13.nationsbank/sarkisian/dt1st/mark2nd

No. 13

NationsBank Buys BankAmerica

Signals have been decidedly mixed about BankAmerica Corp.’s commitment to Los Angeles following its $43 billion acquisition by NationsBank Corp. last October. Though the bank was based in San Francisco, Los Angeles long has been BofA’s biggest market, and the bank has made extensive promises about inner-city lending.

That’s why the departure of Donald A. Mullane, BofA’s executive vice president for community development, was seen as a signal that the new entity would be less involved in the local community. But the bank also created a new Southern California division headed by Liam McGee, a BofA executive who is considered familiar with L.A. banking.

Mullane wasn’t the only recent departure. BankAmerica President David A. Coulter abruptly resigned less than a week after the San Francisco bank reported more than $1.4 billion in losses tied to trading in volatile global markets as well as an unsecured loan to New York-based hedge fund D.E. Shaw & Co.

BankAmerica, the name of the merged Charlotte-based bank, plans to eliminate between 5,000 to 8,000 jobs about 3 percent of the 200,000-strong workforce nationwide to help reach $1.3 billion in cost savings. The 14,000 employees in Los Angeles County will be spared from most of the downsizing.

With $580 billion in assets, the new institution is the nation’s second largest bank behind Citigroup, with assets of $698 billion.

Nola L. Sarkisian