05/05/2008

By IEVA M. AUGSTUMS  / Associated Press

Bank of America Corp. will officially mark its $21 billion purchase of Chicago's LaSalle Bank Corp. on Monday, taking down LaSalle's green and yellow colors for the blue and red of Bank of America.

"Those red signs will be very evident in Chicago," said Liam McGee, Bank of America's president of global consumer and small business banking operation, in an interview with The Associated Press. "When they walk into a former LaSalle banking center, it will look and feel like a Bank of America banking center."

The nation's second largest by assets bought LaSalle Bank last year, picking up the unit of ABN Amro Holding Co. as Europe's biggest banks fought over the rest of the Dutch company. The deal filled a key gap in the Charlotte-based bank's national coverage map, adding thousands of ATMs and hundreds of branch offices in Chicago and Michigan.

While Bank of America and LaSalle customers have had access more than 18,500 ATMs to make cash withdrawals with no fees since October, McGee said customers will as of Monday have greater access to most of the bank's products and services in its banking centers.

A complete system conversion will occur later this year, he said.

In the coming weeks, LaSalle's roughly 1.5 million customers will receive new Bank of America-branded debit and ATM cards, and will begin to see account statements displaying the Bank of America name. To help ease the transition, existing customer account numbers and information will remain the same.

McGee said Bank of America still plans to lay off about 2,500 employees in Illinois over the next year. "There were redundancies and overlap between the two companies," he said. After the layoffs, Bank of America will have about 8,000 Illinois employees.

On the eve of the conversion to the LaSalle Bank brand, McGee chatted with the AP about his thoughts on leading his bank's retail growth and customers' perceptions of the change.

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Q: How would you describe this past year and the acquisition of LaSalle?

A: We were always excited about LaSalle. They had, and now we have, a great franchise in Chicagoland, which was very much a priority for us. We think that's a great market and now as market leader in Chicago, it really helped us complete that strategic goal we had. We are also very excited about being a leading bank in Michigan.

Q: What will customers experience on Monday?

A: They are going to experience the Bank of America brand first and foremost, with only a very few exceptions. They are going to see Bank of America signs throughout the former LaSalle franchise. So those red signs will be very evident in Chicago. In October, we did make ATMs available to all customers. And now customers will have access to most of our wide array of products and services.

Q: What implications are there for LaSalle customers and the Chicago business community?

A: It's just another tangible sign that one of the most successful, strongest, most stable financial services companies in the world is a very significant part of the Chicago business community. We understand we have to continue to earn that, but we think that should be good for Chicago, to have a responsible corporate citizen like Bank of America.

Q: Why is being in Chicago important?

A: We have always been clear, (chief executive) Ken (Lewis) has, other members of our leadership team have said that Chicago was a market that we believed was important to our franchise over time. And that we wanted to be in there. And LaSalle provided the best opportunity for us to accomplish that strategic goal. The reason Chicago is important, first of all, it is one of the three largest markets in America. The demographics of it are changing rapidly. And it has a robust business community.

Q: What growth plans does the bank have for the Chicago market?

A: With this franchise now in Chicagoland and Illinois and Michigan, we believe we have the components we need to grow the business. So we are very focused now on servicing and retaining the customers that were former LaSalle customers, (to) continue to earn their trust. And using the great capabilities that LaSalle had to grow our business faster.

Q: How do you explain to the average retail customers — someone with a basic checking account and savings account, and maybe a mortgage — the ongoing financial market turmoil?

A: This downturn in economic activity is unusual. In our view, the contraction of housing values across America was the catalyst for, as I said, at a minimum for recessionary characteristics. ... These are somewhat unprecedented times and I think it is important to be candid about that. What I would say to the average consumer, the average entrepreneur, that this is a time where strength and stability of your banking and financial services partner is important.

Q: Are you hearing from average customers who are worried their bank accounts? What are they saying?

A: We are not hearing an outcry about that. Clearly, if you were to talk to individual branch teams, they would say customers are asking more questions than they ever have. In our experience, based on some of the growth we're getting across our franchise and across our product line, although customers are asking questions, they are differentiating between those companies who are stable and strong and those that perhaps who are not.