Union Bankshares Corp. is one step away from merging with Richmond-based First Market Bank and creating the largest bank based in Virginia. The Bowling Green-based holding company said yesterday that it has received shareholder approval for its acquisition of the private chain of banks mostly owned by the Ukrop family and Ukrop’s Super Markets Inc.

The head of the Senate banking committee has proposed legislation to stop banks from automatically enrolling customers in overdraft programs and to protect consumers from excessive fees if they spend more than is in their checking accounts.

A majority of shareholders of both First Bankshares Inc. and Xenith Corp. have voted in favor of the proposed merger of the two financial institutions, but some hurdles remain. The banks announced preliminary results of shareholder voting yesterday, but they still are awaiting regulatory approvals and need Nasdaq stock market approval to list the common stock of the combined company. The merger is now expected to close in the fourth quarter.

Virginia Business Bank, which is under written agreement with regulators to improve management and operations, has a new chief. Terrie G. Spiro, a banking executive with 25 years of experience with mid-Atlantic community and regional banks, is the new president and CEO. She replaces Merlin A. Henkel, who will serve as a consultant to the board of directors at the Richmond-based bank.

After a tumultuous two years, the former Wachovia Securities brokerage is coming out in a stronger position, its top executive said yesterday. “Our people have been through a lot this last year, and our clients have been through a lot,“ said Daniel J. Ludeman, president and chief executive officer of Wells Fargo Advisors, the new name for the formerly Richmond-based Wachovia Securities.

Bank of America Corp. is bracing today for what is expected to be a lively and contentious annual shareholders meeting in Charlotte, N.C.

Are banks back? No big bank was supposed to utter the words “record” and “profit” in the same sentence this year. But Wells Fargo said yesterday that it earned about $3 billion for the first quarter—its highest income ever, and twice what analysts predicted.

Wells Fargo & Co. said it expects record first-quarter earnings of $3 billion, easily surpassing analysts’ estimates and providing an encouraging sign for the banking industry.

Sen. Dodd (D-AIG) There’s a bull market in outrage these days. The AIG bonus kerfuffle is as politically potent as it is economically trivial. On the very day the Federal Reserve announced that it plans to buy almost $1 trillion in treasury bonds and mortgage-backed securities, Washington was fully engaged in a round of finger-pointing over who knew what when about $165 million in bonuses at the failed insurance company.

Citigroup Inc. dropped below $1 in New York trading for the first time, the latest sign that stock investors are losing confidence in a company that was once the worlds biggest bank by market value.

The government yesterday moved toward dramatically expanding its ownership stakes in the nation’s banks—with Citigroup, the struggling titan of the industry, apparently at the top of the list. Wall Street responded as it has with the rollout of other plans to fix the financial crisis. Stocks took a big drop and sent the Dow Jones industrials to their lowest level since 1997.

Richmond-based First Market Bank has received $33.9 million from the U.S. Treasury as part of the government’s $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program. First Market was among 28 banks to receive a total of $238.6 million in the latest batch of payments, bringing the government’s total infusion in U.S. banks to $195.6 billion. “The TARP funds are meant for healthy banks,“ said Katie Gilstrap, spokeswoman for First Market. “First Market has a very conservative credit culture. We have never been involved in subprime or risky loans.“

Most banks are safe and sound. They want to get that message out. “Live solid, bank solid” is a marketing campaign kicked off in mid-November by Atlanta-based SunTrust Banks Inc., the fourth-largest bank in the Richmond area based on deposits. “Still strong. Still lending” is a slogan used by BB&T Corp. of Winston-Salem, N.C., the area’s third-largest bank.

People are passionate about their banks. They love them or hate them. Most were pleased with their banks, according to responses to a query from the Richmond Times-Dispatch posed to readers about whether they had confidence in their banks. The question drew dozens of responses via e-mail and telephone calls. Many were small-business owners who were grateful that their banks believed in them and what they were doing.

The American public has given billions to the banking industry through the Troubled Asset Relief Program—the bailout package hastily cobbled together by the White House and Congress to get money circulating again. But to any Americans who thought they might find out how their tax dollars were being used, the banking industry has a message: