Bank Schedules Next Three Name Changes
Bank Schedules Next Three Name Changes
Firstar Bank, which is in the process of changing its name to U.S. Bank, has scheduled its next three name changes, through June 2004. "We know that it can be confusing to customers when their bank changes its name, and we want to make this as easy as possible,” says U.S. Bank spokesman Gene Brady.
After Firstar completes its switch to U.S. Bank, the institution plans to go by that name until next March, when it will become a part of the Second Fifth Bankcorp of Ohio (SFBO). After six months under SFBO, a new jaunty series of ads will announce that “The people of SFBO are joining the fine folks at National Citizens and Farmers Bancshares (NCFB) to serve you even better.”
Almost nine months will go by before another name change, when the NCFB will become a part of Federal Colonial Bankcorp of Charlotte and Jacksonville. The scheduled date for that change is June 15, 2004.
The present U.S. Bank is actually the second bank to do business under that name in Nashville. When Nashville’s United American Bank was caught up in the 1982 banking scandal of East Tennessee’s Butcher family, it changed its name to the United Southern Bank, or U.S. Bank.
The present U.S. Bank had it roots in the old Commerce Union Bank, which was one of the pillars of the banking community in Nashville until acquired by First American Bank in 1983. First American then changed its name to Third National Bank, which then merged with First Tennessee Bank and the Bank of Goodlettesville to form SunTrust Bank in 1995.
Meanwhile, the Nashville Bank of Commerce (NBC), known as “The Bank in Kroger,” achieved unprecedented success in the 1990s with it programming, such as Seinfeld, Frasier and ER, aimed at educated urban audiences. Its series of banking-oriented commercials, titled Dateline NBC, runs to this day.
U.S. Bank spokesman Brady says the bank’s customers should be ready to adjust to the coming changes.
“Our investment division is urging our clients to seriously consider investing in local sign companies,” he says. “It looks like a real bull market for makers of plastic signs.”
(Fabricate: to make up in order to deceive.)
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