From Delwareonline
Bank of America may be getting ready to enter Delaware’s competitive retail banking market.
Executives with Bank of America said in a meeting with state officials today that the bank hopes to offer retail banking services in Delaware, although they said it’s too early to discuss details.
Charlotte, N.C.-based Bank of America is acquiring Wilmington-based MBNA Corp., the nation’s third-largest credit card issuer and Delaware’s largest private employer, for about $35 billion in cash and stock. Until now, the focus has been on MBNA’s credit card business – MBNA has never made a push to go into traditional branch banking.
But Bank of America officials said today they may bring their branches to Delaware. William Couper, head of Bank of America’s mid-Atlantic banking operations, said the bank has wanted to establish retail branches in Delaware for some time and the buyout of MBNA may “catalyze” that effort. Couper declined to elaborate, saying it’s too early to say how many branches might be added, how many people they might employ or even when they might open.
Bank of America, which has more branches than any other U.S. bank, has no retail branches in Delaware. It has branches in neighboring states Maryland, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.
As for job cuts at MBNA, Couper said it’s too early to say how Delaware will be affected. He said the two companies are in the early stages for planning to combine operations and won’t make decisions about where to cut until late this year. He said Bank of America expects to close the deal at the end of the year.
Couper, who is based in Washington, and other Bank of America executives were in Wilmington for the first meeting of a “transition” task force recently appointed by Gov. Ruth Ann Minner.
Bank of America has said it will eliminate 6,000 jobs between the two companies, but it hasn’t said how many will be lost in Delaware. MBNA employs about 10,500 in Delaware, while Bank of America employs about 1,300 in credit card operations in Dover and near Newark.
