ROANOKE TIMES 

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

DATE: THURSDAY, September 22, 1994                   TAG: 9409230101
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: B-8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: CLAUDINE WILLIAMS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

BANKER SEES OPPORTUNITY

New interstate banking regulations may appear threatening to some parts of the industry, but they will benefit customers and banks willing to change and face the need for efficiency and fairer competition, said Robert Atwood, executive vice president and chief financial officer of First Union Corp.

Atwood spoke Wednesday night to business students from area colleges and universities participating in a two-day conference in Roanoke. Wednesday's dinner was at the Shenandoah Club.

"This may come as a shock to some of you, but the future of many banks, as we know them in the traditional sense, is extinction," he said.

The market share of business loans made by what Atwood called traditional banks declined from 46 percent in 1980 to 32 percent in the first quarter of 1994.

And companies like General Electric Credit Corp. and investment firms such as Goldman Sachs in New York are offering many of the same services that were the traditional business of commercial banks.

"Banking can be a vibrant, exciting industry in the future, as long as we heed the warning signs," Atwood said.

To compete with other institutions and answer consumer needs, Charlotte, N.C.-based First Union has reduced the time it takes to process requests for commercial loans, from three to five weeks to three days.

First Union, parent of Roanoke-based First Union National Bank of Virginia, also is creating new products and services to generate additional revenue.

In about 15 years, about 15 percent of all banking will be done through interactive home videos and television screens, Atwood said. First Union is using companies such as AT&T and Bell South to install such equipment in many of their markets.

"We believe that banking from home will be an important alternative for our customers," he said.

That's "because our competition is no longer that bank down the street, because our customers no longer care if we're in Virginia or Florida."

Customers want responsiveness. They want simplicity, good rates and the tools to solve their problems.

Yet, it is important that service is not sacrificed for corporation growth, Atwood said. First Union, he said, will not turn into a company that stops listening to its customers or employees.

"We know customers don't like to feel like a number. They don't care that we're the ninth-largest bank in the nation. They just want their transactions dealt with in an error-free, efficient and courteous way.'' 


 by CNB