Public Meeting Regarding Fleet Financial Group, Inc., and BankBoston Corporation
Wednesday, July 7, 1999
Transcript of Panel Five
21 REV. GOFF: My name is Reverend Norvel
22 Goff, Sr., Pastor of Baber African Methodist
23 Episcopal Church and president of the Greater
24 Rochester NAACP and Chairman of the Black Ministers
25 Alliance. I come here today to support the merger
0128
1 of Fleet-BankBoston, and I'm doing it for a number
2 of reasons:
3 One, based on their commitment to Western
4 New York and other communities in that area.
5 Two, because of their commitment to
6 faith-based lending institutions, which is inclusive
7 of the church.
8 Three, the partnership that has been
9 developed by Fleet Bank as a leader not only in
10 Western New York but New York City and New Jersey
11 and other parts of the country, where they have been
12 very proactive in committing themselves to improving
13 the quality of life.
14 In addition to that, I would like to state
15 here for the record that Fleet Bank in Upstate New
16 York has been a leader in commitment to a program
17 that is called Footprints to Home Ownership, which
18 has allowed first-time homeowners to own their own
19 home and to promote seminars and to teach them the
20 value of owning a home and also to pay the mortgage.
21 I think the relationship as president of the Greater
22 Rochester NAACP, as we look at demographics of the
23 employment track record of Fleet Bank, it shows an
24 inclusive niche of all colors.
25 And finally, let me say this, that Fleet
0129
1 Bank is not about just giving out money, but we have
2 developed a partnership, a partnership where the
3 black church comes with economic stability to
4 provide stability in our various communities. And
5 for that reason, I come on behalf of more than
6 several thousand individuals who are participants in
7 our various organizations to say we support the
8 merger because we think it's good business, good
9 business not only for the churches but good business
10 for the community in which Fleet Bank finds itself.
11 Thank you so much, and I thank my
12 colleagues for letting me cut in line, because I
13 have a one o'clock flight. Thank you so much.
14 (Applause)
15 PRESIDING OFFICER SMITH: Our panelists on
16 this panel have about one minute, which isn't a very
17 long time, but we welcome you.
18 MS. STROM: Thank you. My name is Margo
19 Strom, I am the executive director of Facing History
20 and Ourselves, a national nonprofit educational
21 organization.
22 As you well know, individuals and groups
23 and corporations and communities develop character,
24 they have identities, and they are defined by the
25 choices they make. These choices shape our
0130
1 democratic space. The democratic activity that lies
2 somewhere between government and business is the
3 independent sector, it is the home for nonprofits,
4 and it is that that I represent.
5 It is also the arena where people volunteer
6 and associate, they practice the First Amendment,
7 and it is the avenue for advocacy and outrage, as
8 you have seen here today. It is where we educate
9 people to be democratic to others. We teach about
10 this sector. It focuses on the choices individuals
11 and groups make in history either to promote social
12 justice and tolerance in inclusive democratic
13 societies or to destroy them.
14 For 20 years we have been reaching students
15 across this country, now reaching annually a
16 million. The corporate philanthropy of both
17 BankBoston and Fleet Bank represents a deep
18 commitment to the nonprofit sector. We have not
19 only been a beneficiary of their leadership but
20 witness to the extraordinary impact of their
21 stewardship and investment that has been paid off in
22 the health and vitality and education of the New
23 England community.
24 They lend not only financial backing but
25 time and advice to help leverage their investments.
0131
1 Their support lends credibility, because their
2 reputation as caring corporate partners for
3 nonprofits has become legendary. Our future depends
4 on the commitment the corporate community has to the
5 partnerships with nonprofits.
6 Thank you for this opportunity.
7 PRESIDING OFFICER SMITH: Thank you.
8 (Applause).
9 MS. KORMAN: My same is Nancy Korman, and I
10 chair the Massachusetts Service Alliance. This year
11 we distributed $13 million, $8 million from the
12 federal government and $5 million from the state
13 government. However, we do not operate on
14 government funds alone. We are required by law to
15 develop partnerships with the corporate community.
16 In other words, our success depends upon raising a
17 percentage of matching dollars.
18 So I have gone knocking on the doors of
19 both banks, and if only other corporations were as
20 generous and responsive as both BankBoston and Fleet
21 Bank have been. The money that we raise goes to
22 programs such as Americorps, Youth Build, Jump
23 Start, City Year, ROCA. These are the programs
24 which are the obvious antidote to Littleton,
25 Colorado, to alienated youth, to people who are not
0132
1 on teams. These programs put kids on teams helping
2 other kids.
3 We as an organization are committed to
4 community and the ethic of community service, and we
5 have always had equal and generous help from
6 BankBoston and Fleet. After Colin Powell's
7 Presidential Summit, the two banks equally funded
8 the Massachusetts Summit. This summit helped the
9 Alliance focus attention on the value of community
10 service, particularly as impacts on our youth. I am
11 confident that in the future both banks will not
12 just strengthen their visibility and their financial
13 capabilities but will strengthen their commitment to
14 the entire community. Thank you. (Applause)
15 MS. GUILDERSON: Good morning. My name is
16 Tandeka Guilderson. I'm the director of the Center
17 for Women and Enterprise, Boston office. I am
18 speaking on behalf of Andrea Silbert, the founder
19 and chief executive officer of the Center for Women
20 and Enterprise who has acute laryngitis.
