B of A Recruits 2 Outsiders for Key Positions

Bank of America, continuing to bring new blood into key positions, on Wednesday announced that it has hired Richard T. Griffith from the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco and Jamie B. Stewart Jr. from Crocker National Bank.

Griffith was named executive vice president and head of a new corporate payments unit of the bank’s world banking division, helping large corporate customers handle transactions worldwide. He was first vice president and chief operating officer for the Federal Reserve’s San Francisco bank.

Stewart, who will have the rank of senior vice president, will direct investment banking for B of A’s North America division. At Crocker, which was absorbed last week by Wells Fargo Bank, he was executive vice president and head of U.S. corporate banking. He joined Crocker in 1985 after 13 years with Bank of Boston.

“Corporate relationships increasingly will be built on a financial institution’s ability to provide both information and transaction services, with credit, capital markets and other services arising from these relationships,” said Thomas A. Cooper, B of A’s president and chief operating officer.