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

DATE: FRIDAY, October 8, 1993                   TAG: 9310080210
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: A-5   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

`WHITE MALE' FED ATTACKED AT HEARING

WASHINGTON - Congressional critics depicted the Federal Reserve as an undemocratic bastion of white male bankers Thursday as they launched the most concerted effort in three decades to make changes at the nation's central bank.

"I want to take the `bankers and their friends' sign off the door to this exclusive club and open it up to all competent Americans," House Banking Committee Chairman Henry Gonzalez declared at the start of a series of hearings on how the Fed sets interest rate policies for the nation.

Gonzalez, D-Texas, noted that in 80 years there has only been one woman president of a Fed regional bank and no minorities have ever held that position. He would seek to remedy that by requiring that the regional bank presidents be nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate. They now are selected by regional boards dominated by private commercial bankers.

Gonzalez's measure also would subject the Fed to greater oversight by the General Accounting Office, Congress' auditing arm, and broaden the representation on regional Fed boards to include more women, minorities and non-bankers. - Associated Press

NationsBank seeks OK for unusual plan

WASHINGTON - NationsBank Corp. has asked regulators to let it create a single bank subsidiary serving both Maryland and the District of Columbia, thereby sidestepping a federal prohibition on interstate banking.

The proposed maneuver, based on an obscure provision of federal bank law from the 19th century, would merge American Security Bank, recently acquired by NationsBank, with Maryland National Bank - also just acquired - into one bank. That bank then would be merged in late 1994 with NationsBank's subsidiaries in the District and Maryland, creating one bank based in Maryland but with branches in Washington as well.

If the unusual plan is approved, bank officials said, Charlotte, N.C.-based NationsBank will consider folding its Virginia operation into that bank. If approved, the proposal could set an important precedent by weakening the ban on interstate banking. - Washington Post

Blockbuster to buy Super Club chain

In a move that makes Blockbuster Entertainment Corp. the nation's third-largest music retailer, the Fort Lauderdale, Fla., video giant is buying Super Club Retail Entertainment Corp., owner of the Record Bar, Tracks and Turtles chains, from Philips Electronics N.V., the large Dutch electronics company. The price of $150 million is payable in cash, stock or a combination of both.

Super Club is the Southeast's largest music chain, with 270 locations in 13 states. It also owns 160 video stores, which will be folded into Blockbuster's existing empire of 3,258 franchise and company-owned video stores.

The acquisition solidifies the video giant's position as one of the nation's top players in the $8 billion prerecorded music business.

- Knight-Ridder/Tribune

by CNB