21 The center is a regional nonprofit economic
22 development agency which provides education,
23 training, technical assistance, and access to debt
24 and equity capital to women business owners. The
25 Center For Women and Enterprise is the only women's
0133
1 business development center in the State of
2 Massachusetts. We provide our assistance to women
3 from all socioeconomic backgrounds in all stages of
4 business development spanning the range of women
5 transitioning from public assistance to women who
6 are launching and growing high-tech ventures.
7 We have been very fortunate to have been
8 supported since our founding in 1995 by BankBoston
9 and one year later by Fleet. BankBoston provided
10 CWE with a three-year $150,000 seed grant in 1995 to
11 open our doors. They have since increased that
12 amount to $75,000 per year to include our Worcester
13 office. In addition, last year at the BankBoston
14 Charitable Trust through their new economic
15 development initiative provided us with a three-year
16 grant of $225,000 to develop a special program
17 targeting very low-income women living in Boston's
18 inner city environments.
19 Finally, BankBoston launched their own
20 initiative, the Women Entrepreneurs Connection, to
21 serve as a very important and often neglected
22 market.
23 Fleet has also been a good partner to CWE.
24 Two years ago CWE found a gap in the market
25 assisting women to access equity capital to launch
0134
1 and expand high growth businesses. Fleet provided
2 us with $50,000 to conduct the research on this
3 initiative and then launched the CWE Venture Center
4 at a conference held right here at the Federal
5 Reserve Bank in November of 1998.
6 Since then Fleet has committed another
7 $100,000 to the CWE center. Fleet and BankBoston
8 have shown true interest in the women-owned business
9 market, they have committed to continuing and
10 expanding the Women Entrepreneurs Connection and
11 working with WEC to develop more programs and
12 products to assist this market. In particular, we
13 are eager to work with them to increase seed equity
14 capital and nonconventional loans to women-owned
15 businesses.
16 It is critical that we keep a super bank
17 headquartered in Boston and look forward to working
18 with Fleet Boston to see that the needs of the
19 community are met once these banks merge. Thank you
20 for your time. (Applause)
21 MS. DECEATIS: I am Deborah Deceatis, I am
22 the associate director for Patriots Trail Girl
23 Scouts. Patriots Trail Girl Scouts supports the
24 merger of Fleet Bank and BankBoston. The Girl
25 Scouts, who have 65 cities and towns which provide
0135
1 the jurisdiction served by Patriots Trail and serve
2 over 30,000 girls yearly with the help of 10,000
3 adult volunteers, benefit from a variety of support,
4 resources, and funding provided by both Fleet and
5 BankBoston.
6 Just to mention a few, collaboration and
7 development of a Financial Literacy Program for
8 young girls five years old to 18, to investigate
9 money issues, including savings, investment, loans,
10 and basic money management, as well as career
11 exploration in the financial world. We call that
12 program Smart About Money.
13 Employees of Fleet and BankBoston have been
14 encouraged to provide community service as
15 volunteers. The employees serve on our board of
16 directors, finance, and fund development committees,
17 as well as working directly as positive role models
18 to girls serving as troop leaders, trainers, program
19 support, and our ever-popular community care days of
20 service.
21 Fleet has supported our efforts to
22 recognize achievements and accomplishments of Boston
23 women who serve as positive role models for the
24 youth of our communities. In addition, they have
25 served as advocates for girls and youth in the
0136
1 neighborhoods through an ongoing partnership to make
2 it possible for girls whose families may not be able
3 to afford summer camp, to make it possible for those
4 girls to attend one of our day or resident camps by
5 funding camper shifts. Funding from Fleet has
6 helped to promote our Girls Eye View Program where
7 girls throughout New England were provided with
8 tools to express their view and perspective on the
9 world, their community, or the neighborhood, through
10 photography, poetry, and writing of stories.
11 Currently a traveling exhibit is on view throughout
12 New England.
13 Lastly, but very significantly, there has
14 been a strong commitment from Fleet to our
15 communities to support our 2500 Girl Scout troops by
16 accessing free banking services so that the funds
17 earned by these young girls are safeguarded in
18 checking accounts.
19 We have a strong partnership with Fleet and
20 BankBoston, and we look forward to the merger as
21 expanding new services, resources, and opportunities
22 for the youth in our communities that we serve.
23 Thank you. (Applause)
24 MR. WILLIAMS: Good morning. My name is
25 Greg Williams, I'm the president and owner of GW
0137
1 Enterprises, Inc., which is an information
2 technology consulting firm. And I am also the
3 president of the Mercer County Business Association,
4 which is a not-for-profit organization of more than
5 200 small and minority-owned businesses. We are an
6 advocacy group representing the interests of small
7 businesses and their owners in Mercer County and
8 throughout the State of New Jersey.
9 I'm here this morning to speak in favor of
10 the proposed merger of Fleet Bank and BankBoston.
11 The Mercer County Business Association has worked
12 very hard to make sure that small, women, and
13 minority-owned businesses are afforded the same
14 opportunities to grow and develop as larger
15 majority-owned businesses in the State of New Jersey
16 and in the country.
