THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, April 27, 1995 TAG: 9504270335
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: D1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY TOM SHEAN, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Short : 42 lines
Sounding more like a brand manager with Procter & Gamble Co. than a commercial banker, NationsBank Corp. Chairman Hugh L. McColl Jr. told shareholders Wednesday that the company would use its sponsorship of the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta to promote the ``NationsBank brand.''
``By the time our shareholders meet next year, the entire South will have caught a major case of Olympic fever,'' McColl said during NationsBank's annual shareholders' meeting here.
``With 35 billion television viewers worldwide watching the Games for a combined 2,800 hours, there could be no better way to build awareness'' of the company, he told about 500 people attending the hour-long meeting.
NationsBank also will use the Olympics to sell and test several of its services, including its credit cards, accounts and home loans, he said.
McColl used the shareholders' meeting to deflate speculation that NationsBank might be talking with Chase ManhattanBank in New York City about a possible combination.
``Your company has not been, is not now and has no plans to enter into discussions with Chase Manhattan,'' he said.
Earlier this month, The Wall Street Journal quoted NationsBank Vice Chairman and Chief Financial Officer James H. Hance Jr. as saying that NationsBank would be ``very interested in talking to'' Chase Manhattan.
``If they had an interest in talking to us, we'd certainly be interested in talking to them,'' the newspaper quoted Hance as saying.
Responding to a question about whether NationsBank might consider moving its headquarters to New York or Chicago, McColl said: ``We are based in the South and proud of it.'' ILLUSTRATION: [Color logo for the 1996 Olympic games.]
by CNB