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

DATE: FRIDAY, January 6, 1995                   TAG: 9501060128
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: A-5   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

IN BUSINESS

First Union National Bank of Florida, No.2 in the state, is closing the gap on Barnett Banks, which for years has marketed itself as ``Florida's bank,'' stressing its hometown roots.

First Union has spent $780 million in stock and cash for two big Miami-area S&Ls in the past month, adding $6 billion in assets. As it has done in its 31 previous Florida acquisitions, First Union expects to make the deals pay by closing many of the S&L branches, laying off some employees and selling a wider variety of bank services.

Once the deals are completed, Barnett will have about $38 billion in deposits in Florida (20 percent), followed by about $28 billion (16 percent) for First Union and $18 billion (11 percent) for Charlotte-based NationsBank.

Barnett is the nation's 23rd largest bank. First Union is ninth nationally, with about $74 billion in assets, including 545 branches in Florida.

- Knight-Ridder/Tribune

Work goes overtime on U.S.-Japan pact

TOKYO - Japan and the United States both hope to cap this week's bilateral summit between President Clinton and Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama with a financial services agreement.

Negotiators have been working overtime since late December to forge a pact giving them something concrete to unveil at the summit, scheduled Wednesday through Jan. 13 in Washington.

However, little if any progress is expected this week on the biggest area of disagreement between the two countries - access to Japan's autos and auto parts market. This sector makes up nearly two-thirds of the $60 billion U.S. trade deficit with Japan.

Autos and auto parts are simply too huge, too contentious and too important to be solved without a lot more work. The real action will start later this month when both sides resume negotiations. No date has been set for those meetings.

- Journal of Commerce

Downbeat forecast bolsters peso

MEXICO CITY - The peso strengthened slightly Thursday after Mexico's new finance chief announced sobering new projections of low economic growth and briefed Wall Street on steps to combat the currency crisis.

Treasury Secretary Guillermo Ortiz, in a meeting with New York investment houses, predicted the Mexican economy would grow only 1.5 percent this year, but inflation will reach an average rate of 15.9 percent in 1995. Ortiz said. The rate predicted before Mexico's currency crisis was 4 percent.

U.S. investors have lost an estimated $10 billion in Mexican stocks as the peso has lost nearly 35 percent of its value since Dec. 20. The peso finished trading Thursday at 5.35 to the dollar, up slightly from Wednesday's close of 5.575.

- Associated Press