B of A hands off
isle branches tonight

About 300,000 account
go to American Savings under
the May deal

By Russ Lynch
Star-Bulletin

Tonight, after the banks in Hawaii are closed and the accounts are balanced, couriers from San Francisco will head for Honolulu, carrying bags of computer tapes with information about 300,000 individual accounts at Bank of America's Hawaii branches.

On arrival, they'll be handed over to officials of American Savings Bank and fed into ASB's computers, which already store information on ASB's own 300,000 checking, savings and other accounts.

That's one of the steps in the merger of San Francisco-based BankAmerica Corp.'s Hawaii savings and loan business into American Savings Bank, which takes place at the end of the day.

After months of planning since it was announced in late May that American Savings would buy Bank of America's Hawaii branches, deposit accounts and some loans, the turnover is finally happening.

The price of American Savings' purchase depends on just how much money is on deposit at Bank of America Hawaii at the close of business today.

Wayne Minami, president of American Savings, said his company will pay a premium based on a percentage of the deposits. When the deal was made, it worked out at $96 million including the premium.

The actual premium could go higher or lower depending on the size of deposits today. That's why Bank of America has been running all that advertising lately, offering free checking and other benefits in a push to attract new business and retain current customers.

"For any deposits that Bank of America gets or retains, they will get a premium," Minami said. American Savings agreed to honor the free checking that Bank of America is giving away to attract customers, he added.

For now the big task at American Savings is to see that the meticulously planned changeover goes as smoothly as hoped. Here's what's planned:

Overnight tonight, new signs and equipment will go into the Bank of America branches in supermarkets. When the stores open tomorrow they'll be American Savings branches, that institution's first supermarket offices.

About 150 Bank of America automated teller machines in the islands will be converted through the weekend. By Monday morning, American Savings will have about 150 ATMs.

Meanwhile, American Savings' teams will be inside and outside the Bank of America branches, converting computer terminals to ASB's system and erecting new signs. When they open Monday morning, they'll all be American Savings branches.

Bank of America checking account customers don't have to rush in and get new American Savings checkbooks; their Bank of America checks will work for a year.

Also, Bank of America customers should have already received their American Savings' ATM cards and this week were getting their personal identification numbers. "They should be able to use them Saturday," Minami said.

Banks issue alert Bank of America and American Savings are warning of a phone scam. The caller claims to be a bank employee and asks for verification of account or credit-card numbers. Don't give any information to such callers, the banks say. Customers with questions on the changeover can call ASB's service center at 627-6900.

Many Bank of America employees will not be going over to American Savings.

Minami said they were offered first chance at jobs in the expanded American Savings. Out of about 650 Bank of America employees, 330 have been hired. Another 155 were offered jobs but turned them down for various reasons, Minami said.

Bank of America's Mike Liu said that 24 were hired for other positions within BankAmerica Corp. and another 30 to 50 still have chances to move within the company. And others decided not to work for a while because they got attractive severance packages, both Minami and Liu said.

The result is that American Savings has vacancies and is hiring and there are still opportunities for the former Bank of America workers to apply. "We'll be hiring in the open market," Minami said.

There will be some dislocation. For example, American Savings doesn't need to duplicate certain management functions, so it won't be taking on some Bank of America executives. "(But) we still need the bodies to run our branches and our loan operations," Minami said.

When Monday arrives, American Savings will have 69 branches.

When the deal was reached there were 47 American Savings branches, none in supermarkets. Bank of America had 39 branches, including 10 in supermarkets.

Because the two banks had some offices near to each other's, seven American Savings branches and 10 Bank of America branches are closing. All those accounts will be transferred to the nearest surviving branch.