17 We have found a ready partner towards
18 meeting that objective in Fleet Bank, particularly
19 since Joyce Harley has become the head of the New
20 Jersey Community Development Group. Fleet and Ms.
21 Harley have shown by word and deed that there is a
22 real commitment to financing and supporting small
23 business in New Jersey. Fleet has exceeded that
24 commitment, the commitment it made when it entered
25 the state through its acquisition of NatWest Bank
0138
1 three years ago to put over $200 million in small
2 business loans on the books.
3 The Mercer County Business Association
4 meets with Ms. Harley and her staff on a regular
5 basis to monitor the commitment, and we are pleased
6 with the results. The goal has been exceeded by
7 more than 73 percent to date. Fleet has
8 particularly reached out to small, women, and
9 minority-owned businesses in our urban and poor
10 areas, offering training seminars on how to borrow
11 money and how to write business plans that, in Ms.
12 Harley's own words, tell our story so that bankers
13 understand.
14 Fleet has been the leading bank in forming
15 a partnership with the state's Entrepreneurial
16 Training Institute. That institute is a project of
17 the New Jersey Development Authority of which I am a
18 board member. Of the 10 classes offered statewide,
19 six were staffed by Fleet Bankers, including the
20 entire community development staff. Fleet has
21 worked with the Mercer County Business Association
22 to offer small businesses an opportunity to do
23 business with Fleet and other large businesses in
24 the state, many of whom are Fleet commercial
25 customers.
0139
1 In conclusion, the Mercer County Business
2 Association supports this merger because we are well
3 aware of BankBoston's fine reputation. We believe
4 that their commitment, combined with Fleet's
5 actions, will serve the interests of the small and
6 minority business community in the State of New
7 Jersey even better than it's being served today.
8 Thank you. (Applause)
9 MS. RESNEY: Good morning. I'm Romney
10 Resney, director of Mass Insight Education and
11 Research Institute. Since 1989 Mass Insight has
12 worked in developing initiatives to create a strong
13 and competitive Massachusetts economy for all
14 Massachusetts citizens. More recently, Mass Insight
15 Education is working with 47 school districts,
16 public school districts throughout Massachusetts on
17 raising student achievement.
18 It's crucial for Massachusetts community
19 groups like Mass Insight to have a strong nationally
20 competitive local bank based in New England. I
21 could, like many of my peers here, discuss the many
22 contributions BankBoston has made to our efforts,
23 but I'd like to spend some time discussing the
24 alternatives to the merger.
25 Current banking industry trends and recent
0140
1 experience show that it's unrealistic for Fleet and
2 BankBoston to remain independent and nationally
3 competitive locally based banks. We need these
4 banks in this community. Banks nationwide are
5 facing a rapidly changing competitive environment.
6 They're facing the threat of national consolidation.
7 We see this all across the country with different
8 bank mergers, facing industry convergence where
9 nontraditional banking institutions are moving into
10 the banking sector. We're also seeing the threat of
11 e-banking and e-commerce which is rapidly increasing
12 the speed with which all of this is taking place and
13 also reducing some of the implications for the local
14 branch office.
15 Fleet and BankBoston are facing these
16 competitive threats, and I honestly believe they can
17 face them stronger together. In the new banking
18 environment there are basically three options on the
19 table as I see it:
20 First, Fleet-BankBoston remain independent
21 and one or both are bought by a large, outside bank.
22 This takes away from the resources available to
23 community groups like ours.
24 Second, Fleet and BankBoston remain
25 independent, and if by some small chance they are
0141
1 not bought by an outside bank, they'll lose market
2 share to new entrants, national players, and some of
3 these other industry players who are moving into the
4 banking sector.
5 And third, and I believe the best of all
6 options, is the Fleet-BankBoston merger will create
7 a nationally competitive, locally based bank that
8 will continue to invest in the strength of the New
9 England economy. We at Mass Insight support this
10 third option and believe in the long-term interest
11 of Massachusetts community groups. Thank you.
12 (Applause)
13 MR. LORD: For the record my name is
14 Richard Lord, I'm executive vice president of
15 Legislative Policy for Associated Industries of
16 Massachusetts. Associated Industries is the
17 Commonwealth's principal statewide employer
18 organization representing 5300 businesses and
19 nonprofit entities across Massachusetts engaged in
20 virtually every economic sector.
21 This merger represents an important,
22 positive step to assure that Massachusetts and New
23 England businesses will benefit from a banking
24 system that offers both stable financial resources
25 and the increasingly sophisticated banking services
0142
1 that are essential to success of the modern economy.
2 In the first years of this decade when the
3 New England banking system was in turmoil, AIM and a
4 number of member companies consistently reported
5 serious difficulties in obtaining bank loans. We
6 have heard few, if any, such reports of such lack of
7 access to capital for more than five years now.
8 BankBoston and Fleet have been the leaders, along
9 with a group of outstanding community banks, not
10 only in restoring the financial stability of our
11 regional banking system but also in re-establishing
12 and greatly extending the range of banking services
13 available to local companies. The proposed merger
14 is vital because it will safeguard those gains.
