BANKING CHANGES EVIDENT IN REGION

A change in interstate banking laws that gives banks the ability to cross state lines to establish branch facilities has changed the way banks here and elsewhere do business.

In Cape Girardeau, evidence of the change can be seen in the recent buyout of Capital Bank by Union Planters; Union Planters banks are actually branch offices of the main bank headquartered in Memphis, Tenn.

Retta Miller, vice president of marketing for Union Planters locally, explained that this decade has brought re-engineering of corporate structures in all types of businesses, including banking.

Seven banks operate in Cape Girardeau: Union Planters; Boatmen's Bank, headquartered in St. Louis; Mercantile Bank, headquartered in St. Louis; South East Missouri Bank, headquartered in Cape Girardeau; First National Bank, headquartered in Sikeston; Commerce Bank, headquartered in St. Louis, and Roosevelt Bank, headquartered in Chesterfield.

With technology developing at a rapid pace, banks are working to keep pace.

They offer debit cards, which can be used like a credit card but actually are more like a check. The Internet, a futuristic thought a year ago, is becoming a reality, and banks are looking at ways to allow banking from home. Telephone banking also is offered.

At Union Planters, Miller said, "The changes allow us to do business more efficiently. There has not been anyone from the big office come into Cape Girardeau and take over."

The president, Charles Daniel, is the same. Senior officers remain on the job and a local board of directors continues to operate. Many decisions concerning loans and other day-to-day operations remain at the local level.

The benefit of banking with a large institution, Miller explained, is that some duties can be centralized. Local loan officers, for example, are free to spend more time working with customers. Someone else makes sure that proper reports are made to banking authorities, for example.

"People should expect the same good service they always had," she said. "Eventually our goal is to make our service better and more efficient."

In Cape Girardeau, just one bank remains a hometown entity -- South East Missouri Bank.

"South East Missouri Bank was born here in 1981 and raised here," explained Larry Reiminger, marketing director for the bank. "We're not a branch of another bank; this is the only South East Missouri Bank."

Reiminger said the bank has no interest in becoming part of a large banking system.

South East is family-owned and Percy Huston is president of the bank. His brothers are also in the banking business.

Reiminger said the change in interstate banking laws have been good for small banks.

"Every time a new, big bank comes in, we get more business," he said. "People want that feeling of supporting their community.

"For smaller banks like South East, we're not losing business; if anything we're gaining business."

Reiminger said the advantages of a smaller bank include more local control and a feeling that customers can deal directly with the people who make the decisions.

"We don't have to go anywhere else to make decisions," he said. "People know they can come in here and we will work with them and will try to help them."

Reiminger said even the small building that houses the bank is good for business. "A huge building can be intimidating. You certainly don't get that feeling here."