Bank of America: Is bigger better on Cape Cod?
While homegrown banks market their independence and local roots, Bank of America’s Gwen Dadoly is happy to ride a big-budget television campaign that positions her – along with 130 other regional presidents across the company’s huge footprint – as the “bank of opportunity.”
Dadoly, who worked for Fleet Bank, had no idea what her personal future would be after Bank of America acquired her former employer two years ago. Now it’s clear. This mother of three young children holds the title of market president, overseeing an area from Provincetown to the southern fringes of Boston. It is one of only four such regions in the state along, with Boston, Worcester and Springfield.
She earned the position based on a matrix developed by Bank of America that evaluated all the executives who previously worked for Fleet before the acquisition.
“I am charged with taking this large bank and all its products and resources and steering it locally.” She is growth oriented, looking particularly at Mashpee, Barnstable, Dukes and Nantucket counties.
When Bank of America unveiled its new “bank of opportunity” campaign, she joined her other market presidents via videoconferencing. Then, she met with her New England supervisors and colleagues to fashion regional approaches to the companywide strategy.
At every juncture, Dadoly is being measured by an annual report card. The bottom line is always growth.
“We look at this market. Where do we see the growth? What products? If we are the No. 1 web-based bank in the country, can that help us? Small business? There is a real growth opportunity on the Cape. Wealth management? Certainly on the Cape?”
Dadoly is monitored quarterly on areas from market share and numbers of households to assets under management. “At end of the year, we are held to those scorecards,” she explained.
In becoming a market president, Dadoly builds off a career arch that began in 1992 when she left Kidder Peabody as a stockbroker and moved to the Cape for Bank of Boston as a private banker.
“They were looking to hire investment people. They saw growth in that arena on the Cape and wanted people experienced and comfortable talking with wealthy investors,” she recalled. It was a significant departure from years making cold calls.
Private banking is one-stop shopping for the wealthy – everything from business banking and lines of credit to trusts and estate planning, tied directly to a network of financial experts, accounts and lawyers.
From offices on Willow Street in Yarmouth, Bank of America’s private bank serves accounts of $1 million and more for clients with an average net worth of $3 million. The operation will be enhanced, Dadoly noted, by the acquisition of U.S. Trust by Bank of America.
Combined, it means Bank of America will be managing about $261 billion in assets for the rich – more than any other U.S. bank.
“I view it as a huge commitment to the wealth management business. With a combined U.S. Trust and our private bank, we can be way ahead of the competition” on the Cape, she said. U.S. Trust has offices in Osterville.
Capewide, Bank of America counts 16 “stores” and 175 employees to serve customers who don’t fit the private bank profile, said Dadoly. Yes, the term is “store,” and not branch, she emphasized, because “it indicates that customers can get whatever they need in their location.”
At the same time, it appears that Bank of America still is seeking out the wealthiest individuals for its stores, where banking and investment services are geared to clients in the $750,000 to $3 million net worth range.
Dadoly is expected not only to be engaged in community organizations as part of her job – she sits on several boards – but also to direct her portion of the bank’s $1.5 billion, 10-year commitment to giving through its own charitable foundation. On the Cape, her priorities are health and human services, arts and culture, and education. Employees are encouraged to take a day off each month with pay to volunteer for nonprofits; and the bank provides financial incentives for its staff to purchase hybrid vehicles.
Bank of America also is helping some nonprofits bond for large construction projects. One such client is the International Fund for Animal Welfare, which is constructing a state-of-the-art national headquarters building on Willow Street. Helping IFAW has particular resonance since it has the second largest budget of any entity on the Cape – and it is an international organization as is Bank of America, explained Dadoly.
She also has her sights set toward helping to finance affordable housing projects and to playing a role in the continued revitalization of downtown Hyannis, she said.
Meanwhile, Bank of America – like all counterparts across the Cape – must manage amid unusually slippery terrain. “Certainly, credit costs are a challenge, as is revenue growth,” she said.
While she would not break out local numbers, analysts who follow Bank of America at the national level see it braving the inverted yield curve in two ways: growing bigger and earning money from activities other than lending. Across its entire platform, the bank has widened its asset base in part by buying credit card issuer MBNA Corporation and expanding its wealth management business through acquisition.
“Two segments that we are well positioned on the Cape to serve are small businesses and wealth management clients,” said Dadoly, pointing to a panoply of resources within her reach.
“I am not saying we are better than a competitor,” she added. “There is room for all of us.”
Published in Cape Business May/June 2007
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