15 Thank you for the opportunity to testify.
16 (Applause)
17 MS. JONES: Thank you. My name is Martha
18 Jones, and I'm the executive director of the
19 BankBoston Celebrity Series. The Celebrity Series
20 is New England's premier performing arts presenting
21 organization who for the past 10 years has enjoyed a
22 fruitful partnership with BankBoston; BankBoston, of
23 course, which is regarded throughout New England as
24 the premier corporate philanthropist of cultural
25 organizations.
0143
1 Since 1989, BankBoston has been the
2 Celebrity Series title sponsor and has been
3 steadfast in its commitment to our growth and
4 independence as a non-for-profit organization. Of
5 significance, the Bank's sponsorship has provided
6 the resources necessary to enhance our education and
7 community service program Project Discovery, which
8 this past season served more than 23,000 young
9 people in the Greater Boston vicinity through master
10 classes, workshops in the schools, performance
11 tickets at little or no cost, to over 40
12 performances at Symphony Hall, the Wang Center,
13 Shubert Theater, all of this as a result of
14 BankBoston's continued ongoing sponsorship.
15 I am here today to speak in support of the
16 merger between BankBoston Corporation and Fleet
17 Financial Group. Both institutions have made public
18 their intentions to continue to support community
19 cultural and healthcare charitable organizations at
20 or above current individual levels of support. I
21 believe this to be an honorable and true statement.
22 Through a previous merger with BayBanks, BankBoston
23 continued its high level of charitable giving and
24 in fact increased their support, not only of the
25 Celebrity Series but of other organizations.
0144
1 BankBoston and Fleet Financial Group are
2 already woven into the fabric of Boston's cultural
3 community, and with a new banking entity based here
4 in Boston, I would look forward and expect their
5 charitable commitments to play an even greater role
6 in strengthening that fabric. The Celebrity Series
7 is pleased to move into the next millennium with
8 this new Fleet-BankBoston Corporation. Thank you
9 for your time. (Applause)
10 MR. BESSIRE: Good afternoon, I'm Paul
11 Bessire from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. I am
12 also pleased to testify on behalf of the museum in
13 support of the merger of Fleet Financial Group and
14 BankBoston. Fleet and BankBoston are close partners
15 of the MFA, as well as long-time and generous
16 supporters. On an annual basis both companies have
17 led the MFA's Corporate Partners Program by giving
18 at its highest levels for many years, enabling the
19 MFA to enhance its role as a community resource.
20 Important senior executives from both banks are
21 involved with the MFA in a significant capacity as
22 overseers, volunteers, and patrons. In the past
23 several years Fleet and BankBoston have made several
24 major acquisitions possible at the MFA. In addition
25 to enriching the city's cultural life, these
0145
1 exhibitions generate significant economic activity
2 in the region by attracting large numbers of
3 visitors.
4 For example, during Monet, The 20th Century
5 sponsored by Fleet, more than 40 percent of the
6 560,000 visitors came from outside of Boston
7 providing an economic impact of over $34 million.
8 We were also particularly impressed by Fleet's
9 commitment to making Monet accessible to children
10 and seniors by creating extensive education
11 materials and by providing over 8,000 free tickets
12 to community groups.
13 BankBoston is also currently sponsoring the
14 John Singer Sargent at the MFA. This is the third
15 major exhibition sponsored by BankBoston in the last
16 four years. We have also been impressed by their
17 leadership in creating the groundbreaking program
18 Museums On Us, an innovative program featuring 21
19 New England museums. Given these track records, we
20 have full confidence that the new Fleet-Boston will
21 continue to be a good neighborhood and strong
22 supporter of Boston's museums and cultural
23 organizations. Thank you. (Applause)
24 PASTOR GILLISON: Good morning. My name is
25 William Gillison, I'm pastor of the Mt. Olive
0146
1 Baptist Church.
2 My relationship with Fleet Bank began
3 approximately 19 years ago when one of their branch
4 managers Mr. Roger Richardson and I served on a
5 community board together. At that time we shared
6 with him that Mt. Olive was experiencing growing
7 pains, and we were looking for a bank that would
8 assist us in seeing that our vision would come to
9 fruition. Even though we had no banking
10 relationship with Fleet Bank at the time, Fleet was
11 the bank that responded first to our business
12 proposal. And at that time no other lending
13 institution would even speak with us.
14 Fleet's bank managers -- Fleet assigned a
15 vice president to our particular plan, and we are
16 glad to say that Fleet was the first in our area to
17 lend any African-American bank over a million -- a
18 church, that is, over a million and a half dollars
19 based upon a fair look at our business plan and our
20 record. We do believe we stand today to ask this
21 commission if they would grant Fleet this
22 opportunity to continue expressing this type of
23 leadership in the industry. (Applause)
24 MR. PARROTT: I'm Charles Parrott, I'm vice
25 chairman of the YMCA of Greater Boston. The YMCA of
0147
1 Greater Boston is the largest childcare provider in
2 the Greater Boston area. It has a number of other
3 programs for inner city children. Those programs
4 could not exist without the support of corporate
5 Boston. Over the years BankBoston has been a
6 substantial contributor, it goes back as far as the
7 YMCA does, and that's almost 150 years. In recent
8 years Fleet has become a substantial contributor to
9 the programs of the YMCA.
