MAC machines will get new logos - as will some area banks Sovereign Bank making the switch to the NYSE

Concord EFS of Memphis, which recently merged the Wilmington-based MAC automatic-teller network with two other systems, is giving banks and merchants that offer the machines a year and a half to scrap their MAC Card signs and install new Concord Star Systems logos.

For many retailers the changover is both expensive and annoying. Won't Concord help?

"We're giving them free decals," said Barbara Span, a Concord EFS spokeswoman.

Plus, as Span notes, the region's biggest banks will likely be changing their signs soon anyway:

First Union (the biggest in Philadelphia and its suburbs) wants to scrap its moniker from 2,000 East Coast branches and South Philadelphia's First Union Center, and replace it with that of Wachovia Corp.

But first, Wachovia shareholders have to approve First Union's $14 billion takeover offer - and overcome vehement protests from a rival Wachovia suitor, SunTrust Banks, and one of First Union's biggest shareholders, Morris Offitt, who say the bank isn't paying enough.

Shareholders weighing First Union's 200-page proposal have until Aug. 3 to cast their votes.

Meanwhile, Fleet Bank switched more than 100 newly acquired Summit Bank branches in Pennsylvania to its own signs and computer systems last month, and is planning an additional 300 conversions in New Jersey (where Summit is the biggest bank) by the end of July.

So far, the Fleet-Summit merger has meant lower deposit rates for ex-Summit customers. But it's also been surprisingly free of the angry customer complaints that follow most bank mergers.

Fleet wants a high profile. Fleet's Pennsylvania president, Jim Lynch, says he is moving his office from Blue Bell to Center City to better challenge First Union and PNC as the region's dominant bank.

Meanwhile, Mellon Financial Corp., having closed most of its South Jersey offices, is weighing a possible sale of its Pennsylvania branch network (second to First Union's in Southeastern Pennsylvania).

"I'm not surprised at Mellon. Other banks may follow. Unfortunately for us, the timing isn't right," said a would-be suitor, Sovereign Bancorp chairman Jay S. Sidhu, who has his hands full digesting his own recent New England expansion.

Sidhu isn't changing his bank's name at this time. But he is changing its ticker symbol, to SOV, and its home, from the Nasdaq market to the New York Stock Exchange.

Sidhu says he is making the switch, not because he doesn't like Nasdaq, but in response to demands from a handful of "illogical" institutional fund managers who invest only in New York-traded stocks.

The publisher of the Center City-based weekly Al Da, Hernan Guaracao, will join the Phillies on Friday night as hosts to Dominican Republic President Hipolito Mejias at Veterans Stadium.

It is Latino Legends night, and Mejias plans to honor the increasing proportion of U.S. ballplayers - more than 20 percent of the nation's nearly 7,500 pro major and minor leaguers - who got their start on the rural lots of his Caribbean nation.

But Guaracao also plans to use the occasion to tout his new baseball supplement, Jonron! (the J sounds like H; say it and you'll know what it means).

Jonron! is edited by Will Gonzalez, the Philadelphia lawyer best known for running Philadelphia's respected Police-Barrio Relations Project.

So far, it's being distributed free to Al Da readers. Guaracao and Gonzalez are also trying to sell Jonron! to Spanish-language publications in other markets. "It was Will's idea," Guaracao said. "Nothing like this has existed locally or nationally."

Baseball appeals to Puerto Ricans, Mexicans and Central and South Americans, he noted, adding, "We're trying to unite the Latino communities into a collective unit." And market.

Investment banks Howard, Lawson & Co. and Pennsylvania Merchant Group have been sold to out-of-town firms.

Berwind Financial, First Union Securities, Tucker Anthony and Janney Montgomery Scott have all cut back on their local operations or expansion plans since Jan. 1.

But at least one local investment bank - Center City's Curtis Financial Group - is still growing.

Tiny Curtis (named for its former home in the old Curtis Publishing building) hired Kristen Leonard of Geneva Cos.' Conshohocken office last week, bringing the staff to 10 - up from 7 last year.

The stock market may be off, and Wall Street dealmakers are crying the blues, but small-business owners continue to sell their companies. "We have more business than we can handle" coming to the door, said founder Kevin Rudd, who worked at Berwind before setting up Curtis as an affiliate of the accounting firm Parente Randolph L.L.C. in 1994.

Turner Investments of Berwyn is killing two trendy funds on its first birthday.

The Turner B2B E-Commerce Fund (current holdings include Cisco, Barnes & Noble and Sanmina) totals just $6 million and has lost 38 percent in its short history, according to figures provided by Turner.

The Turner Wireless Communications Fund (Chippac, Macrovision, Cisco) is down 59 percent, and now holds just $4 million in assets.

The pair of funds will be consolidated into the Turner New Enterprise Fund, Turner officials said.

Joseph N. DiStefano can be reached at 215-854-5957 or jdistefano@phillynews.com.