What does the "N.A." at the end of company names stand for? (i.e.
Wells Fargo Bank, N.A.) I'm assuming "North America", but would like
answer from someone who knows for sure.

darrenlu --

The letters "N.A." at the end of a bank's name signify that the bank
is a "national bank."  National banks are chartered by the federal
government, supervised by the Comptroller of the Currency and
regulated by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. An
important feature of national banks is that depositors' accounts are
insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation ("FDIC").

All banks that are chartered as "national banks" either have to
include the word "national" in their name (such as "First National
Bank") or must use the abbreviation "N.A." at the end of their name. 
This is to distinguish these banks from banks that are organized
under, and regulated by, states, and often do not provide the same
level of protection to depositors.

A very succinct and useful description of the difference between
national banks, state banks and other financial institutions is found
at the following link:

Oklahoma Bankers Association: Field Guide to Financial Institutions
http://www.oba.com/consumers/fieldguide.html


Search Strategy:

The following Google searches led to the definitive answer:

banks "na stands for"
://www.google.com/search?num=100&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=%22bank+na%22+%22na++stands+for%22

"national banks" na
://www.google.com/search?num=100&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=%22national+banks%22+na&spell=1


I am confident that this is exactly the information you are seeking,
and I was happy to be able to provide it to you promptly.  If any of
the above is unclear, please ask for clarification before rating this
answer.


markj-ga

---

Clarification of Answer by markj-ga on 13 Apr 2004 17:04 PDT

darrenlu --

In my answer, I should have explicitly told you that the initials
"N.A." stand for "national association."

markj-ga

Wow! Thanks for the prompt, clear, and succinct answer.

darrenlu --

Thanks much for the kind words, the rating and the tip.

markj-ga