of MAF Bancorp Inc., the holding company for MidAmerica Bank. As of June 30, 2006, MidAmerica Bank had the 9th-ranked market share in the Chicago metropolitan area (Chicago-Joliet-Naperville) at 2.18%. Following the merger using the same dataset, the combined National City and MidAmerica Banks were expected to rank 4th in the Chicago market with a market share of 3.96% and deposits of more than $10 billion. Strategic changes and subsequent downfall In the late 1990s, under former CEO David Daberko, National City began a strategy to increase the yields on its assets. In 1999, the company purchased First Franklin Financial Corp., a large subprime mortgage lender. Instead of selling the loans, as most mortgage companies do, National City retained many of the loans to enhance its net interest spreads. It also aggressively originated loans brought to the company by third-party mortgage brokers, as well as originating a large number of home equity loans. The amount of residential mortgage loans grew rapidly and came to exceed the level of commercial loans. By 2003, National City was the sixth-largest mortgage lender in the country. The company did sell its First Franklin Financial subsidiary in December 2006, but retained a large volume of loans that had been originated by the subsidiary. Management failed to recognize the extent of problems in the subprime market and did not take sufficient aggressive actions to reduce its real estate mortgage portfolio. National City subsequently made several other strategic mistakes, including buying back $3 billion of its stock in early 2007, thereby reducing its level of capital, and expanding into the Florida market in late 2006, just before the real estate market there went into a severe decline. As the subprime mortgage market began going into free fall in mid-2007 and continued into 2008, loan losses mounted. In the third quarter of 2007, the company suffered a net loss of $19 million. By the second quarter of 2008, the company had a net loss of $1.8 billion. Acquired by PNC On October 9, 2008, The Wall Street Journal ran an article citing unnamed sources indicating that National City was in talks with several other banks for a possible sale. The article named Pittsburgh-based PNC Financial Services, Toronto-based Scotiabank, and Minneapolis-based U.S. Bancorp as the leading contenders. A spokesperson for National City declined to comment on the report. By taking over National City, Scotiabank would be able to "obtain