11.   Potential problems, he said, include lending to corporations in the United States and Europe and its American branch banking and credit card units.

12.   The banking operation is building an empire of niche consumer lending and deposit businesses, substituting technology for the traditional brick, mortar and tellers of branch banking.

13.   Wells favored telephones, ATMs and computers for reaching customers, while Norwest stressed more traditional branch banking.

14.   Wells Fargo was an early leader in grocery store and Internet banking, moving its focus away from traditional branch banking.

15.   We are only at the start of the process of reshaping branch banking.

16.   He said the general trend in branch banking this year is for banks not to expand the number of existing branches but to make each branch more efficient.

17.   The others see telephone banking as a complement to branch banking.