When Bank of America Corp. bought Merrill Lynch & Co. a couple of weeks back, BofA's hometown paper, The Charlotte Observer, couldn't help but gloat that a slice of Wall Street would soon come under the thumb of one of the city's local banks. "Banktown's bragging rights swelled Monday with word of Bank of America's $50 billion deal to buy Merrill Lynch,"
the newspaper cheered back on Sept. 16. (Banktown? Yes, Banktown. Apparently Charlotte, or at least its largest newspaper, has taken to calling the city Banktown over the past few years, though the term was first used by the American Banker newspaper back in 1997.)
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"To have Merrill Lynch in effect as subsidiary of Bank of America, headquartered in Charlotte, raises Charlotte's standing in the financial world tremendously," a local lawyer boasted in the piece.
Never mind that another Charlotte bank, Wachovia Corp., was ailing. Doug Smith, a columnist for the Observer, was agog at the prospect of Merrill Lynch investment bankers joining the "wounded pride club" of out-of-town banks that have been taken over by BofA. "When the merger is completed, those New York City dudes will be reporting to a Southern bank in a city where NASCAR rules and pork barbecue is gourmet cuisine." At long last, he concluded, "the North is taking note that the South has power and influence. And tasty barbecue. I bet those Merrill Lynch investment bankers will like it."
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Sept. 27, Wachovia takeover rumors were flying, and the Observer was feeling a bit more contrite. "The talks apparently are in the early stages and might not lead to a deal, but this is bound to cause even more hand-wringing in Banktown," the paper harrumphed. And now comes news of Wachovia's FDIC-facilitated takeover by Citigroup Inc., a bank run by a bunch of, well, New York City dudes. A quote by a Wachovia employee in a story on the Observer's Web site said it all: "There is no positive spin."
Except, of course, for the barbecue. New York's is pretty tasty, too. -
Yvette Kantrow
