ROOSEVELT BANKS TO CLOSE IN CAPE AND DEXTER; A MERGER OF MERCANTILE AND ROOSEVELT WILL BECOME EFFECTIVE NOV. 17

Roosevelt Banks will close in Cape Girardeau and Dexter in mid-November as a result of Roosevelt Financial Group Inc.'s merger with Mercantile Bancorporation.

The two banking networks will combine on Nov. 17, with Roosevelt officially changing its name to Mercantile.

Mercantile Bancorporation will close more than 35 branches in Missouri as a result of the merger -- 25 in the St. Louis area, six in Kansas City, three in Springfield and one each in Cape Girardeau and Dexter.

The Cape Girardeau bank, at 211 S. Silver Springs Rd., and the Dexter bank on North Walnut, will close. Activities will be absorbed in nearby Mercantile banks.

At least two Southeast Missouri Roosevelt banks -- at Malden and Portageville -- will remain open, converted to Mercantile banks. That will give the Mercantile two new banks in the Bootheel.

Mercantile Bank of Southeast Missouri will have a total of 22 Mercantile banks.

"Three of the locations are in Cape Girardeau," said Craig Wells, community bank president of Mercantile Bank in Cape Girardeau. These include the main bank at 325 N. Kingshighway, a branch on William Street across the street from Roosevelt, and a branch in Town Plaza Shopping Center.

Mercantile is not guaranteeing all employees jobs at the affected closing branches, but Dennis O. Battles, Mercantile's executive vice president responsible for mergers, said there would be some opportunities.

Battles didn't say how many people work at the branches that are to be closed, but the Roosevelt Bank at Cape Girardeau employs nine people.

"We're in the process of evaluating the employment situation at Cape Girardeau now," said Wells. He said an evaluation of what to do with the bank on Silver Spring Road is also being conducted.

When everything is completed Nov. 17, Mercantile will wind up with 500 banks in the five-state area of Missouri, Illinois, Kansas, Arkansas and Iowa, said Battles. Kansas City and St. Louis will account for 162, with 82 in Kansas City and 80 in St. Louis.

Roosevelt officials said its customers may continue banking as they have been until Nov. 17, when all of the Roosevelt branches will officially come under Mercantile's umbrella.

Effective immediately, however, customers may use either Mercantile's or Roosevelt's Automated Teller Machines throughout the region at no charge.

Mercantile Bancorporation Inc., headquartered in St. Louis, and Roosevelt Financial Group Inc. announced on Dec. 24 that the organizations had signed a definitive merger agreement creating the largest locally managed and independently owned financial services organization headquartered in the lower Midwest.