10 It is our hope that should this merger go
11 through, that the combined bank will be able to
12 continue that support. We have every reason to
13 believe that it will through what we read in the
14 press. I thank you for this opportunity.
15 PRESIDING OFFICER SMITH: Thank you.
16 MS. SCOTT: My name is Ruth Scott and I'm
17 president and CEO of Scott Consulting Associates. I
18 come to this question from an interesting
19 perspective, a broad-based one. I started out in
20 the '70s as the president of an organization that
21 did the initial research on the redline issue, and
22 then over the years I've been involved with Fleet
23 and with other banking institutions across the
24 country, as well as neighborhood Reinvestment
25 Corporation and neighborhood groups in trying to
0148
1 figure out how these organizations could speak
2 effectively with each other and form collaborations
3 that work.
4 I come in favor of the merger between Fleet
5 and BankBoston because I see things there that make
6 me understand that they know what it's all about and
7 they will do the thing that is right in terms of
8 these partnerships and community development. I
9 want to just give an example of a leveraging that
10 Fleet often does in its marketplace.
11 I was involved with a community development
12 organization, a faith- based organization, three
13 years ago which wanted to build a complex as the
14 first African-American organization in Rochester,
15 New York, to do such a thing. We went to Fleet and
16 asked them for $5,000 originally as seed money to
17 establish a corporation, and they gave us that.
18 That commitment grew over time to $100,000. It
19 wasn't just that, though. That commitment grew in
20 addition to a $500,000 commitment for building, and
21 it grew in addition with other organizations giving
22 over $500,000 to the organization and HUD giving a
23 $3 1/2 million grant. It is that kind of leveraging
24 that Fleet understands as we go into the 21st
25 century.
0149
1 As I have looked at banks across the
2 country, what I have found is these kind of mergers
3 work when you have three things: a solid and an
4 active commitment to community building; a mission
5 engaged in understanding of a changing landscape and
6 its imperative to merge and collaborate with
7 like-minded corporations; and a solid organizational
8 profit base which allows for the keeping of those
9 commitments. I believe that this merger would give
10 all of those things.
11 There is a saying that "When certain people
12 whisper, everybody listens." I think that's true in
13 our communities. As Fleet has grown stronger, when
14 it whispers, other corporations and governments also
15 listen. And in addition, when the community speaks,
16 Fleet listens. And I believe that the
17 Fleet-BankBoston merger will continue to do that.
18 Thank you.
19 PRESIDING OFFICER SMITH: Thank you very
20 much. (Applause)
21 MR. CUENCA: Good afternoon. My name is
22 Peter Cuenca, I'm the president of CuencaVision,
23 WCA-T.V., it's a Spanish television station. I am
24 also the editor and the publisher of the newspaper
25 Las Manos, which is a weekly Spanish newspaper in
0150
1 the New England area.
2 I am here to tell you about my experience
3 with Fleet Bank. I was in need of financial
4 assistance of a loan from the bank, and I went to
5 them, to the community development department, and I
6 found there people that would listen to me. They
7 did help me, they gave me a loan, and thanks to them
8 I am able to have new equipment, to expand our
9 services to the community.
10 And I find that they have a corporate
11 responsibility, that they have listened to many
12 people like me in the community, they are committed
13 for the future to do that, and if that is the case,
14 based on my experience, obviously this merger is a
15 good thing for our community. It's important to
16 face the fact that our global economy today, there
17 is a need for a strong financial institutions.
18 And based on that, we also have to think in
19 terms there is enough turning the forces around to
20 keep them with the proper commitment to our
21 communities. Banks are not only local banks now,
22 they are national banks, they are international
23 banks. And those commercial or competitive forces
24 will be strong enough, I believe, to maintain a good
25 relationship between the community and the banking
0151
1 system. Thank you.
2 PRESIDING OFFICER SMITH: Thank you.
3 (Applause)
4 MS. DOWNIE: I'm Lyndia Downie, I'm the
5 Acting President of the Pine Street Inn. We're an
6 agency that provides shelter, job training, and
7 affordable housing to homeless individuals and most
8 recently homeless families. And I too am here to
9 support the merger of Fleet and BankBoston.
10 Fleet has been a strong, responsive, and
11 good corporate citizen. They have been supporting
12 the Inn's work for many, many years since they have
13 been in Boston. Last year they helped us put an
14 outreach van on the street that provides
15 transportation, blankets, and referrals to homeless
16 people living on the street. In previous years they
17 helped us start a program for homeless elderly woman
18 focused on finding them housing.
19 We have been developing affordable housing
20 for over 10 years, and Fleet has consistently
21 offered support, both corporate support and lending
22 support, for those affordable housing projects. And
23 they have been very responsive to all the issues
24 around homelessness. In fact, last winter when a
25 number of people died on the street, Fleet was the
0152
1 first to call and say, "Is there anything we can do
2 to help?" We hope that they will continue this and
3 have every expectation they will continue to be good
4 and strong corporate citizens and they will continue
5 to be in support of homeless issues. Thank you.
6 (Applause)
7 PRESIDING OFFICER SMITH: Thank you very
8 much.
