of their creative time untangling “spaghetti codes.” One company, Index Technology of Cambridge, Mass., has a product that reads old code, discerns its purpose and creates new coding adaptable to computer-aided software engineering. The process is considered a breakthrough that will stimulate the creation of software by computers. Datamation

Expanding With Sports: The sports trading card market grew 26% since 1989 to $436 million, rising with the popularity of professional sports. Fleer Corp. of Philadelphia says its revenue in the first three quarters of 1990 was up 83% from the same period in 1989. The company, which claims 19% of the market in baseball cards and bubble gum, predicts continued high sales as consumers turn increasingly to sports for leisure. Philadelphia Inquirer