BUSINESS
By David Folkenflik | April 30, 1999
WASHINGTON -- Listen to urban activists talk about the 22-year-old law that directs banks to make loans in distressed neighborhoods, and you'll hear rhapsodies about how well lenders do by doing good.Listen to Sen. Phil Gramm of Texas, the new chairman of the Senate banking committee, talk about the same requirements, and you'll hear a single word: "Extortion." And Gramm is willing to tie up major banking reform in an effort to do something about it."Phil's a strong leader," said Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania, a fellow Republican on the banking committee who is more supportive of the community lending laws.
BUSINESS
By Bill Atkinson | February 15, 1998
J. Clarence Jameson III swore he would never start another community bank after he sold his second in May 1995 for a handsome profit.His promise didn't last long. Three months later, he was hustling to raise money from friends and business associates for a third bank. "It was too good a transaction" to pass up, Jameson said.Two-and-a-half months ago, AmericasBank opened on East Lombard Street with about $10 million in assets, and with Jameson, a 66-year-old accountant, as its chairman.AmericasBank is part of a small bank revival.
NEWS
November 20, 1998
OCCASIONALLY, the little guy wins. After a year of resisting a takeover from First Mariner Bancorp, Glen Burnie Bancorp was able to chase off the larger banking company and its principal shareholder, Edwin F. Hale Sr.The cost of Glen Burnie's independence was considerable, however. First Mariner received $5.6 million, allowing it to reap a $1 million profit on the stake it bought a year ago. The payment reduced Glen Burnie's capital by 27 percent, substantial for any financial institution.
NEWS
By Donna R. Engle | September 9, 1998
The buyer of the Taneytown bank that has served the community for 114 years is promising to continue Taneytown Bank & Trust Co.'s role as a supporter of community organizations and as a small town bank where tellers and senior vice presidents know their customers by name.But the corporate headquarters will be in Frederick, not Taneytown.F&M Bancorp of Frederick announced Friday that it will acquire Monocacy Bancshares Inc. of Taneytown, parent company of the Taneytown bank, for 2.22 million shares of F&M stock, valued at $81 million, based on yesterday's closing price.
BUSINESS
By Bill Atkinson | November 21, 1997
Mercantile Bankshares Corp. said yesterday that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Marshall National Bank and Trust Co. in a deal valued at $22.7 million.The move by Mercantile, which is Maryland's largest independently owned banking company, with $7 billion in assets, expands its Virginia franchise where it already operates three affiliated banks."It is exactly the kind of bank were are looking for in our family of community banks," said H. Furlong Baldwin, Mercantile's chairman and chief executive.
BUSINESS
By BLOOMBERG NEWS | June 7, 1997
RICHMOND, Va. -- Signet Banking Corp. has retained J. P. Morgan & Co. to manage the sale of 39 of the bank's 233 branches, a bank spokeswoman said yesterday.Signet announced a restructuring Tuesday that includes buying back 5 percent of the bank's stock, eliminating 1,135 jobs and selling some branches.Morgan, the nation's 11th largest money manager, will spend the next six to nine months preparing for the branch sale, said Kitty Griffith, a spokeswoman for the Richmond, Va.-based bank.The branches are in southwest and northern Virginia and along the Virginia and Maryland shores.
BUSINESS
By David Conn | March 9, 1995
Now that national interstate banking is imminent, state lawmakers were warned yesterday by bankers that Maryland had better jump into the fray now or risk putting the state's banks years behind the curve against out-of-state competitors.But some legislators questioned whether throwing open the state's doors to out-of-state banks will doom the small community lender."The financial implications of this bill may imply that down the road there may not be community banks," said Del. David Rudolph, a Democrat from Cecil County.
BUSINESS
By Staff Report | January 23, 1994
The Center for Affordable Housing, a nonprofit group that helps people with tarnished or no credit become mortgage-worthy, is negotiating with about 20 lenders to originate and approve mortgage loans.Such a move could make it easier for qualified clients of the center to obtain mortgages and buy homes, and could help lenders extend credit to poor and minority areas, said Charles Jeffries, executive director of the center."Banks haven't been able to reach these community members," Mr. Jeffries said.
BUSINESS
By a Sun Staff Writer | December 16, 1994
Mercantile Bankshares Corp. continued yesterday to add to its system of community banks by announcing an agreement to buy the Sparks State Bank, a five-branch Baltimore County operation with nearly $190 million in assets.Mercantile, parent of the Mercantile-Safe Deposit & Trust Co. and 20 other banking units, has agreed to pay 2.33 shares for each of the 771,300 shares of Sparks that will be outstanding after Dec. 31. That is when Sparks plans to pay a 20 percent stock dividend to its shareholders.
BUSINESS
By David Conn | October 5, 1993
What a difference a few months make.When Maryland Bank Commissioner Margie Muller was preparing her annual report on the effects of regional interstate banking, just a handful of large Maryland-based banks had two-fifths of the state's banking assets (about $21 billion), while the dozen or so banks owned by out-of-state companies had close to half that much (about $11 billion).That was June 30.Now, with the invasion from North Carolina -- the NationsBank/MNC merger, and the acquisition of the First American Banks by First Union Corp.