Richard Bothoff

First Union Regional President Richard Bothoff, too, says he knows what runoff feels like.It's painful in the beginning."We at First Union have had our share of mergers," he says."There was the same type of reaction."Bothoff further agrees that the fallout has given other banks in the market something new, either clients, facilities or staff members."All the banks have benefited from whatever fallout there is," he says, adding his own bank has had "exceptional growth" in the last year, although he could not directly attribute it to customers who switched because of merger fallout.He also says the merger hasn't done anything unexpected in the past year."I don't think it has been any better or any worse than expected," he says. 'The very best mergers in the world are nightmares."Both Kvetko and Bothoff say that customer service will be the reason business customers ultimately make up their minds to stay or go.

First Union Regional President Richard Bothoff, too, says he knows what runoff feels like.it be painful in the beginning.We at First Union have had our share of mergers, he says.There was the same type of reaction. Bothoff further agrees that the fallout has given other banks in the market something new, either clients, facilities or staff members.All the banks have benefited from whatever fallout there is, he says, adding his own bank has had exceptional growth in the last year, although he could not directly attribute it to customers who switched because of merger fallout.He also says the merger have not done anything unexpected in the past year.I do not think it has been any better or any worse than expected, he says. The very best mergers in the world are nightmares. Both Kvetko and Bothoff say that customer service will be the reason business customers ultimately make up their minds to stay or go.People do not deal with banks, they deal with people, Kvetko says.Staffing is vital during acquisitions. Other local bankers agree that business has been none the worse in the year after the announcement of the acquisition.SunTrust's Charles Idleson, for one, says his bank has received new employees due to the transition.The merger has created a lot of opportunities to hire individuals from the consolidating banks, Idleson says.Idleson says that SunTrust, although a statewide bank, has a decentralized management structure which allows a better community focus.Our company's philosophy has been decentralization in management, he explains, and that has been our success.We are a local bank with a local budget and local decision makers. And SunTrust has had its own share of changes on the national level.On June 4 SunTrust Banks Inc., the Atlanta parent holding company for SunTrust Southwest Florida branches, announced it is acquiring Citizens Bancorporation in North Florida.On July 20, SunTrust announced a merger with Virginia-based Crestar Financial Corporation.The deal, expected to close by the end of the year, will make SunTrust the 10th largest banking company in the United States.