BOATMEN'S PLANS TO CLOSE DOWNTOWN BANK JUNE 12

Boatmen's Bank will close its downtown Cape Girardeau branch effective at the close of business June 12.

The facility at 100 Broadway has housed banks ever since it was built in 1956. Boatmen's acquired the building in 1989.

Local Boatmen's president Jim Limbaugh said the company isn't abandoning the area.

"Despite the fact that we will not have a physical presence, we remain committed to the downtown area," Limbaugh said. "We have always been active in downtown development and the Downtown Merchants Association. This is not going to stop."

The closing is part of a company restructuring by NationsBank Corp., which signed an agreement to purchase St. Louis-based Boatmen's Bancshares Inc. last August.

The merger between the two companies became effective Jan. 7, but is being phased in slowly. Boatmen's facilities officially will become NationsBank branches in June. The additions of Boatmen's makes NationsBank the fourth largest U.S. banking company with reported assets of $227 billion.

Also in mid-June, Boatmen's will cease operating its mini-branch in the University Center at Southeast Missouri State University. A competitor won in the bidding for the university contract and will take over the facility.

With six remaining branches in the immediate region -- three in Cape Girardeau, two in Jackson and one in Fruitland -- and 12 ATMs, Limbaugh said the Boatman's-NationsBank will still have more locations than any of its local competitors.

Kelly Polonus of NationsBank in Springfield, Mo., said the company is trying to find jobs for the Broadway branch employees at one of the bank's other local facilities. "We are working really hard to be able to find them positions," Polonus said.

Company representatives will meet individually with affected employees to discuss their options. Employees were notified of the impending closing Tuesday.

If sufficient local openings are unavailable, the company will attempt to place employees willing to relocate at NationsBank facilities in other markets.

The Charlotte, N.C.-based company operates 2,600 banks and 5,000 ATMs in 16 states.

Employees who don't want to be reassigned or for whom the company can't find an opening will receive a severance package and assistance finding other employment.

"We will try to find them an opportunity, but we can't make any guarantees," Polonus said.

Polonus said customer use of the downtown facility -- and in-person banking on the whole -- has declined, leading to the closure decision.

"What we are finding is customers are changing the way they want to bank," Polonus said.

Instead of conducting business at a bank, customers increasingly make transactions through automatic teller machines, over the telephone or with their home computer.

In-person banking transactions have declined from 70 percent of all transactions in 1980 to 50 percent in 1993. "By the year 2000 it is projected that only about 35 percent of banking transactions will be done at banking centers," Polonus said.

The 100 Broadway facility opened in 1956 as the headquarters of First National Bank of Cape Girardeau. First National changed its name to Centerre Bank of Cape Girardeau in 1982. Centerre merged with Boatmen's in 1989.