As of the In Business deadline Tuesday, the merger had not yet closed.

Beverley Hills, Calif.-based City National, known for serving Hollywood stars such as California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, announced in November that it would purchase Business Bank for $161 million in cash and stock.

Business Bank, with seven branches in Nevada including three in Las Vegas and one in North Las Vegas, has almost $500 million in assets.

Business Bank will change its name by Memorial Day, according to Paul Stowell, public and shareholder relations and senior vice president. The bank plans a May 29 unveiling of new signs.

Business Bank is currently building a new corporate headquarters on West Charleston Boulevard in Summerlin, which will become City National's Nevada headquarters.

City National, with $14.5 billion in assets, has about $100 million in loans in Nevada currently.

City National officials have said they intend to retain most Business Bank employees and open more Nevada branches. Business Bank's executive staff has also been retained on a two-year contract.

City National officials have said the merger will add residential home mortgage, asset management, and remote deposit to Business Bank's suite of services. It will also cater to high-end private customers with wealth management and trust services.

The company entered the Las Vegas market two years ago when it purchased Paragon Financial Services, which managed short-term investments for local counties and municipalities. Although Mellon still provides financial services to local governments, 70 percent of the office's business is now in private wealth management.

Mellon's private family office business, managing millions to hundreds of millions for wealthy families or individuals, has grown in Las Vegas and around the country.

Nationally, Mellon private family offices manage portfolios for 120 families with $25 million or more in liquid assets. Those families have a combined wealth of $37 billion. Mellon manages another 1,000 families with comparable wealth, but without the same level of liquid assets, according to Craig Sutherland, vice chairman of private wealth management for Mellon.

But Doug Fries, regional director for Mellon's local office, said Las Vegas multi-millionairs are unique.

They are more likely to be real estate investors than to come from old family steel or industrial fortunes as in some Eastern cities.

"Our bracket of clients have exposure to land here in that valley, which they are really comfortable with," Fries said. "That's unique from other parts of the country."

In late 2004 and early 2005, "we saw more clients walk in the door that came from transactions from land sales or individuals or groups that had sold plots of land around the valley," Fries said. "Then by mid-2005 to 2006 we saw more casino executives."

Fries said bank executives who profited from mergers and wealthy Californians also make up high percentages of Nevada's uber-rich.

He also said Nevada's wealthy have a different tolerance for risk than people in other parts of the country. They are more likely to invest in private lenders like the recently bankrupt USA Capital, which sold investments in trust deeds, or shot-term loans to developers with real estate as collateral.

And, of course, Nevada's wealthy have a higher risk tolerance for gambling, Fries said, although they usually break even at the tables.

Sixty-four percent of small business owners said insurance was a major concern and 62 percent listed taxes near the top of their list.

The nationwide small business survey also found that energy prices (54 percent), government regulations (45 percent) and finding qualified employees (42 percent) were major concerns.

"Small businesses must actively manage costs in order to remain competitive," said Rebecca Macieira-Kaufmann, executive vice president and head of Wells Fargo's small-business segment, in a press release. "For years, business owners have identified the rising cost of health insurance as a key area of concern. Small-business owners know providing employee health insurance helps attract and retain qualified employees, yet they continue to be challenged by the high cost of insurance."

Ninety percent of small-business owners said generating stronger revenues was a priority of their 2007 business plan. Two-thirds said cutting expenses was part of the plan, and 57 percent said reaching more customers way key, followed by more advertising (42 percent) and technology investment (37 percent).

The Wells Fargo/Gallup Small Business Index has been published quarterly since the third quarter of 2003, and surveys small business owners nationwide on their perceptions of current and future business conditions related to finances, revenue, cash flow, capital spending and job and credit availability. An Index score of zero reflects that an equal number of small business owners are optimistic and pessimistic about their companies' situation.

Wells Fargo/Gallup interviewed 600 small business owners for each survey between Nov. 9 and Nov. 29.