Riggs National Corp.

1503 Pennsylvania Ave. NW

Year founded: 1836

Industry: Banking

Post 200 Category: Top Financial Companies

Revenue: n/a

Net Income/Loss: ($98,289,000.00)

Earnings per share: ($3.27)

Dividend: $0.10

Stockholder equity: $317.84 Million

Auditor: KPMG LLP

Stock: RIGS

Assets: $6.01 Billion

Market capitalization: $608.49 Million

52-week high: 24.2 9/1/2004

52-week low: 15.3 4/19/2004

Chairman : Anthony P. Terracciano

CEO: Lawrence I. Hebert

Employees: 1307

Local employees: 1307

Description: Riggs National is a holding company whose Riggs Bank subsidiary is more than 165 years old. Joe L. Allbritton and his family have owned a controlling share in the company for two decades and ran it with an iron hand until March. For years Riggs dominated the embassy banking business in Washington, but regulators forced the bank to exit that business last year under a cloud of scandal involving widespread violations of banking laws designed to alert federal officials to potential money laundering

Developments: If all goes as planned in the sale of Riggs to Pittsburgh-based PNC Financial Services Group Inc, PNC will take over Riggs's branches May 13. Those branches are Riggs's biggest asset. Riggs customers should see little disruption of their service. Indeed, they may see some improvement if PNC proceeds with plans to expand its branch network in the next few years and improve customer service. The merger would mark the end of a troubling period for Riggs, in which its once-lustrous reputation was damaged. In the past year, the bank has been hit with a $25 million fine for its handling of suspicious transactions for former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet and the rulers of oil-rich Equatorial Guinea. It also has pleaded guilty to criminal charges that it violated laws designed to alert federal regulators and law enforcement officials to potential money-laundering activities. On March 29, a judge approved a $16 million criminal fine. Riggs's longtime emphasis on banking for diplomats came under scrutiny early last year with news that federal bank regulators, the Justice Department and Senate investigators were investigating the bank's embassy-banking division, including millions of dollars of deposits and withdrawals by the Saudi ambassador and his wife and by other Saudi officials; by Equatorial Guinea and major U.S. oil companies; and by Pinochet and his family in efforts to hide their money from international law enforcement officials. Run by Allbritton for 20 years and by his son, Robert L. Allbritton, for four, until he stepped down on March 7, Riggs's financial performance has been declining for years. That has prompted criticism that Allbritton hurt other investors by not selling the bank more than a decade ago, when it would have fetched a higher price. The Allbritton family, which also owns TV stations in seven markets, including ABC affiliate WJLA Channel 7 in Washington, could earn $260 million from the sale to PNC. But sources familiar with the bank say regulators and law enforcement officials continue to probe what role, if any, Allbritton, his family, and other current and former Riggs executives and directors played in the bank's woes. Many of these individuals could face civil and criminal fines, which would cut into any profit they make from the merger, the sources say.