Move from Nat. City to PNC?

A number of folks were thinking about that here in our market. No need now. Welcome to PNC! It's kind of sad as I think about it. The small, conservative regionals in this town have done very well during this crisis. The big shots like National City and 5/3 haven't. I think about how many well run banks these guys bought and how the solid and sound traditions died in the bellies of those two beasts. I used to use Central Trust as my primary bank. In fact, I still have a CC from them, which became my PNC card. They were a first class outfit. Accessible managements, great customer service, good rates, hands on lending. Classic, sound, bank. After CT was bought and I got off on my own, I looked for a business friendly bank, and went to Provident. I actually got ahold of a senior VP and got help setting up our merchant account (this was in the early days of the internet and selling services over the web was NOT well understood). They really served me well and were a classic, hands on bank with GREAT customer service by knowledgeable folks. Then THEY were bought by National City. No real point, just reminiscing. The one to buy for a take out is TFSL, if they don't rally. They're too well run, so some big outfit will buy them in order to screw up my business relationship. Mark

the acquirers need assets for their balance sheet, so they bought well run comanies, then diluted them by leveraging them out. but that is what was rewarded in every business area over the past 20 years - and here is the "exit strategy". klh