In areport by The Business Journal, The Chevy Chase Bank is in talks to sell to Citigroup Inc., according to a report in the Wall Street Journal Thursday.
The newspaper said that Citigroup is one of a number of bidders pursuing Bethesda, Md.-based Chevy Chase, with $14.9 billion in assets, and it is not certain that Citi will prevail.
Chevy Chase Bank has been banged up by the real estate market decline. As of last month, $420 million, or about 4 percent, of its domestic real estate loans were in a non-accrual status. But Chevy Chase did manage to improve from a first quarter 2008 loss and post a second quarter profit of $2.2 million.
In the past year, Chevy Chase has trimmed its operations and holdings, putting the Lowes Island golf club up for sale, reducing hours at some branches, and ending its in-store banking relationship with Giant Food.
