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

DATE: TUESDAY, October 12, 1993                   TAG: 9310120025
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: B-5   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Medium

NATIONSBANK PLAN WORRIES D.C. OFFICIAL

The chairwoman of the D.C. Council's banking committee said Monday that her staff was reviewing an attempt by NationsBank to combine the bank's Washington and Maryland operations.

"We are going through documents provided by the [U.S.] Comptroller of the Currency to determine whether NationsBank can legally attempt such a maneuver," said Charlene Drew Jarvis.

"The city would be concerned if the bank was allowed, through some federal loophole, to consolidate its Washington and Maryland branches," she said.

NationsBank last week applied to the Office of the Comptroller for permission to move the headquarters of American Security Bank - part of Baltimore-based MNC Financial Inc., which NationsBank acquired on Oct. 1 - from Washington, D.C., to Silver Spring, Md.

Jarvis said she would meet with representatives from the comptroller's office this week to determine whether any action should be taken to block NationsBank's plans.

NationsBank is relying on a 1866 banking law that allows banks to move their headquarters up to 30 miles from the town or city where the bank originally was chartered, even if that means crossing state lines, Jarvis said.

If approved, the move would consolidate NationsBank D.C. and NationsBank Maryland into a single bank with branches in both Maryland and the District of Columbia.

The step effectively would enable the Charlotte, N.C.-based bank to get around some major interstate banking and branching restrictions.

Spokesman Dick Stilley said if the request were granted, NationsBank also could use the law to merge its Virginia bank into the new bank.

"That's what concerns me the most," said Jarvis. "In the past several years, several out-of-state financial institutions have been buying and merging with what were District of Columbia banks, and that is stripping the city's financial community of its identity. I don't want to see any further erosion."

NationsBank has said it would save up to $50 million companywide if allowed to consolidate its numerous subsidiaries into one operating unit.

by CNB