The Atlanta Constitution from Atlanta, Georgia • 25

Dow close 3019.45 35.77 NYSE volume 130.13 million NASDAQ 6.61 TTTN I i i Prime rate 8.0 INSIDE Business Report: On Media Advertising 2 Weather 10 MUD 26-week T-bills 5.08 Gold in New York $358.40 MARKETS STORY, C4 TUESDAY, OCTOBER 15,991 SECTION THE ATLANTA CONSTITUTION Tr Maria Saporta mmi urn gelt key Eons Tlte General Bank will be an umbrella for all of the company's state banking systems. J.B. Fuqua gives new meaning to 'large donation' When it comes to giving to United Way in Atlanta, conglomerate maker J.B. Fuqua just broke the sound barrier. Mr.

Fuqua has donated a $1 How NationsBank will be organized NationsBank will have 2 ma- jor divisions, the General Bank and the Institutional Bank: General Bank Based in Atlanta. Will include: Consumer banking Community banking Commercial banking Bank card operations Mortgage operations Consumer insurance Retail securities Institutional Bank Likely based in Charlotte. Will include: Corporate banking Investment banking Source: NCNB Corp. so that makes it the appropriate spot for the General Bank." The General Bank will oversee the company's bank card operations, which are in Greensboro, N.C.; its Dallas-based mortgage subsidiary; and its discount brokerage and consumer insurance division, both of which are in Charlotte. Because of the expense involved, it is unlikely that any of those operations would be moved to Atlanta.

Mr. Lewis would not say, however, whether such moves are being considered. 80 of deposits He said 80 percent of the company's deposits will be in the General Bank, as will' nearly two-thirds of its loans. The other component of the company, its Institutional Bank, will probably remain in Charlotte. It will include the company's corporate and investment banking activities.

all over the country and that mode of operation will not be changing." Currently, nine people report directly to Mr. Lewis, said Dick Stilley, a spokesman for NCNB. Largely symbolic The decision to locate the General Bank in Atlanta was expected and is largely symbolic, though not insignificant. Many of the decisions affecting the company come from the General Bank, and the 45-year-old Mr. Lewis is viewed by many analysts as NCNB's second-ranking executive and the probable choice to succeed Hugh L.

McColl who will be chief executive of NationsBank. "It makes a lot of sense," said Thomas Brown, an analyst with Donaldson, Lufkin Jeanrette. "Atlanta may no longer be the banking capital of the Southeast, but it is still the financial capital By Jim King STAFF WRITER Atlanta will be home to the proposed NationsBank's largest division, an area that will include all community, consumer and commercial banking activities and employ 30,000 workers companywide. The company's so-called General Bank will be an umbrel-1 la for all of its state banking sys-' terns. The president of each state bank where NationsBank will operate will report to Ken Lewis, who will move from Charlotte to Atlanta to run the General Bank, NCNB Corp.

said Monday. Now heads NCNB unit Mr. Lewis is now president of the General Bank of NCNB which is in the midst of acquiring Corp. The combined companies will form NationsBank. The bank will be the fourth largest in America and operate in nine states and Washington, D.C.

The deal is expected to be completed by Jan. 1. While confirming his move to Atlanta, Mr. Lewis said it has not been determined how many more executives will be relocated. "We're still sorting that all out," Mr.

Lewis said. "There will be several senior people moving to Atlanta. However, most of the people who, report to me now are million challenge grant for this year's United Way campaign, the most any individual has ever given to the metro Atlanta charitable organization. In fact, the previous most J.B. Fuqua Donates $1 million to United Way TRW will offer credit reports free I i -r'" I generous gift to United Way was $50,000, donated by none other than Mr.

Fuqua last year. Mr. Fuqua, who founded but recently left Fuqua Industries, now chairs Fuqua Capital Corp. and Vista Resources. "J.B.

is really redefining what major gifts can be," said Mark O'Connell, president of Atlanta's United Way. "Up to now, most gifts had been clustering around $10,000." Last year, individuals donated a total of $1,016,938 to United Way. Mr. Fuqua's matching challenge of $1 million will be used to entice other wealthy individuals to give or increase their contributions. "There are many families in Atlanta who could do more in the way of philanthropy than they apparently are doing," Mr.

Fuqua said Monday. "So many of us want to enjoy the benefits of a democratic, capitalistic society, but many of us forget that we have to pay a price for that," he added. "We are not as highly taxed in this country as in socialist or Communist countries, but we have the same social obligations. United Way takes care of a lot of those obligations to society." Mr. Fuqua now joins United Way's Million Dollar Round-table, a group of only 13 other individuals nationwide.

That group includes publisher Walter Annenberg, Philadelphia philanthropist John C. Haas, the late Campbell Soup heir John T. Dor-ranee Microsoft founder William H. Gates III, The Limited Chairman Leslie H. Wexner, weight-loss chain founders Jenny and Sid Craig, and the late U.S.

Sen. H. John Heinz III I credit histories riddled with mistakes, sell private data to companies that send out "junk mail" and make it easy for practically anyone to pull up confidential reports. Until this year, the industry had generally denied that severe problems existed. "This move is an important step in the evolution of the credit-reporting said D.

Van Skilling, an executive and general manager for TRW Information Systems and Services. "In the past, we believed that if we met the letter and spirit of the laws governing the credit-reporting industry, as well as our customers' needs, we were fulfilling our obligations. But we need to do more and we will do more." TRW said Monday it would provide the reports to consumers free once a year upon request. The announcement came two days before public hearings in the Senate on problems consumers face with the credit-information industry. FROM OUR NEWS SERVICES Bowing to critics who say computerized credit records are littered with inaccuracies, TRW a leading compiler of personal financial data, said Monday it would allow consumers to obtain free copies of their credit histories.

