<P> In June 1981 the company changed its name to First Interstate Bancorp . The First Interstate name became a systemwide brand for most of the company's banks, thus promoting greater public recognition of the company and internal consistency . During the 1980s, in addition to acquiring more banks, First Interstate jumped into new areas of financial services as the deregulation of the banking industry progressed . In 1983 the First Interstate Discount Brokerage was set up to provide bank customers with securities and commodities support . In 1984 the bank branched into merchant banking with the purchase of Continental Illinois Ltd. and equipment leasing with the acquisition of the Commercial Alliance Corporation of New York, and broadened its mortgage banking activities by acquiring the Republic Realty Mortgage Corporation . In 1986 and 1987, First Interstate attempted a bold $3.2 billion hostile takeover of the ailing Bank of America, but the bid was successfully defeated . </P> <P> First Interstate ran into its own troubles in the late 1980s and early 1990s stemming from bad real estate loans and the severe recession in California . The bank posted losses in the hundreds of millions for 1987, 1989, and 1991 . Consequently, First Interstate concentrated on rebuilding and rejuvenating its existing operations rather than acquiring new ones . A number of noncore unprofitable subsidiaries were jettisoned, including the equipment leasing unit, a government securities operation, and most of the wholesale banking unit . Rumors of a takeover of First Interstate were rife in the early 1990s before the bank recovered fully by mid-decade under the leadership of Chairman and CEO Edward M. Carson (1929--2010). </P> <P> Despite First Interstate's healthier condition, and with the banking industry consolidation in full swing, Wells Fargo made a hostile bid for First Interstate in October 1995 initially valued at $10.8 billion . Other banks came forward as potential' white knights,' including Norwest Corporation, Bank One Corporation, and First Bank System . The latter made a serious bid for First Interstate, with the two banks reaching a formal merger agreement in November valued initially at $10.3 billion . But First Bank ran into regulatory difficulties with the way it had structured its offer and was forced to bow out of the takeover battle in mid-January 1996 . Talks between Wells Fargo and First Interstate then led within days to a merger agreement for $11.3 billion in stock . Wells Fargo completed the acquisition on April 1, 1996 and announced the elimination of 7,200 jobs . </P> <P> First Interstate Bancorp's stock was trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the stock symbol "I". </P>

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