``Our strategy is to make the bank so strong and attractive that we have the option to remain independent or gain a very high premium for shareholders should we be acquired,'' President and Chief Executive Officer Gordon W. Campbell told The Tampa Tribune in 1982.

It didn't take long for Exchange's leaders to decide.

Eight months later, on New Year's Eve, a growing Charlotte, N.C.-based bank named NCNB Corp. bought Exchange for $134 million. A few days later, Exchange and NCNB executives met in Tampa. NCNB's chairman raised an oversized prop check for $60 million to show Tampa businesses that they no longer needed to leave town for big loans.

Today, NCNB is Bank of America. It's the largest bank in Florida and the second largest nationwide. Exchange, like others bred and born here, has become little more than a footnote in local history.

Maybe the most visible consequence of the bank mergers is reflected in Tampa's skyline.

The bank names beaming from the tops of so many marquee buildings downtown represent institutions that aren't based here - and, in many cases, don't even have their state headquarters here.

Bank of America and Wachovia hail from Charlotte, and AmSouth and SouthTrust are based in Birmingham, Ala. SunTrust's headquarters are in Atlanta.

The impact doesn't stop there: Bank mergers cut deeply into a city's economic fabric. Although smaller, the banks were leaders in local affairs, occupied much of the now- empty office space downtown, supported local businesses and charities, and contributed to the city's identity.

Put another way, the locals ``were players in the community'' and had greater access to the vault, says Sandy MacKinnon, president of Yale Industrial Trucks and a director of the Bank of Tampa.

``They were staffed here from president on down,'' he adds, ``so consequently those people were here in the community to take leadership roles.''

Although large banks also contribute in this respect, MacKinnon says, their executives sometimes don't stay in one place long enough to make much difference.

``There was one year ... when we had three board chairs, just because each one got promoted onto something else,'' says Diana Baker, president and CEO of United Way of Tampa Bay.

``We laughed about it. That's not a typical year, but it certainly can happen.''

Tampa isn't unique. Many U.S. cities have seen local banks absorbed by larger companies as states and the federal government have relaxed banking regulations.

The big banks say acquisitions give everyone more access to the larger institutions. They're committed to the community, too, they say.

For example, Bank of America has invested nearly $2 billion in the region during the past 10 years as part of a nationwide community-building effort- including more than $1.2 billion in loans and investments for affordable housing, says Steve Raney, its Tampa president.

But it's a matter of degree, say others such as Jim Ferman, president of Ferman Automotive and another director at the Bank of Tampa. Bank of America is still Bank of America, and Tampa isn't its hometown.

``In no way do I want to fail to appreciate the contributions that the big banks make [here] because they are supportive,'' Ferman says. ``Where your headquarters and your shareholders are is where your heart lies.''

Reporter Dave Simanoff can be reached at (813) 259-7762.