9 MS. RODGERSON: Hi. My name is Susan
10 Rodgerson, and I'm the founder and director of
11 Artists for Humanity, which is a grass-roots
12 organization here in Boston that serves urban teens
13 in an after-school program.
14 Fleet and BankBoston both have been very
15 supportive from the corporate philanthropy
16 departments of their institutions. But more
17 importantly, we provide products and services for
18 the business community that are performed by teens,
19 and Fleet Bank has hired us very often to do jobs
20 that are professional and performed by teenagers.
21 And I really believe that their commitment
22 to the inner city through working with youth is an
23 important one, and I also think that this is a great
24 opportunity for two strong institutions that are
25 local, that have been here for a long time, to merge
0153
1 and to increase their level of support and
2 commitment through their shared history in Boston.
3 So I support the merger and hope that they will
4 maximize this opportunity for both of them to
5 succeed. Thank you.
6 PRESIDING OFFICER SMITH: Thank you very
7 much.
8 MR. REGAN: My name is Bob Regan, and I'm
9 president and CEO of New England College of Finance.
10 New England College of Finance is a unique
11 educational resource founded in Boston in 1909.
12 This organization has evolved into an accredited,
13 degree-granting college, the only banking institute
14 in America ever to achieve full collegiate status
15 with 250-member institutions and annual enrollments
16 in excess of 7500, this is a very important resource
17 to our financial industry.
18 Fleet Financial Group is a member of the
19 college and is the highest participating bank in our
20 programs. It is extremely generous in encouraging
21 its employees to pursue their education. This
22 generosity is especially important to lower-paid
23 employees and to minorities, the latter population
24 comprising nearly 40 percent of our total annual
25 enrollments. Fleet also provides the college with
0154
1 extraordinary support in the form of governance and
2 faculty leadership and free use of classroom space
3 at several of their locations throughout New
4 England.
5 Simply put, without the support of Fleet
6 Financial Group, the financial services industry in
7 this area would have great difficulty sustaining
8 this important educational resource and many
9 individuals would be denied access to a college
10 education.
11 In addition to its dominant role in the
12 college, Fleet is a founding member of the Financial
13 Services Academy, a newly created service of the
14 college, working with CBOs like Urban League, ABCD,
15 and Stride, the mission of the academy is to recruit
16 and train diverse inner city populations for
17 entry-level jobs in the industry. During the first
18 three months of operation the academy has trained 77
19 individuals, many of whom have already been placed
20 in good-paying jobs. Of these graduates, more than
21 90 percent are ethnic minorities and recent
22 immigrants and 75 percent identified English as
23 their second language.
24 In short, I personal cannot say enough good
25 things about Fleet Financial Group. As
0155
1 consolidation creates ever-larger banking
2 institutions, I believe we are very fortunate in New
3 England that a responsible powerhouse is being
4 formed. Thank you.
5 PRESIDING OFFICER SMITH: Thank you.
6 MS. DURADO: Good afternoon. My name is
7 Rosa Minayo Durado, I am here as a board member of
8 the Latino Professional Network. Latino
9 Professional Network is an organization that links
10 Boston's Latino professionals with employment and
11 business opportunities.
12 The Latino Professional Network is here to
13 support the merger with Fleet for many reasons. One
14 of them is that Fleet has followed and continues to
15 support the mission of the Latino Professional
16 Network, which is to give access information and
17 business opportunity to the Latino professionals.
18 Fleet has given to individuals and also to different
19 businesses credit opportunity. It has helped
20 technical assistance to some of the small Latino
21 businesses, and also the Community Development Group
22 of the Fleet works very closely with many of the
23 members that run nonprofit agencies.
24 So as a board member of the LPN, I would
25 like to support the Fleet merger. Thank you.
0156
1 (Applause)
2 PRESIDING OFFICER SMITH: Thank you very
3 much.
4 MR. SWANN: My name is Lynn Swann, and I
5 come to this by way of being a member of the Fleet
6 In-City Advisory Board. We make suggestions and
7 comments and discussions, debates on Fleet's policy
8 to low- to moderate-income families and mortgages,
9 small business loans, existing loans, loans to
10 existing businesses, so that they can serve the
11 community, even as far as small farm equipment for
12 Fleet.
13 But I really come here because I've been a
14 volunteer for more than 19 years, starting with Big
15 Brothers and Big Sisters of America as a board
16 member, as a national board president and chair of a
17 national capital campaign. And it's this area I'd
18 like to talk to you about in terms of Fleet's
19 involvement with the community.
20 In 1998, there were 17,000 employees who
21 were volunteers in the Fleet program. 95,000
22 volunteer hours in 1998 alone. These were made
23 possible because Fleet's policy is to give their
24 employees two days off with pay to volunteer in the
25 community. That translated into 39,000 kids
0157
1 participating in 450 community projects. Since
2 1996, 82,000 children and young adults have been
3 involved in over 1,000 community service projects
4 and more than $850,000 awarded to winning teams in
5 the Fleet All Star Program.
