41.   Earlier this year, it acquired three smaller banks in Florida.

42.   Elsewhere, Seiffert said Huntington would like to expand in Virginia, purchase smaller banks in Ohio and seek more takeovers in Michigan.

43.   Finally there is an argument to be made that smaller banks may be able to provide real competition for Fleet.

44.   For example, while large banks began the year as avid supporters, smaller banks joined insurance agents in opposing deregulation.

45.   For smaller banks, Merrill Lynch says profit growth will be just about zero, down from the high teens, according to preliminary estimates.

46.   Fleet Boston is limited in how much it could expand inside the region through acquisitions of smaller banks.

47.   For four years Lifson handled the currency trades Chase did on behalf of smaller banks, such as National City Bank in Cleveland and Comerica Bank in Detroit.

48.   Foremost among the issues that need to be tackled at smaller banks is the technological problem that threatens to cripple computer systems when the new millennium arrives.

49.   Foreign institutions have already picked up stakes in smaller banks, led by the Spanish.

50.   Four smaller banks in Washington did.