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At an event in Cleveland:

National City Bank (NCC) CEO Peter Raskind said Wednesday that it’s “simply too soon to say” if the bank will avail itself of government assistance — and if it did, what the impact of that help would be.
“We’re closely studying the potential implications, you bet we are,” Mr. Raskind said. “We’re deeply engaged in that process, that analysis. We’re going to take a little more time than that.”
Mr. Raskind spoke to a crowd of nearly 200 people at a weekly lunch for chartered financial analysts sponsored by the CFA Society of Cleveland. Organizers said the meetings usually attract about 70 people and that Mr. Raskind’s talk was the best-attended event the group has held.

In his speech, Mr. Raskind also addressed rumors that the bank will be sold by saying that while he would not comment about speculation, he is “quite optimistic” about the future of the company.
National City has been steadily reducing its exposure to products sold through brokers and Mr. Raskind said “significant changes” to the bank’s businesses and leadership teams give him reason to be confident.
Still, he said, National City’s board of trustees understands its responsibility to shareholders and would seriously consider selling the bank if that was in shareholders’ best interest. The board considered selling National City in March but decided that the capital infusion was the better choice. Mr. Raskind said that decision has turned out “quite clearly” to be the case.