6 You don't have those kinds of programs
7 unless you're committed to a program, unless you're
8 committed to building a community, because these
9 aren't your traditional people who are banking in
10 your institute, these are people who are going to be
11 making deposits somewhere down the road. And if
12 you're committed to the community, these are the
13 kinds of involvements you have. Fleet has created
14 20 tutorial centers, their commitment is to have 25
15 by the year 2000 throughout the Northeast, and
16 mentoring is an important component in growing a
17 community and building that infrastructure. If you
18 don't think so, let me just give you a couple of
19 quick numbers.
20 Through Big brothers and Big Sisters, here
21 is what mentoring has done: 52 percent, in a
22 scientific study, 52 percent of the kids in a
23 mentoring relationship are less likely to skip
24 school, 46 percent are less likely to use drugs, 27
25 percent are less likely to use alcohol, 33 percent
0158
1 are less likely to use physical force to resolve
2 conflicts. As the woman who testified earlier about
3 programs at Fleet through ACORN having saved her
4 family's life, this is the kind of involvement that
5 builds the infrastructure of a community, where
6 young people grow, feel safe, and can be productive
7 citizens.
8 PRESIDING OFFICER SMITH: Thank you very
9 much. (Applause)
10 MR. JONES: My name is Tripp Jones, and I'm
11 the cofounder and executive director of The
12 Massachusetts Institute for a New Commonwealth, also
13 known as MassInc., a nonprofit, nonpartisan public
14 policy think-tank based here in Boston. MassInc.
15 was established four years ago to develop public
16 policy approaches that result in a flourishing
17 middle class in Massachusetts.
18 I will refrain from elaborating more on
19 MassInc., but I do want to use this opportunity to
20 testify that the encouragement and support we have
21 received from BankBoston and Fleet made an enormous
22 contribution to our success. I have witnessed first
23 hand the determination of both institutions, not
24 only to provide vital financial support to community
25 organizations like MassInc. but to develop strong
0159
1 give-and-take dialogues with local groups borne out
2 of sheer commitment to the civic life of our
3 Commonwealth.
4 At a time when many corporations are
5 myopically devoted to bottom-line considerations,
6 these two institutions have shown the kind of
7 leadership, a willingness to take risks, like
8 supporting a small, start-up think-tank, that puts
9 them in the front rank of our very best corporate
10 citizens in Massachusetts.
11 The economic vitality of our state as a
12 whole, and to some degree the vitality of our
13 community organizations like MassInc., depend on the
14 ability of our banking industry to retain its
15 independence in the midst of extremely competitive
16 national and international pressures to the extent
17 that Fleet and BankBoston have found common ground
18 in a way to sustain that gain, I support their
19 efforts.
20 It is often argued that as the Internet and
21 other technologies continue to shrink the world in
22 which we live, circumstances of geography and place
23 are less important in our lives. Today I want to
24 argue that the opposite is often true. Geography
25 matters. In this case it matters a great deal that
0160
1 the banking decisions affecting the lives of New
2 Englanders be made by New Englanders whenever
3 possible. It's not to say that regional industries
4 don't have to operate within larger economic
5 realities, but it does suggest that we should jump
6 at opportunities to bolster our regional economic
7 independence and to secure our long-term health.
8 I want to applaud the holding of this
9 public hearing ensuring that the Fleet-BankBoston
10 merger results in equally shared benefits for
11 shareholders, customers, and all citizens who
12 require a great deal of judgment, compromise, and
13 trust building among all parties involved, and I am
14 pleased to have had the opportunity to participate.
15 PRESIDING OFFICER SMITH: Thank you very
16 much.
17 MR BROWN: My name is Michael Brown, I'm
18 the president and cofounder of the City Year
19 organization, a national service organization
20 founded in Boston that engages over 1,000 young
21 adults ages 17 to 24 in the area of full-time
22 community service. I appreciate this opportunity to
23 testify on behalf of City Year on behalf of the
24 proposed merger between BankBoston and Fleet
25 Financial Group.
0161
1 We know from direct experience that it is
2 critically important for Massachusetts to remain a
3 headquarters for a major national financial
4 institution. Indeed, were it not for BankBoston
5 and the active leadership of Chad Gifford and Ira
6 Jackson, City Year would not exist today. 10 years
7 ago when City Year was no more than words on paper,
8 BankBoston stepped forward and provided the seed
9 capital for our launch. And along with that initial
10 funding came an extraordinary commitment to the
11 young people of Greater Boston. Through their
12 direct involvement, BankBoston has helped to grow
13 City Year's 54 members in Boston to 1,000 across the
14 country.
15 BankBoston leads our efforts here and
16 around the country to now engage over 300
17 corporations, and Chad and Ira have testified before
18 Congress and have helped to build the Americorps
19 program nationwide. Recently BankBoston, which
20 sponsored the first team in our history 10 years
21 ago, permanently endowed a team of young people in
22 service to City Year Boston. This is the first
23 endowed community service positions for young people
24 in America history.
25 Fleet Bank has also been essential to our
0162
1 organization, partnering with us since 1990 and
2 cofounding with BankBoston our Rhode Island program.
3 Fleet Bank executives now serve on our local
4 advisory board, contributing their time, energy, and
5 vision and make possible our annual celebrations of
6 Dr. Martin Luther King's holiday and our Black
7 History Month celebrations. Over the past 10 years
8 these two banks combined have ensured that 260 young
9 people have provided a year of full-time service.
