Baltimore Bank

Relatives of Elizabeth C. "Nancy" Smith are suing a Baltimore bank, alleging that someone forged almost $20,000 worth of checks drawn on her account.Baltimore attorney Frederick Steinmann filed the suit this week in Howard County Circuit Court on behalf of Smith's two heirs -- Jane P. Nes and Ruth B. McClees, both of Baltimore -- against First National Bank of Maryland.Smith died last February without a will, leaving the fate of her 300 acres in the middle of Columbia up in the air. The land is worth an estimated $8 million.

The body of a Northeast Baltimore woman was found with multiple stab wounds in the back seat of her grandmother's car yesterday, about three blocks from Memorial Stadium, police said.Homicide Detective Vernon Parker said a man walking in the 700 block of Fillmore St. saw the body in a 1989 Mercury Cougar and called police. Parker said Jerrisha Burton, 18, of the 3800 block of The Alameda died of multiple stab wounds to the upper torso.Parker said Burton, who was unemployed and lived with her grandmother and mother, left home about 6 p.m. Tuesday but did not say where she was going.

Baltimore County police are trying to identify two men who robbed the NationsBank in the 8500 block of Loch Raven Blvd., near Hillendale, Monday afternoon.Police said one man remained outside the bank while the other handed a teller a note stating he had a bomb and demanding money.The pair fled with an undisclosed amount of money in a stolen Honda Accord with Pennsylvania tags ABB 7934.The man who entered the bank was described as black, age 25 to 35, between 6 feet and 6-feet-2, about 200 to 220 pounds, with short hair, a mustache and an unshaven face.

Robbers armed with nothing more than threatening notes held up four Baltimore banks yesterday, moving the city to the record-breaking levels of 1993 that sent worried bank executives scrambling for solutions.Two banks were robbed in the suburbs -- one in Howard County by a woman who claimed to have a bomb, and one in a Baltimore County mall by a man who hinted he was armed.The city holdups -- three at NationsBank branches -- pushed the number of Baltimore bank robberies to 50 this year. The worst year was 1993, when 116 holdups were reported.

A teen-ager was arrested, and several other young males were being sought yesterday in connection with the armed holdup of a NationsBank in which two employees were handcuffed together, city police said.A teller was opening a side door to the bank in the 4900 block of Patterson Ave. -- south of Reisterstown Road Plaza in Northwest Baltimore -- about 8:40 a.m. when she was confronted by a robber armed with a .38-caliber handgun, police said.The robber ordered the teller to lie on the floor, then told another employee to open the safe, police said.

Stockholders of the Farm Credit Bank of Baltimore yesterday approved a consolidation with a sister institution in Columbia, S.C., that will result in the closing of its Baltimore County headquarters and the loss of 100 area jobs.The merger of the state's largest agriculture lender with the Farm Credit Bank of Columbia will form a $10 billion institution serving farmers in 15 states and Puerto Rico. It will be based in Columbia.Operations of the local bank will cease on April 1, the effective date of the merger, assuming approval by regulators, said Reider J. White, a bank spokesman.

Baltimore banking companies continued to pick up the pace in the third quarter, as increased lending and lower expenses from bad loans drove profits higher than a year ago.For First Maryland Bancorp, parent of the First National Bank of Maryland, a 7 percent increase in earnings was due mainly to a sharp drop in the amount of money set aside to cover future loan problems.Provident Bankshares Corp., meanwhile, saw profits shoot up 62 percent over a year ago. The company, parent of Provident Bank of Maryland, enjoyed higher profit margins on more loans and raised its income from nonlending sources, such as mortgage banking.

The Farm Credit Bank of Baltimore, a cooperative bank serving the needs of mid-Atlantic farmers since the early days of World War I, announced yesterday that it has reached an agreement to merge with its sister institution in Columbia, S.C., creating a banking system extending from Pennsylvania to Florida.Gene L. Swackhamer, president of the Sparks-based bank, said the merger will lower operating costs of the consolidated operations and make the new bank more competitive.He said the consolidation is expected to save between $6 million and $7.5 million in annual operating costs.

Directors of the Farm Credit Bank of Baltimore will meet today to consider a merger with a sister institution in Columbia, S.C., that could lead to the creation of a new cooperative banking system extending from Pennsylvania to Florida.The possibility of a consolidation with the Farm Credit Bank of Columbia "is on the agenda for discussion at tomorrow's meeting," Jack Curry, a spokesman for the Sparks-based bank said yesterday.The bank, which is Maryland's largest agricultural lender, did not offer any hint as to how its seven-member board would vote on the issue.