Executive promoted at merged Fleet

Bank of America Corp. and FleetBoston Financial Corp. yesterday further shaped the top management team for the merged institution, naming Fleet's Anne Finucane president for the Northeast and director of strategic issues management.

Among her new responsibilities, Finucane, one of 12 senior Fleet officials and executive vice president of marketing, will direct efforts to assure the smooth transition of New England's largest banking company to new ownership. That's a big job, analysts said, because Fleet customers could be picked off by competitors during the turmoil of a merger.

Finucane has "a huge job," said Advest Inc. senior vice president James Moynihan. Customers "could've started at BayBanks or Shawmut and then you go to Bank of Boston and then Fleet, and now you're going to Bank of America," said Moynihan. "You always have attrition when you have a takeover, and to stem that outflow you've got to be fairly aggressive."

Finucane will report to Fleet chief executive Chad Gifford, who will become chairman of the newly merged company after the deal is closed sometime in the second quarter of next year.

"I don't want the momentum that this company, FleetBoston, has been generating to lose any steam, and Anne is going to help me and the business executives" ensure that, Gifford said in an interview.

Finucane's ongoing responsibilities will also include strategic issues, customer service, and government and media relations, said Fleet spokesman James Mahoney.

Although customers can easily be lost during a merger or acquisition, Mahoney said Bank of America has a good track record in its past deals and expects customer attrition to be "negligible" in the Fleet merger.

Finucane will work closely with a network of 25 local presidents assigned to run each major metropolitan market in the combined company's Northeast franchise, Mahoney said. The local presidents' "primary responsibility is to position the company in their markets and to assure customer retention, revenue growth, and customer satisfaction," he said. That structure is currently in use in Bank of America's existing 22-state franchise from San Francisco to its headquarters in Charlotte, N.C.

When Gifford negotiated the $47 billion Fleet acquisition by Bank of America, he was able to preserve the banking company's employment levels in New England and to ensure key jobs in the new management team for his top lieutenants at FleetBoston. Soon after the merger, Bank of America chief executive Kenneth Lewis unveiled a management team that included several Fleet executives. And last week Fleet released names of the team under Fleet executive Brian Moynihan, who will head the mutual funds and private banking operation to be centered in Bank of America's Boston office.

Gifford played down the competitive threat to Bank of America in New England from smaller banks in the merger's wake.

"I've read articles that our competition is saying they're going to take this or that business," he said. "It's grossly exaggerated, but Anne in particular will work very hard to make sure that kind of attrition, or the reality of that vulnerability, does not take place."

Kimberly Blanton can be reached at blanton@globe.com.