Fleet/BofA Merger Leaves Unanswered Questions

NEW YORK CITY-The new Bank of America, created by the $47 billion stock-for-stock transaction merger with FleetBoston Financial, leaves a number of unanswered questions. For instance, what’s to become of FleetBoston Financial’s more than one millions sf of office space, including its headquarters, in Downtown Boston? A Bank of America spokesperson tells GlobeSt.com that those decisions “have not yet been made” because it’s too soon in the process.

Other questions concern whether the FleetCenter, home of the Boston Bruins and Celtic will be renamed? FleetBoston chair and CEO Charles Gifford says it would be likely that the center’s name would be changed to reflect the new corporate identity.

The new company will serve approximately 33 million consumer relationships and maintain offices in Boston and Bank of America’s home base in Charlotte, NC. The company will have nearly 10% of the banking deposits in the US and have almost 5,700 retail banking offices, more than 16,500 ATMs. Gifford will serve as chairman of the board of directors of the merged company from Boston. Kenneth D. Lewis, currently chairman and CEO of Bank of America, will be CEO and will maintain his principal office in the combined company’s headquarters in Charlotte.