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

DATE: THURSDAY, October 7, 1993                   TAG: 9310070042
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: B-8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: MAG POFF STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

FIRST UNION GEARS UP FOR COMPUTER SWITCH

First Union Corp. will send 400 employees from other states into Virginia next week as the banking company switches its Virginia operations to a new computer system.

Former Dominion Bank operations will be switched next Thursday to the software system First Union calls Emerald.

First Union's Virginia banks will close at 2 p.m. for the conversion. When they open for business on Oct. 15, they will carry the First Union name for the first time. First Union Corp. bought Dominion Bankshares Corp. in March and has been converting the systems to coordinate with those of the Charlotte, N.C.-based company.

Warner Dalhouse, chairman of First Union National Bank of Virginia, said at least one person familiar with Emerald will be assigned to every branch in the state. Some offices will have two or three people to ease the transition.

Dominion employees have been trained in the new computer system, Dalhouse said, but First Union wants to have people present with a lot of experience.

The 400 employees will come from North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Florida. Dalhouse said they are not computer experts, but people who have operated the system. They will answer questions from customers as well as from employees.

Dalhouse said the employees will fly into several Virginia cities, Maryland and Washington, D.C.

After the Dominion banks convert to Emerald, customers will be able to check their balances and cash checks at any branch in First Union's multistate system. However, federal law prohibits banks from taking deposits across state lines.

by CNB