Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, September 15, 1994 TAG: 9409150066
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B-8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By MAG POFF STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Passage of the bill by the Senate on Tuesday was seen nationally as a victory for the Clinton administration and for big banks that want to set up branch networks nationwide. The House previously had approved the proposal.
Some had viewed the plan as a possible problem for small banks.
Not so, said C.R. McCullar, president of Charter Federal Savings Bank. He said the law will have little effect on small banks for the foreseeable future. Charter, he said, will remain the regional hometown bank for its local customers.
"I think it's the right way to go, no doubt about that," McCullar said. "It's going to step up the pace of consolidation in the banking industry, which isn't all bad really."
While the large regional banks merge with each other, having a major impact on the industry, he said, small banks will continue in their hometown ways.
Randolph McElroy, president of NationsBank of Virginia, said the legislation really is a consumer law because it will help people who live or work near state boundaries.
Banks now are prohibited from accepting deposits across state lines. McElroy said that because of the problems in the Washington metropolitan area, he gets more letters of complaint about this limitation than about any other subject.
When the new law becomes effective on June 1, 1997, McElroy said, people who work in Washington but live in the Virginia or Maryland suburbs will be able to make deposits at the most convenient location.
Roanoke will be little affected by the law, he said, because no multiple jurisdictions are involved.
NationsBank is "always looking" for new merger partners and will be able to take a broader view, McElroy said. But for now, he said, NationsBank will focus on combining the banks in its multistate network into a single seamless bank.
David Scanzoni, spokesman in Charlotte, N.C., for First Union Corp., said the legislation should help the Roanoke Valley because of the large number of systemwide bank operations here. As First Union, parent of First Union National Bank of Virginia, grows through mergers and expands into other states, its Roanoke operations should grow as well, he said
The Roanoke Valley, he said, "is a major point of operations for us."
First Union, he said, was pleased with passage of the legislation. The law, he said, is catching up to the reality of the marketplace.
Scanzoni said First Union will be able to capitalize on its computer processing system that was designed in anticipation of interstate banking. He said customers will find new and better product lines, while those who travel will be able to bank at any branch in any state.
Although full implementation is nearly three years away, Scanzoni said, "that will go by real fast."
by CNB