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

DATE: FRIDAY, January 21, 1994                   TAG: 9401210099
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: A-9   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Orlando Sentinel
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

NATIONSBANK, FIRST UNION TARGET INTERSTATE BARRIERS

Unable to get an interstate banking bill passed in Washington, banking giants NationsBank and First Union Corp. have teamed up with a Georgia bank to try their luck on a state-by-state basis.

The two banks, joined by Synovus Financial Corp. of Columbus, Ga., unveiled their Florida lobbying campaign Thursday in Tallahassee under the aegis of a new nonprofit group, the Florida Coalition for Economic Development.

Today, the coalition will put that plan into action as interstate banking bills are introduced in the Florida House and Senate.

The Florida campaign is important to the big banks because the Southeastern Regional Compact of 1985, which allowed them to acquire Florida banks, restricts their out-of-region deposits.

The restriction was deemed necessary in the mid-1980s to keep big New York banks from overrunning the South, but it is cramping the expansion plans of NationsBank, First Union and other big banks.

by CNB