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National City Corporation (NYSE:NCC) is a bank who is currently considering a merger with Keycorp, however, there are three other interested parties: Scotiabank, Fifth Third Bancorp and Corsair Capital LLC. The possibility of a merger was announced on April 1, 2008 when the board of directors announced that it was “looking at strategic alternatives.”

History of National City
National City was founded in 1842 and has its headquarters in Cleveland, Ohio. It manages over $142.4 billion in assets and has operations in Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Missouri, and Pennsylvania. Its primary businesses include commercial and retail banking, consumer finance, asset management, and mortgage financing and servicing. There are over 1200 branch banking offices and over 540 retail and wholesale mortgage offices located throughout the United States. National City’s strategy is focused on achieving strong and steady growth with its growing number of customers. The bank is a financial holding company andis regulated by the Bank Holding Company Act of 1956. The banking subsidiaries of National City compete actively with national and state banks, thrift institutions, securities dealers, mortgage bankers, finance companies, insurance companies, and other financial service entities. It currently employs over 32 000 people.

Financial Situation
National City was one of many banks involved in the US mortgage crisis. It has lost over $330 million due to bad bets in the mortgage market during its fourth quarter. This loss has triggered a 43% drop in share price and a 49% dividend drop on January 2. Also on that day, National City closed its wholesale mortgage division resulting in the loss of over 900 jobs. The bank is undergoing some drastic restructuring and cost cutting which was further reflected in the loss of an additional 3400 employees. Two days after the drastic drop in share price, National City sold a third...