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Size matters when it comes to the recent mega-mergers in banking. So does the reaction among business customers.

If you’re a large company, the plans announced last week by BankAmerica Corp. to join up with NationsBank Corp. might be greeted with relative nonchalance.

If you’re a small company, it could offer another reason to move to a community bank.

And if you’re in the medium-range, the reaction is likely to be the most varied and vocal.

All over Los Angeles last week, business owners were weighing the pros and cons of the onslaught of bank acquisitions as well as the mergers that could be in the offing. As in the retail sector, banking relationships are critical to businesses, whether it involves loans, payroll or other administrative functions.

Get a new banker and all bets are off.

Mid-size companies, often too big for community banks and not large enough to garner solicitous attention from the big banks, are especially sensitive to the changing environment.

Richard Gordon, chairman of R.J. Gordon & Co. Inc. in Los Angeles, is not put off by big banks, per se in fact, his company banks with Citibank. But he pointed out that the massive New York bank’s local branch delivers personalized service and a sense of community, and he believes those qualities will likely diminish as other banks go national.

“Bank of America has grown so large that it is losing any sense of community roots,” Gordon said. “When you’re dealing with a company’s board of directors that are 3,000 miles away, you know that they have an entirely different perspective of the local borrower. As the banks continue to grow, and if they don’t make an effort to work closely with local businesses at the branch level, those of us in the small-to-medium business environment are going to lose.”

Sensing the changing tide in bank environments, Bruce Corwin, president of the mid-sized L.A. independent theater chain Metropolitan Theatres Corp., switched his company’s banking from Bank of America to City National Bank on April 13 the day BofA announced its merger.

“Our timing turned out to be fortuitous,” Corwin said. “But even before their announcement, Bank of America was getting bigger and we weren’t getting the attention we first received or wanted. As a family-owned business, we feel more wanted at City National. I believe strongly in banking based on relationships.”

Among larger banks, few draw a more mixed response from business customers than Wells Fargo & Co., which itself is widely suspected to be a merger target.

“As a company with over 200 employees and over $20 million in revenue, we are a desirable account and know that we will be treated well at Wells Fargo,” said Peter Moncayo, vice president and chief financial officer of ASL Consulting Engineers in Pasadena. “I was concerned during the merger with First Interstate Bank, but there were no problems at all, so I am not that concerned about the bank possibly getting bigger.”

Moncayo does not see turning to a smaller bank.

“The capacity of small banks lacks the latitude needed by a growing business, and their benefit of a personal touch cannot offset that disadvantage,” he said.

But Edmond Cariolagian, general manager of Global Messaging Network Inc., a 24-hour message service in Hollywood, has a different experience with Wells Fargo.

“The long lines and little personalized service have only gotten worse since it merged with First Interstate,” he said. “If Wells Fargo gets bigger and things get worse, we’d most likely switch to a smaller bank.”

Indeed, smaller companies are increasingly favoring smaller banks. Joe Morford, an analyst at Alex Brown & Sons in San Francisco, pointed out that this flight is a long-term trend that has recently accelerated due to the mergers.

“The fact that banks are getting bigger means that some small businesses are now looking for more attentive service, so they are going to community banks,” he said. “The attraction of community banks is that they will sit across the table and talk to you.”

The personal service that small banks offer seems to be their strongest asset.

“As a business owner and as a real estate investor shopping for loans, I notice that the bigger the banks get, the more impersonal and the more bureaucratic they are,” said Chris Bonbright, president and chief executive of real estate brokerage RamseyShilling in Hollywood.

“We have historically used smaller banks for their phenomenally personal service. We work with both the Bank of Los Angeles and the Bank of Hollywood. They know who I am, they recognize my signature, and they sometimes waive fees,” he said. “Things that are simply not possible at the larger banks.”

David Kang, owner and president of a boiler-maker shop in downtown called Pacific Steam Equipment Inc., has accounts with both Bank of America and City National Bank, but says he has no intention of ending his relationship with the larger bank.

He has had, however, very different experiences at the two places.

“I never expected any degree of customer service from Bank of America to begin with, so I haven’t thought about how that would change in the merger,” Kang said. “But I was disappointed with them a while ago when they didn’t come through with a (small business) loan as quickly as I had expected.”

In contrast, Kang has found City National very responsive.

“I’ve had nothing but pleasant experiences,” Kang said. “I can make a phone call and take care of any problem immediately, and they do everything on time. It is very different.”

Ashley Quinn, executive producer at Renegade Animation in Burbank, said her company just switched from a small bank, Western Security Bank, to City National.

“The small banks are part of the community themselves and treat us as a part of the community,” Quinn said. “At a big bank, you’re treated as a ‘package A’ or ‘package B’ customer.”

At the other end, executives from large companies are confident that their accounts are significant enough not be lost in the shuffle.

“We are not worried about the mega-mergers,” said Steven Crosby, vice president of external affairs at Cerritos-based L.A. Cellular. “As a large company, we will get the service we need and the attention we want.”

L.A. Cellular has been with Wells Fargo for the last nine years, and Crosby said that company executives generally are pleased with that relationship. Moreover, they saw no change in business when Wells Fargo merged with First Interstate Bank a couple years ago, so they have little concern that service will decline if the bank continues to grow.

Similarly, a spokeswoman for DirecTV, a unit of Hughes Electronics Corp. in El Segundo, said that as a large corporate client, they are unconcerned about the bank mergers.

Frederick Silny, chief financial officer at Glendale-based IHOP Corp., believes that the only change his company will see with Bank of America will be for the better. IHOP has been a “very happy” Bank of America customer for more than five years, he said.

“From our point of view, BofA’s consolidation is good,” Silny said. “We’re a national company and are happy to now be able to consolidate our accounts and reduce fees due to their national expansion. Also, Bank of America will now be able to offer certain services through their alliance that they couldn’t before.”

Staff reporter Jason Booth contributed to this story.

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