Hugh McColl Jr., head of Bank of America Corp., regaled several hundred of Chicago’s hottest shots last week with thoughts on everything from predatory lending to why he keeps a hand grenade on his desk.
The sharp-witted, outspoken Southerner also reaffirmed his often-repeated wish to have a larger presence in Chicago but said new branches will likely be built, rather than bought from other banks.
“We’ve been trying to come here for a long time, but nobody will answer the damn phone up here,” McColl said at a black-tie dinner Wednesday night of the Economic Club of Chicago.
For years, McColl pined over First Chicago Corp., then First Chicago NBD Corp., but his dreams of a union with Chicago’s largest bank faded on April 13, 1998, when First Chicago NBD announced it would be acquired by Ohio-based Banc One Corp.
The same day, McColl, then head of Charlotte-based NationsBank, announced his takeover of the old BankAmerica Corp., a deal that gave him a large piece of the banking action in Chicago. Bank of America, the Chicago area’s ninth-largest bank by deposits, includes most of the assets and many employees from Chicago’s other onetime banking Goliath, Continental Bank.
In his speech, McColl expressed concern about Chicago’s new ordinance on predatory lending, which prevents the city from doing business with lenders that take part in what it deems to be predatory lending.
Bank of America does a considerable amount of business with the city, and makes loans to Chicagoans with spotty credit records in a way that might be considered predatory under the ordinance.
McColl questioned the way Chicago defines predatory lending, cautioning that it might discourage regulated banks from lending to those consumers. “If the definition is too restrictive, regulated banks may exit the business, leaving consumers … even more vulnerable,” he said.
On a lighter note, McColl answered questions about his well-known fondness for hand grenades.
A former Marine, McColl said his first dormant grenade came as a gift at a luncheon he attended years ago. He played with it during meetings, occasionally pulling out the pin, which “caused some consternation.”
Now he rewards colleagues with grenades made of crystal. And the one on his desk? It carries a sign: “Complaint Department. Take a number.” The number “1” is attached to the pin.
A Chicago defender: Bank One chief economist Diane Swonk took a swipe at Business Week’s recent article about the decline of Chicago as a business and economic center.
The high points:
“Chicago created three times as many jobs during the current expansion as the cities Business Week touts–New York, Los Angeles, and Boston–combined,” she wrote in the bank’s economic newsletter.
“Chicago also has a lower unemployment rate than either New York or Los Angeles, which inhibited its ability to fall further in recent years,” Swonk wrote.
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And on Business Week’s claim that Chicago trails the field in housing price gains: “The rise in the value of existing homes in Chicago nearly tripled the pace of that in New York in the 1990s, and even exceeded that in San Francisco. Moreover, real estate in Chicago is still cheaper than it is in many of those `prime’ locations, which should make it a larger draw for new business startups and relocations going forward.”
Put up your dukes: Even as the Chicago Board of Trade and the Chicago Board Options Exchange slug it out in court over CBOT members’ trading rights at the CBOE, their traders are preparing to beat each other up with fists and gloves.
At “RingSide for Mercy’s Sake” on Saturday night–an event of Mercy Home for Boys & Girls and WGN-TV Children’s Charities, those exchanges, along with the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, will move their best and brawniest out of the pits and into the ring for a night of amateur boxing.
This year, the annual event features nine bouts, including one with the CBOE’s “Dangerous” Dan Murphy going up against the CBOT’s “Crazy” Bobby Sciaccotta and another contentious bout in which the Merc’s Mario “Ice Man” Florio will take on the CBOT’s Andy “Pit Bull” Hibbard.
Fluorescent jackets optional.