B of A Board Meets; No Actions Revealed

BankAmerica’s board of directors met Sunday and Monday in Los Angeles but adjourned without announcing any actions to resolve the continuing crisis at the nation’s second-largest banking company.

Some on Wall Street had speculated that the board would replace Samuel H. Armacost as president and chief executive in the wake of the company’s stunning, $640-million second-quarter loss, the third major quarterly loss in a year.

There had also been rumors that the board would approve asset sales or a new issue of debt or equity to raise needed capital, but no such actions were announced.

The board did not remove Armacost, who has been the bank’s chief executive since 1981, nor did it name a new chief financial officer to replace John S. Poelker, the 43-year-old banker from Atlanta who announced his resignation five weeks ago after less than six months on the job.

The delay in appointing Poelker’s successor for the important position reflects BankAmerica’s continuing difficulties in attracting and retaining talent at an organization that has been shaken by huge loan losses, management turmoil and a series of embarrassing financial scandals.

Poelker had promised to stay on until a successor was in place, but apparently he lost patience as the search dragged on. He returned to Atlanta on Aug. 19, a bank spokesman said, and his duties have been assumed by David S. Hanna, chief financial officer of the bank’s global consumer markets division.

Hanna, who recently assumed the title of acting financial controller, joined BankAmerica in 1969.