‘New’ BankAmerica Management Named

BankAmerica Corp. and NationsBank Corp. on Tuesday named the senior management to run the “new” BankAmerica being created by their $62.5-billion merger, with NationsBank executives getting most of the top retail posts and BankAmerica managers dominating the corporate-banking staff.

The naming of Gene Taylor of Charlotte, N.C.-based NationsBank to be president of the bank’s consumer and commercial banking group in the West was notable, given that BankAmerica’s foundation rests on its pioneering expansion of branch banking in California under the Bank of America banner.

But BankAmerica officials noted that four BankAmerica executives would head up divisions in the group and report to Taylor, including Liam McGee, who would be president of Southern California banking.

In addition, McGee would oversee the bank’s dealings with both consumers and small and mid-size businesses. BankAmerica previously had run those lines under separate management.

Southern California would remain “the largest and most profitable market” for the new bank and would “be under one person’s direction and accountability,” McGee said.

The merged bank would combine BankAmerica’s Western presence with NationsBank’s strong network in the Midwest and South, making it, in effect, the nation’s first coast-to-coast bank. Though it would keep the BankAmerica name, the new bank’s headquarters would be at NationsBank’s home in Charlotte.

The new, giant BankAmerica would serve 31 million households and nearly 2 million small and mid-sized business customers, and its global corporate and investment banking activities would run offices in 38 nations.

If the executive appointments tilt in favor of one bank, it’s coincidence, said BankAmerica spokesman John Keane at the bank’s San Francisco headquarters. “We made a genuine effort to pick the right people for the right jobs,” he said.

The banks expect to complete the merger Oct. 1.

Some other key appointments:

* In the consumer and commercial banking group, BankAmerica officer Barbara Desoer would be president of Northern California; John Rindlaub, president of the Northwest group (Alaska, Idaho, Oregon and Washington); and Jim Hulihan, president of international consumer banking. All would report to Taylor.

* The global corporate and investment bank group would be headed by BankAmerica’s Michael Murray, and officers reporting to him would include NationsBank’s Ed Brown, head of capital-raising and capital markets.