Nationsbank

NEW YORK -- Two community activist groups filed a Christmas Eve lawsuit to overturn the Federal Reserve's approval of NationsBank Corp.'s $9 billion agreement to buy Boatmen's Bancshares.In a lawsuit filed in the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver, the two groups -- Inner City Press/Community on the Move and the New Mexico Alliance -- contend that the Federal Reserve in its Dec. 16 approval of the banks' announced merger ignored a NationsBank finance subsidiary's alleged history of discrimination.

ST. LOUIS -- Mercantile Bancorp Inc. agreed yesterday to acquire Roosevelt Financial Group Inc. for $1.07 billion, as Missouri's second-largest bank prepares to compete with growing regional rivals, such as Boatmen's Bancshares Inc.After the merger, Mercantile will have $30 billion of assets, 23 percent of all the money deposited in Missouri banks and thrifts.Mercantile also said it would buy back as many as 7 million of its shares, or 11 percent, worth about $355.3 million at Friday's closing price.

In a fund-raising campaign that tested the reach of election laws, Howard County Councilman C. Vernon Gray collected $14,300 to bankroll his bid to become second vice president of the National Association of Counties, a private lobbying group.To pay for that campaign, Gray sought $1,000 contributions from about 50 corporations inside and outside Howard County -- assuring each that the contribution would not be disclosed on election reports.Among the donors for his campaign for the National Association of Counties (NACo)

(Editor's note: The following article corrects an erroneous report by Bloomberg Business News that appeared in Friday's editions of The Sun.)NationsBank Corp.'s Maryland branch has been granted a rehearing by the full U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals in a case involving discrimination charges filed by an HIV-positive employee who was fired.The court, in Richmond, Va., approved NationsBank's appeal for an en banc hearing before the court's 16 judges.In its Dec. 3 ruling, the court also vacated an opinion filed Sept.

NationsBank has sent layoff notices to 191 workers in Towson and Columbia after selling one of its business units and transferring another.The bank sold its Affinity Banking unit, which was based in Columbia, to MBNA Corp. and Household Finance. That unit employed 106 people in Columbia; 95 of those are losing their jobs Jan. 6. The remaining 11 will be laid off Jan. 15.Another 20 Affinity Banking workers in Towson are also losing their jobs.NTC NationsBank had acquired the Affinity Banking unit, with a $1.1 billion portfolio, when it bought MNC Financial Inc. in 1993.

NationsBank Corp.'s Maryland bank must stand trial on discrimination charges in connection with the firing of an employee who is HIV positive, an appeals court ruled.In so ruling, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Va., reversed a lower court that had decided in favor of NationsBank without a trial.In its decision, the appeals court said William Runnebaum had established sufficient evidence of discrimination under the Americans With Disabilities Act to go to trial. Runnebaum was diagnosed with HIV in 1988.

NationsBank Corp.'s third-quarter earnings jumped to a record $625 million, an 18 percent increase from a year ago, as consumer loans surged and a strategy of putting more profitable credits on the books has taken hold, the company said yesterday.The Charlotte, N.C.-based bank earned $2.12 a share for the third quarter in 1996, compared with $1.95 for the same quarter a year ago, beating analysts' estimates."It was a good quarter, it came in on target," said George M. Salem, a banking analyst with New York-based Gerard Klauer Mattison & Co. "They are becoming more of a consumer and small corporate bank; that is where returns are higher."

The Northeast Baltimore family that had faced the loss of their home because an injury left their provider unable to work got the best news they could hope for yesterday: Their rowhouse will be spared because NationsBank abandoned plans to foreclose.The decision came after an outpouring of community outrage and offers to help Walter and Mary Wyatt and their three children since an account of the family's plight ran Sunday in The Sun.NationsBank said it will allow the Wyatts to stay in their home and make only partial payments on the loan for the next six months, to give Walter Wyatt time to mend and return to work.

NEW YORK -- U.S. stocks fell yesterday in the slowest day of trading all year.NationsBank Corp. led the retreat after it agreed to buy Boatmen's Bancshares Inc. at a price many investors considered too high.The Dow Jones industrial average slid to 5,594.01, before rebounding to 5,616.21, down 31.44. With Thursday's 64.73-point drop, the average's two-day decline is 1.7 percent.In August, the Dow industrials managed a 1.9 percent gain, including reinvested dividends. The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 2.1 percent.

In its most expensive deal yet, NationsBank Corp. said yesterday that it will acquire St. Louis-based Boatmen's Bancshares Inc. in a transaction valued at $9.5 billion.NationsBank expects to become the country's fourth largest banking company with $230 billion in assets. The Charlotte, N.C.-based company will have more than 13 million customers and offices in 16 states ranging from New Mexico to Maryland.The transaction is expected to close in January, but it is subject to regulatory and shareholder approval.