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                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, January 7, 1992                   TAG: 9201070136
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV2   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: CATHRYN McCUE NEW RIVER VALLEY BUREAU
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG                                LENGTH: Short

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BANKS MAY MERGE LATER

First National Bank of Christiansburg announced Monday it will not merge with the Bank of Tazewell County, at least for now.

The two banks blamed the postponement on economic conditions, an unsettled banking industry and regulatory restraints on expansion.

Samuel Tollison, president of First National, and Ray E. Dodson, president of the Bank of Tazewell, said in a joint press release that "both banks are still most interested in an affiliation when conditions are more favorable."

They said they had mutually agreed to terminate their letter of intent for an affiliation.

A year ago, almost to the day, they had announced a merger in order to better withstand changes in Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. regulations and increases in insurance premiums. The proposed joint holding company also would have allowed the banks to offer more services, such as automatic-teller machines and bank-funded credit cards.

Dodson said last year that the merger was not related to the 1990 union of one of his competitors, Premier Bankshares, based in Tazewell, with Shawsville Bancorp Inc. in Montgomery County.

First National Bank of Christiansburg would have held 55 percent of the stock in the new entity formed with the Bank of Tazewell.

First National reported a record $2.8 million in earnings in 1990, and $275 million in assets. The bank has five offices in Montgomery County and one in Radford.

The Bank of Tazewell County also has six offices, all in the county and Bluefield area. Its assets exceeded $154 million in 1990, and earnings were $2 million, up more than 10 percent.

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