Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, July 8, 1993 TAG: 9307080113
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MAG POFF STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
First Union National Bank of Virginia will create 250 new jobs in Roanoke, in addition to the 400 new jobs announced in March.
Those 650 positions will make up for about 75 percent of the 850 Roanoke jobs the bank is eliminating by late fall as a result of its acquisition of Dominion Bankshares Corp.
Ben Jenkins, president of First Union National Bank of Virginia, said he is "confident" the bank will create still more jobs in Roanoke within the next two years.
The ultimate total, Jenkins said, should exceed the 850 eliminated jobs.
"Roanoke is benefiting from its role as headquarters for First Union's rapidly expanding operations in Virginia, Maryland and Washington, D.C.," Jenkins said.
"First Union came to Roanoke to grow," he said, "and this is just the beginning."
The jobs will be in many departments, and some will be for supervisors.
Pay will range from $20,000 through the $40,000 bracket, Jenkins said.
The average is undetermined, but even if the salaries average $25,000, he pointed out, the payroll for the jobs announced Wednesday will be $6.25 million.
The overall total for 650 jobs by the same yardstick would be $16.25 million.
Jenkins also said the bank is making "significant progress" in finding new jobs within the company for the 850 displaced Roanoke employees.
First Union promised to reveal by early fall the total number of displaced employees who have found new jobs within the company, but he said many fewer than 850 will be out of work.
Their new jobs will be different, however, so workers must be retrained.
Jenkins said the new jobs will be created as Dominion jobs are phased out through October. Hiring will begin this month.
About 225 of the jobs announced Wednesday are a direct result of First Union's June 23 acquisition of First American Metro Corp. of McLean, a $4.6 billion bank with 174 branches in the Washington metropolitan area.
First Union has laid off 200 employees in that area and will terminate another 900 by the end of this year.
People there will have the option of moving with their jobs, but Jenkins predicted few will take advantage of the opportunity. He forecast "a lot of local hiring."
The remaining 25 new jobs are the result of First Union's decision to have all its in-house printing work done in a single print shop in Roanoke. That will save an estimated $100,000 a year, said Warner Dalhouse, chairman of First Union's Virginia bank.
The printing operations now are scattered throughout the bank's seven-state operating region.
Dalhouse noted that the print shop is the third systemwide operation consolidated in Roanoke. The others are credit-card customer service and consumer-loan customer service.
The corporate print shop, which will produce stationery, business cards, forms and brochures, will be folded into the existing three-person shop in the service center on Plantation Road.
Of the 225 First American jobs transferring to Roanoke, most represent functions performed at the McLean headquarters.
Jenkins called it efficient and cost-effective to transfer them to Roanoke.
About 160 are administrative support positions, including account researchers, collections specialists and processors of time deposits such as certificates of deposit.
The other 65 will include foreign-exchange tellers, accountants, technical service analysts, consumer loan adjusters and auditors. Some of these jobs will be supervisory, although the number is undetermined.
They will be assigned to trust, finance, cash management, international banking, consumer loans, deposit servicing, commercial loans, auditing and purchasing functions.
Jenkins said officials are studying the best locations for 225 of the new jobs within the Roanoke area.
Some might be at the Dominion Bank Building or Dominion Tower in downtown Roanoke, he said, while others could go to the service center on Planation Road.
Jenkins said it would be in the best interest of the bank and of the valley to split the locations.
The 400 jobs announced in March are in the credit card, mortgage servicing and consumer loan areas. About 300 of those jobs will be based in downtown Roanoke.
First Union National Bank of Virginia operates about 385 branches with deposits of about $10.3 billion.
The parent company, First Union Corp., is the nation's ninth largest bank holding company with assets of $63 billion.
by CNB