By Heather Wardle

In a luncheon hosted by the Logan City Chamber of Commerce, president and chief executive officer for Zions Bank Corp. Harris H. Simmons, spoke to Logan bankers, as well as other community members about the changes in banking, and more specifically the recently announced merger between Zions Bank and First Security Bank.

Banking, according to Simmons, is an information service. This means that in order to keep up, "and remain contemporary, banks have to be flexible with change," he said.

According to Simmons, the past 20 years have brought about huge changes in the both the deregulation of the industry as well as the introduction of interstate banking. Interstate banking was first introduced in the1980's.In 1986, Utah joined in, "opening up it's boundaries," to do the same.

In the past, one might have found nearly every city had a regional bank, while today we see very few of those as interstate banking has made its way into the entire western United States.

As for Zions Bank, Simmons said that they had once entertained the idea of a merger with First Security Bank back in the early nineties. However after looking over records and reviewing the situation, they felt that there was too much overlap in Utah and neither Zions Bank or First Security Band had much to offer in other states. The idea was later dropped.

However, as the new decade approaches, the two banks have proven very successful, due in part to technological advances, and have expanded in numerous states across the West. According to Simmons, the two have always been great competitors and have always shown a lot of respect for each other as they seem to find common interest in the things they care most about. "It made sense," Simmons said, and the idea was again reunited last spring.

The new banks will definitely have their advantages. According to Simmons, they will operate in ten Western states, have 900 ATM's, use about 600 offices, and be second in size under Wells Fargo. The company will also offer broader product lines, and have fixed income trading online, which allows customers to purchase digital "certificates," allowing them to enter into binding contracts over the Internet, which Simmons reports, "is something very new."

While the two merging banks have experienced some pain along the way, Simmons said they are finally making progress to something he feels good about.

Simmons thanked Logan residents and local bankers for their work and active involvement in the community. Simmons said their goal was to continue to keep things local and ensure strong local decision-making. "I pledge to do a great job in supporting the wonderful things that go on in the Logan community," he said.

EWJ
EWJ

September 1998
October 1998
November 1998
December 1998
January 1999
February 1999
March 1999
April 1999
September 1999
October 1999
November 1999
December 1999
January 2000
February 2000