Maryland National Bank

WASHINGTON -- For the third time in the past six years, the Supreme Court refused yesterday to hear Kenneth Lloyd Collins, a Maryland death row inmate, in a challenge to his conviction and death sentence for a 1986 Parkville slaying during an $80 sidewalk robbery.The justices turned down earlier appeals by Collins in 1990 and 1994. His latest plea contended that the entire Maryland death penalty scheme is racially biased.Collins, whose last address was in the 1800 block of N. Regester St. in East Baltimore, was convicted of shooting Wayne L. Breeden, a Maryland National Bank official, as he withdrew money from an automated teller machine.

Their headquarters are in Charlotte, N.C., and Richmond, Va., yet they control at least 47 percent of greater Baltimore's estimated $22 billion in banking deposits.Their signs dot street corners and are tucked into strip malls blaring their names: NationsBank, Signet, First Union and Crestar.The four out-of-town banks are emerging as a dominant force in Baltimore's banking market, and they expect to thrive, making their parent companies that much more profitable.It's a sea change from just over a decade ago, when a handful of local banks ruled Baltimore.

TC An Open Letter to My Bank:Dear Bank O' Mine:Check, please.And make the check out to me, and fill it out for every cent of mine that I'm currently letting you hold, because I'm now looking for a new bank.Again.The last time I changed banks, it was several years ago. It was Equitable Trust. I wanted to make a deposit, only I didn't have my checkbook with me, and thus didn't have a personalized deposit slip.So I asked a teller for a deposit slip, and she said, "Certainly. That'll be 50 cents."

A Prince George's County developer was indicted yesterday in U.S. District Court in Baltimore charged in the defrauding of the former Maryland National Bank and the Resolution Trust Corp. of several million dollars, the U.S. Attorney's Office said.Dennis A. Laskin, 52, of Bethesda was charged with two counts of felony fraud in the concealing a $10 million family trust from the bank and the RTC when they were trying to collect on defaulted loans. Mr. Laskin received the loans as a partner in Colton and Laskin Inc., a Prince George's company.

There will be fewer banks and fewer bank employees as the industry continues to consolidate, the regional head of NationsBank Corp., Maryland's largest bank, told about 150 business people yesterday."

NationsBank Corp. is about to make an exit from Maryland, but the only thing leaving the state is its legal address.The company has applied to federal regulators for the right to move the headquarters of its Maryland subsidiary 30 miles south from Bethesda into Virginia, and merge that subsidiary into its Virginia bank, which is based in Richmond.The result will be a bank headquartered in Virginia that also has branches in Maryland and Washington. Regulators are expected OK the move.For NationsBank, the move should result in some cost savings, mainly from fewer reports that will have to be compiled for regulators.

Just in case you didn't notice -- and, frankly, only slugs should have missed this -- Maryland National Bank is now NationsBank. That humongous company from North Carolina -- The Bank That Ate Baltimore -- has orchestrated a complex corporate transition that, despite first-day glitches, is rolling along nicely. From a re-gilded and re-lighted bank tower on Light Street to a smartly produced advertising campaign, the metamorphosis from Maryland National to NationsBank has been artistically achieved.

Fans holding tickets to Oriole games canceled by the strike can mail them or take them to one of a number of banks for a refund.The team said today that fans can mail their tickets after Sept. 1 for any canceled August game to Baltimore Orioles, P.O. Box 29937, Baltimore, MD 21230-0937. The tickets should be sent by certified mail, and include the fan's name, address and telephone number.Fans can also refund August game tickets after Sept. 1 at all NationsBank, Maryland National Bank and American Security Bank branch offices in Maryland, Northern Virginia and Washington.

Ever so slowly, Maryland is emerging from the recession of 1990-1993. Though this state still trails most of the rest of the country in springing back, there are positive signs that steady, modest growth lies ahead for the Free State's economy.Sales tax receipts, despite the clobbering retailers took during the winter ice storms, are running just ahead of predictions. April showed solid gains. Income tax growth is rising at a 5.8 percent rate, which will also meet estimates. The best news comes from the automobile titling tax, up 20 percent from a year ago.Car sales have been one of the big strengths of this recent economic surge, though there is now concern higher interest rates may stem that advance.

The letters atop the Maryland National Bank Building -- a colorful signature on Baltimore's skyline for more than 20 years -- will soon be history.NationsBank Corp., which acquired Maryland National last year, plans to remove the giant "mn" letters and to restore the crown of the 34-story building, Baltimore's only Art Deco skyscraper.The copper shingles on the sloping roof will be cleaned and repaired. A new coat of 23-karat gold leaf will be applied to the roof's cap and its six ornamental ribs.