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

DATE: SATURDAY, October 7, 1995                   TAG: 9510080003
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: A-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: MAG POFF STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

FIRST UNION TO EXPAND ROANOKE OPERATIONS

First Union Corp. said Friday its Roanoke-based bank would supervise branches in Maryland that are part of its pending purchase of First Fidelity Bancorp.

The branches are owned by First Fidelity of Newark, N.J., which is expected to merge into First Union by the end of the year.

David Scanzoni, spokesman for Charlotte, N.C.-based First Union, said it was impossible to predict the impact on Roanoke Valley employment, but the plan means the Roanoke operations will grow.

First Union's banks in Virginia, Washington, D.C., and Maryland all are based in Roanoke. In the $5.4 billion merger, scheduled to be completed by Dec. 31 if regulators approve the plan, First Fidelity's area from Connecticut to Delaware will be known as First Union North, Scanzoni said.

But First Fidelity's branches in Maryland will be attached to First Union National Bank of Maryland.

First Union has 21 branches in Maryland, mostly in Washington suburbs. After the organizational change, First Union's Maryland bank will have 73 branches statewide. Deposits of the Maryland bank will expand from $1.3 billion to $4 billion.

The number of Maryland employees supervised from Roanoke would increase from 154 to 750, Scanzoni said.

Bank officials said First Union Corp. has yet to determine whether its system-wide operations in Roanoke, such as printing, mortgage servicing and credit card servicing, will also handle business from First Union North.

by CNB