National City Bank of Pennsylvania is adding a few old ingredients to give it a more local flavor.

The bank is rolling out a new customer format to place more decisions in the hands of its local banking officers and staff. Further, the bank said more services will be available at its branches versus at central offices.

"We're giving a stronger focus in the way we deliver services in our communities and rural areas,'' said Philip Marrie Jr., National City's area community bank president. "Our focus allows us to make more dollars to be available.''

In explaining the new philosophy, Marrie said National City has divided up the state into rural and metro areas with the local area, Mercer, Lawrence, Crawford and Butler counties to comprise Community Bank West.

One change is that staff at a branch will be able to walk a customer across the lobby to a specialist in a particular product, such as annuities.

"In the past, maybe we didn't have a particular specialist on site,'' Marrie said.

To offer this service, National City has embarked on an extensive training campaign among employees, said Woody Steele, vice president market manager of National City's five Shenango Valley offices.

For regular consumer loans such as cars and mortgages, National City will continue to rely on a central underwriting center where applications are graded. But Marrie said the difference now is that area presidents, such as himself, have the authority to override an underwriter's decision.

Another change is that National City's small business loan officers will no longer report to its Pittsburgh offices. Rather, they'll regularly inform Marrie directly of their activities on loans of $1 million or less.

"All of the services of a large city are here,'' said Bill Eiler, a National City spokesman. "We've raised the bar higher. There's more ownership of the customers' needs.''

But when it came down to opting for more local control, there was only one consideration in mind, Marrie said.

"Community banking is doing what's best for local people,'' he said.