TRW, like competitors Equifax and Trans Union Credit Information, had generally been charging $15 per report. Atlanta-based Equifax said it has been reviewing what it charges consumers. Trans Union Corp. of Chicago said it would not provide free reports. "Providing so-called free reports is not without eventual higher costs to the consumer," Trans Union said.

Federal law already requires credit-information companies to provide free reports to consumers denied credit within the last 30 days. Critics have charged that the three companies maintain mi liiiiii in i in" 1 Special Knoxville's 1982 World's Fair drew criticism for its hotel booking system. Hotel reservations; Learning from the World's Fair 1 Problems that popped up vith the central reservations system at the 1982 World's Fair in Knoxville are unlikely to happen in the system that Atlanta is establishing for the 1996 Olympics: What Knoxville did wrong What Atlanta is doing Developed an agency that had no lodging expe- Working alongside the city's hotel industry in rience to run housing during the event and asked developing lodging plans. for no assistance from hoteliers. Developing standards with the Georgia Hospi- Assigned rooms that did not meet industry tality and Travel Association.

standards. Securing all of the rooms needed to house ex- Reserved rooms that did not exist. pected visitors before accepting reservations. INSIDE Olympic-Size Task Committee faces challenge in managing hotel bookings urn MvftA Dow surges The Dow climbs 35 points to cross back above 3,000. DAILY BRIEFING: C4 Doyle: Bank's withdrawal rules can affect CDs in individual retirement accounts.

C2 Small businesses are ignoring flexible benefits plans, study says. C3 Investors vent their rage at company officials who sell stock before a big plunge. IN THE NEWS: C7 By Sonia Murray STAFF WRITER On most points, comparing the 1982 World's Fair in Knoxville to Atlanta's 1996 Olympic Games is like holding up last year's Atlanta Braves last-place team to this year's World Series contenders. Unnecessary. On most points, except one.

The Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games a non of Consumer Affairs. More than 7,000 housing-related complaints were filed in his office about the six-month fair. But Atlanta tourism officials point to the dramatic difference between the Knoxville area and convention-rich metro Atlanta. Hosted many events "We have dealt with the Democratic National Convention, are Please see HOTELS, C8 profit organization with no reservations experience announced last month that it was going into the lodging business. In fact, it plans to be responsible for booking 80 percent of the metro area's rooms during the 16-day event.

That's very similar to the task a similar agency, Knoxvisit, took on during the energy-related exhibition. And it failed miserably. "It was a disaster," said Barry Woody, a consumer protection specialist in Tennessee's Office High-tech revenge Feelings about computer software turn into art. C3 Coke in Paris If it's 1991, it must be Paris. Every other year, the Coca-Cola Co.

holds one board meeting outside the United States. Directors dine tonight with the mayor of Paris and Coca-Cola's largest French customers. After a board meeting Wednesday, directors will visit a concentrate plant in Signes and the world's largest canning plant in Dunkirk. The meeting will preview 1992, a year that one could say Coca-Cola takes over the unified continent. Coca-Cola is a sponsor of the Winter Olympics in Albertville, France; Barcelona's Summer Olympics; Seville's World's Fair; and the Tour de France bicycle race.

Euro Disneyland also opens 'in April, where "Coke will be the only soft drink consumed on the premises," boasted Chairman Roberto C. Goizueta. "We are extremely successful in Europe," Mr. Goizueta said, but France has one of the lowest per-capita sales. "We are in the process of teaching the French how to drink Coca-Cola." Maria Saporta's column appears on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, i Inforum gets a boost with relocation of engineering firm By Charles Haddad Staff writer Inforum scored an important victory Monday when one of the city's leading engineering and architectural firms announced it would relocate from Midtown to the struggling Downtown technology mart.

Lockwood Greene will move its 400 employees to 70,000 square feet of space on the empty fourth floor of the nine-story Inforum, located on Williams Street behind the Apparel Mart. While a plus for Inforum, Lockwood Greene's move is a setback for Midtown. The company is leaving behind an empty five-story, Class building, where the Spartanburg, S.C.-based company had its Atlanta office since 1981. 'Financially attractive' deal Lockwood Greene moved, Mr. Leslie explained, because its lease will be up in March and the company was looking to upgrade to Class A space.

In addition, In forum offered a "financially attractive" deal. Neither Inforum nor Lockwood Greene officials would release lease details, but building owners have been offer-ing steep discounts on rent in Atlanta's overbuilt office market. "Inforum wasn't the cheapest space, but it was competitive price-wise," said Mr. Leslie. "More importantly, we wanted to move out of Class space and the high-tech element of the building was key for us." intorum began life as a bold idea by Mr.

Portrpan to create a The firm has an option to lease the entire floor, said W.M. Leslie, Lockwood Greene's senior vice president. Inforum officials would not release occupancy figures, but Lockwood Greene is a big plus for the facility, which has been struggling to lease up since it opened three years ago. Business was so bad that John C. Portman Inforum's developer, had to cede 95 percent ownership of the building to his major lender, Equitable Life Assurance Society of the United States.

1.5 million-square-foot, hightech marketplace for computers and telecommunications equipment. The top six floors were house glass showrooms, where manufacturers would display their products. While Inforum attracted some top-flight tenants, it never really took off. Last fall, only 25 percent of Inforum's 600,000 square feet of leasable space was occupied. Last summer, Equitable quietly abandoned the computer mart idea..