Eye on the States: N.C. Bankers Association Refunds Dues Despite Loss

The North Carolina Bankers Association is refunding its members' dues this year, though its roster no longer in- cludes the five largest banking companies.

In a typical year, only 25% of the association's operating budget comes from dues, a member said at the group's 1997 Management Team Conference here this week. And this year a windfall from the sale of an office building in Raleigh replaced much of the lost dues income. The association was in the black even without the building sale, officials said.

Last December, the bankers association decided to merge with the Community Bankers Association of North Carolina. After the vote, NationsBank Corp., Wachovia Corp., First Union Corp., what was then called Southern National Corp. and is now BB&T Corp., and First Citizens Bancshares seceded and formed the North Carolina Association of Financial Institutions.

The refund "proves we wouldn't need" the big banks' dues, said Harold T. Keen, president of $110 million-asset Kenly Savings Bank.

Still, the association wants to woo back the larger banks, said Charles M. Snipes, association chairman and president and chief executive officer of Bank of Granite, Hickory. "Not for the money but for one voice for banks in North Carolina," he said.

The problem, said Peter Keber, senior vice president of state government relations at NationsBank, Charlotte, is deciding what that one voice would say.

To the best of his knowledge, NationsBank "has no intention to rejoin" the bankers association, he said. The new trade group for large banks is "flourishing," he added.

Paul Mason, spokesman for Wachovia, Winston-Salem, said that he is unaware of any plan by one of the large institutions to rejoin the bankers group.

Nor has the North Carolina Bankers Association-which has 125 members with $7 million to $7 billion of assets-formally asked the departed banks to return. The large banks weren't invited to the management team conference, for example.

Still, the association does plan to approach them during the annual membership drive.

"It is standard procedure to pursue anyone who is eligible for membership but not a member," said Thad Woodard, association president.

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