Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, March 10, 1992 TAG: 9203100139
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: A-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MAG POFF BUSINESS WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Counting up the take from its purchase of former CorEast Federal Savings Bank branches, First Virginia said its local deposits rose from $137 million to $337 million over the weekend.
James Hinson, president of First Virginia Bank-Southwest, said his bank will gain 18,000 to 20,000 new accounts, based on a list of CorEast accounts he received Sunday night.
First Virginia Bank Group of Falls Church, an affiliate of First Virginia-Southwest's parent, paid $2.87 million for 32,304 CorEast accounts statewide. It was one of 10 banks and thrifts that announced Friday night they had purchased pieces of the failed CorEast from the government's Resolution Trust Corp.
In the valley, First Virginia said it plans to close all but one of CorEast's eight branches it purchased. It will keep open the former CorEast branch on Roanoke's Colonial Avenue opposite Towers Mall.
Hinson said First Virginia had been searching for some time for a location in the South Roanoke-Raleigh Court area. The other seven CorEast branches, however, overlapped existing First Virginia offices, he said.
Also, First Virginia said Monday it will hire, at least temporarily, all of CorEast's employees in the Roanoke area. There are about 40 of them, Hinson said.
They are helping with the transition, he said, and some will be needed on a permanent basis, although Hinson said he did not yet know how many.
The government is still running CorEast's data processing center to handle CorEast checks until the accounts are converted to First Virginia. First Virginia is not involved with that operation.
Also, First Virginia will need more employees because the acquisition of CorEast swelled its size, Hinson said.
In about two weeks, First Virginia will move CorEast vaults to its own branches, Hinson said.
Until then, former CorEast branches will remain open so customers can empty their safe-deposit boxes.
Many people made that a first order of business on Monday, meaning that some First Virginia lobbies were swamped with customers wanting to rent boxes there.
Some CorEast depositors were apprehensive, Hinson said, because they didn't understand the process of closing the thrift and transferring accounts to other institutions.
Failing thrifts often pay high rates in an attempt to attract deposits, and acquiring banks have the right to lower payments. Customers who object to the new, lower rates have the right to cash in the certificates without a penalty.
by CNB