NATIONSBANK TO OPEN THURSDAY

Roanoke Times Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc. DATE: WEDNESDAY, January 1, 1992 TAG: 9201010171 SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: A-7 EDITION: HOLIDAY SOURCE: MAG POFF BUSINESS WRITER DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium

NATIONSBANK TO OPEN THURSDAY
While it will be several weeks before signs bear the new name, a dozen Sovran Bank branches in the Roanoke Valley will open Thursday as NationsBank, culminating the merger of C&S Sovran Corp. with NCNB Corp.
The first refitted branch of NationsBank opened Tuesday in downtown Charlotte, N.C., where the new company will have its headquarters.
The Charlotte branch was outfitted with the red-and-blue logo of the new bank. Changing the merged bank's other 1,900 branches will take several months, said company spokeswoman Virginia Mackin.
She said the bank would not talk about the cost of converting its branches, which now extend from Maryland to Florida and west to Texas.
"We've not made a number public," she said. "Keep in mind that this would have had to be done with a merger anyway - the name of one bank or the other would have been used."
Former Sovran employees hung a NationsBank banner Tuesday at the downtown Roanoke branch on South Jefferson Street. It will be February, however, before all of the signs are replaced at Roanoke Valley branches, the company said.
With $118 billion in assets, NationsBank will be the fourth largest financial institution in the country. NationsBank ranks behind Citicorp, Bank of America and Chemical Banking Corp. - which also was formed Tuesday from the merger of Manufacturers Hanover Trust Corp. and Chemical Banking Corp.
"NationsBank is uniquely positioned in its region," said Hugh McColl Jr., president and chief executive officer of the new bank. "The company's market breadth and financial strength will provide value for our shareholders and unparalleled service for our customers. The company's vast resources will make a difference in every community we serve."
For many of the bank's senior employees in the Roanoke Valley, the event was the fourth merger of their careers.
The first was in 1973 when Roanoke's small Mountain Trust Bank was purchased by First & Merchants National Bank of Richmond.
F&M, in turn, merged with Virginia National Bank of Norfolk in early 1984 to create Sovran.
The third merger came in 1990 between Norfolk-based Sovran and Citizens & Southern Corp. of Atlanta, yielding C&S/Sovran.
Robert Patterson, manager of the downtown Roanoke branch, said customers should continue to use their Sovran checks and deposit slips. The materials will be converted in stages to the new name of NationsBank.
Associated Press contributed to this story.

by Archana Subramaniam by CNB