THE CITY OF THE SLUMPING SHOULDERS
The nightmare has come true. Regional bankers in the US have long feared that banks from New York and overseas would come and eat their lunch. In Chicago, it's happened.
The buildings downtown are symbolic of the change. In the heart of the Loop, Manufacturers Hanover is building a skyscraper to stamp its presence on the city. A stone's throw away lies one of the five dozen branches of Citicorp Savings of Illinois --formerly First Federal, which Citi purchased in January 1984.
"Ten years ago, when I first came to Chicago,' a New York emigre said, "I found a very exciting banking picture. I remember then that an offer of a job from Continental Illinois or First Chicago was a real plum. They plucked the best and the brightest from one graduating class after another. Now I look back and wonder what happened to it all.'
The 1980 s have not been kind to Chicago's standing as a world class financial centre. The poet Carl Sandburg called Chicago: "City of the Big Shoulders.' Now the shoulders of its major banks have slumped.
This has gone with a decline in regional economic vitality.