BANKING

The Journal Sentinel staff

Can one of the nation's largest banks, Bank of America, make significant inroads in Wisconsin from its new Chicago office 90 miles away?

It seems to think so, after launching a concerted campaign to do just that last week.

"We kicked up some dust and created some excitement," said Marcus W. Acheson, executive vice president of the bank's Midwest regional subsidiary and head of the commercial banking department.

Acheson said he was pleased with the opening salvo in the bank's effort to expand the number of its corporate customers in Wisconsin, particularly midsize businesses with more than $50 million in annual sales.

Teams from the bank's Chicago operations contacted more than 100 clients and prospects around the state in a single day, Acheson said, as well as conducting an economic briefing in Milwaukee. The personal calls followed several weeks of newspaper and radio advertising aimed at corporate executives.

"The level of competition here is going up," says Mike Milunovich, a banking analyst with Robert W. Baird and Co. Inc. "This is a big player with aspirations of becoming a national bank."

Breaking into the Wisconsin market isn't easy.

"You've got some loyalties here," Milunovich said. "But Bank of America has a lot of clout. They're bound to have some effect over time."

Among other advantages, Bank of America can offer branch services overseas where some Wisconsin companies do business.

"We're not growing rapidly for nothing," Acheson said. Competitive Market

If local bankers are worried, they aren't showing it.

"This market is already extremely competitive," said David A. Baumgarten, president and chief executive officer of First Bank Milwaukee. "You have a number of high-quality institutions here."

First Bank, which is headquartered in Minneapolis, knows how tough it can be to penetrate this market.

"We had to be aggressive and at the top of our game here to compete," Baumgarten said. "Milwaukee is the most competitive market we're in."

Bank of America's Acheson discounted the disadvantages of being 90 miles away, especially given the bank's sizable resources, and disputed the idea that the bank didn't know the territory.

"We've been doing business in Wisconsin for three decades as Continental Bank," he said. Continental, a large Chicago bank, was acquired by Bank of America last September. It currently has 50 corporate clients in Wisconsin. "In one way, we're just celebrating our name change."

And an awe-inspiring name it is. Bank of America is the largest commercial lender in the United States with more than $215 billion in assets. Its primary focus is publicly and privately held businesses.

"They are huge," Acheson said of the bank's new owner. "They do allow us to play in a much bigger fashion."

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