BankAmerica Completes Merger; Announces Remaining Positions

NEW YORK--Bank of America and NationsBank completed their merger last week, forming BankAmerica Corporation, and have announced the final round of appointments in the combined FX trading operation.

The two banks received final approval for the deal from shareholders on September 24, and an official says the new positions came into effect October 1, when the link-up was formalized.

As expected, NationsBank's smaller FX trading and sales operation is essentially being integrated into that of BofA.

BankAmerica's new spot and forward market making and sales operations will continue to be run from BofA's main trading floors in its key hubs: New York, London and Singapore, with further administrative oversight remaining in BofA's headquarters in San Francisco.

NationsBank staff will transfer to BofA trading rooms in most centres; however, BofA staff will move to NationsBank's flagship trading floor in the Sears Tower in Chicago, where the global options business will be jointly run.

The new bank's global options business will be co-run by NationBank's Justin Foley in Chicago and by BofA's Satish Nandapurkar in New York.

The Chicago operation will be run by three former NationsBank staff: Dan Munro will run the Japanese yen book, while Mark Henrici will take charge of euro options and Denise Demeure will be responsible for exchange arbitrage. All three previously occupied similar positions at NationsBank, and in the new structure, will report jointly to Foley and Nandapurkar.

Nandapurkar joined BofA last year from the former SBC/O'Connor group, where he spent eight years (FXW, December 1, 1997).

The decision to use Chicago as the base for the bank's major currency options division is in keeping with NationsBank's traditional strength in derivative products. In 1993, the bank acquired the derivatives boutique Chicago Research & Trading Group (CRT) (FXW, March 22, 1993), and has since maintained a strong market presence in currency options.

At this stage, new positions for NationsBank's Chicago-based FX manager, Pat Donohue, and its chief dealer, Piers Atcheson, have yet to be announced.

Meanwhile, in New York, Nandapurkar will oversee the combined bank's exotic, structured and emerging market options business from BofA's existing offices. BofA's options team will remain in place in New York, although Gus Skondras will be transferring to Singapore to cover the Asian options market.

The rest of the announcements are in line with the appointments made earlier this summer, in which BofA took the upper hand (FXW, August 10 & September 7). BofA's global head of FX, Robert McKnew, retains that position within the new group.

In London, Conor Dufficy will continue as head of the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) trading operation, reporting to Richard Breslow, who was previously named manager of FX trading for the US and EMEA region (FXW, September 7). Dufficy has held a similar position at BofA since joining the bank from JP Morgan at the end of last year (FXW, November 24, 1997).

Most of the London operation remains unchanged, with the exception of Albert Hoyle, who has been named as head of spot trading. Hoyle was formerly global head of FX for NationsBank, based in the City, and will now report to Dufficy. Hoyle fills the position vacated by Steve Bassi, who left BofA in June for Nomura International (FXW, July 13).

In the US and Asia, the structure will remain much the same under BofA's Breslow in New York and Anthony Yuen in Hong Kong. Yuen was also named in the previous round of appointments, as head of the merged bank's Asian trading operation.

On the sales side, BofA's Chris Mandell continues as global sales manager in New York. Angelo Evangelista has been promoted to FX sales manager in London, where he was previously responsible for managing BofA's institutional sales operation for the EMEA region.

Meanwhile, Nick Reynoldson, who previously occupied that post, will take up a broader strategic role as head of marketing and business development for the region. Both Evangelista and Reynoldson report directly to Mandell.

The bank's regional US sales teams will continue to be overseen by existing BofA managers; however, NationsBank's Bruce Williams will run the new entity's retail FX sales operation from the NationsBank headquarters in Charlotte, reporting to Mandell.

Further arrangements regarding the bank's overseas sales operations in regional centres have not yet been worked out, says Mandell. They will continue to operate as before for the time being, and will use the bank's combined trading hubs for pricing.

Details of expected staff cuts have yet to emerge, although officials say that in London, a total of six staff have been let go, drawn evenly from BofA and NationsBank. Five were traders and one was a sales dealer at NationsBank.

Mandell says the strategic focus remains intact. "Directionally, I don't think there is any great change. The two banks have quite a complementary clientbase, so there has not been that much overlap," she says.

Mandell says the bank is also keen to make use of the enhanced risk management and technological expertise that the merger will bring.

"By introducing these new technologies and products, we can lift our client profile in the FX markets and assist with the development of the business as well," she says.

Another priority is the continuing expansion of the bank's global franchise and the development of the international business, says Mandell. "The merger can only help us in that respect, by expanding our reach and our profile around the world," she says.

The merged BankAmerica Corporation claims two million international and domestic business customers, and has an asset base of $571 billion.