MEMO: FIRST COMMERCIAL BUYS ADVANCE BANK

First Commercial Bank of Southeast Missouri, Chaffee, Mo., has acquired the Union Planters Bank office in Advance, Mo.

Norman B. Harty, president and chairman of the board for First Commerce, and Charles Daniel, chief executive officer of Union Planters at Cape Girardeau, announced the agreement recently.

The Advance location offers the opportunity for First Commercial Bank to expand its present in small towns in Southeast Missouri, Harty said. The bank has offices in Chaffee, Morley, Mo., Benton, Mo., Gideon, Mo., Morehouse, Mo., and Dexter, Mo.

The sale of the Advance office by Union Planters includes the facilities and local deposit accounts.

Pending regulatory approval from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and Missouri Department of Finance, the transaction is expected to close during the third quarter of 2001.