1.   Bank of New York Co. said it signed a letter of intent with NationsBank Corp. to buy its corporate trust business for an undisclosed sum.

2.   Bank of New York Co., New York, the bank holding company, will buy the corporate trust business of Mercantile Bancorp for an undisclosed amount.

3.   BankAmerica said the investment the corporate trust division required would be more productive in other areas of the company.

4.   Bank of New York Co. agreed to buy the corporate trust business of Signet Banking Corp. for an undisclosed amount.

5.   Banks have been buying individual businesses, such as corporate trusts, in an effort to generate the kind of volume that justifies the costs of technology and resources.

6.   Corporate trust is the business of administering payments of stock dividends and bond coupons for companies and municipalities.

7.   Fleet sold a mortgage business, its corporate trust unit and its indirect auto lending unit.

8.   He was senior vice president and head of corporate trust services at First National Bank of Chicago., where he worked for nine years before joining Fidelity.

9.   Mellon Bank Corp. put its corporate trust business up for sale, following rivals that opted to sell rather than try to compete.

10.   Mellon, like other U.S. banks, wants to expand in non-traditional businesses such as mutual funds, corporate trust and corporate finance services.