10 That means 442,000 hours of service tutoring and
11 mentoring children.
12 Our relationship with both institutions has
13 been one of integrity and purpose based on shared
14 values and deep wonder of the power of young people.
15 Our support for the merger is based on a decade of
16 partnership and belief. I am confident that the
17 banks' firmly established traditions of community
18 partnership and involvement will continue in the
19 decade to come. Thank you.
20 PRESIDING OFFICER SMITH: Thank you.
21 (Applause)
22 I'd like to remind the witnesses that they
23 may submit their statements for the record, and the
24 sooner you get them to our registration table the
25 better it will be for our court reporters. Thank
0163
1 you.
2 MR. MIRABAL: My name is Manuel Mirabal,
3 I'm the president and CEO of the National Puerto
4 Rican Coalition, a nonprofit public policy
5 organization out of Washington, D.C. and I am also
6 the chair of the Hispanic Association on Corporate
7 Responsibility out of washington, D.C.
8 Since 1994, NPRC and Fleet have been
9 working in partnership on issues of community
10 economic development and neighborhood
11 revitalization, affordable housing development, home
12 mortgage lending, and consumer banking issues. In
13 the New England states where Fleet has a major
14 presence, the Puerto Rican community makes up more
15 than 50 percent of all of the Latino population. In
16 New York and New Jersey, it is 1.5 million of the 3
17 million Hispanics who live in those states.
18 We have had many opportunities to meet with
19 the senior officials of Fleet and have found them to
20 be always accessible, including Mr. Terry Murray,
21 Fleet CEO, and Agnes Bundy Scanlan, the managing
22 director of Fleet's Community Development
23 Department. And we have had several opportunities
24 to discuss the needs of the Latino community with
25 them and other banking officials. We have seen a
0164
1 steady improvement in the bank's investments to
2 support community housing development projects.
3 We have also targeted corporate and
4 foundation resources to support the work of
5 organizations serving our communities. Throughout
6 our partnership, this has increased to a level which
7 now approaches, we believe, an equitable
8 distribution of these funds to the growing Latino
9 community. Fleet has also created one of the most
10 flexible, affordable loan programs and has as a
11 result helped many Latino low-income families get
12 their dream of buying a home.
13 Fleet has also responded to our concerns
14 over the hiring of more Latinos in their structure,
15 and they have done so throughout their system
16 through recruitment and hiring. Based on their
17 commitment to neighborhood reinvestment and
18 investment in our projects and the corporate
19 responsibility which Fleet has demonstrated in
20 working`with NPRC over the last six years I
21 encourage the Federal Reserve Bank to approve the
22 merger between Fleet Group and BankBoston. Thank
23 you.
24 PRESIDING OFFICER SMITH: Thank you very
25 much. (Applause)
0165
1 MR. MOY: My name is Frank Moy, and I'm the
2 chairman of the Boston Chamber of Neighborhood
3 Commerce. The Boston Chamber of Neighborhood
4 Commerce was formed in 1991 during a very difficult
5 recession period by a group of small business owners
6 and representatives from every neighborhood business
7 district in Boston representing several thousand
8 neighborhood businesses. Recently the Boston
9 Chamber Neighborhood Commerce became an affiliate
10 member of the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce.
11 The primary mission of the BCNC is to
12 enhance the vitality of Boston's neighborhood
13 commercial districts. The Boston Chamber
14 Neighborhood Commerce supports the Fleet-BankBoston
15 merger because both banks have New England roots and
16 have been active participants in promoting small
17 business lending and banking services. Fleet and
18 BankBoston provide financial and staff support to
19 the Boston Chamber Neighborhood Commerce.
20 Staff from Fleet and BankBoston have and
21 continue to serve on the BCNC Board of Directors and
22 have participated in numerous workshops on small
23 business lending procedures, including the 5 C's of
24 Credit, Small Business Administration Low Doc
25 Program, second look program if a loan is denied,
0166
1 and the Community Reinvestment Act. Fleet and
2 BankBoston have participated in business support
3 programs on marketing, public relations, community
4 and public review process, e-commerce, retail
5 security, One Stop Program at the Empowerment
6 Center, and small business management.
7 In closing, we support the Fleet and
8 BankBoston merger because both organizations have
9 demonstrated their commitment to Boston's small
10 business community during good and bad economic
11 times. Thank you.
12 PRESIDING OFFICER SMITH: Thank you very
13 much.
14 MR. DICKERMAN: Hello. I'm Stephen
15 Dickerman, the executive director of Friends of New
16 England Holocaust Memorial. I've held this position
17 for 11 years. Since our earliest days it's been our
18 dream to build a memorial to the Holocaust on
19 Boston's Freedom Trail, and I am pleased to share
20 with you the legacy of community leadership that we
21 at the memorial have experienced with BankBoston.
22 While the idea of the memorial was
23 conceived by a group of survivors to the Holocaust
24 and encouraged by a small group of their supporters,
25 it could not have been realized without the
0167
1 leadership from Boston's corporate and philanthropic
2 community. I have witnessed BankBoston making such
3 a leadership happen.
4 In 1991, the head of the Boston
5 Redevelopment Authority invited business leaders to
6 learn more about the potential impact that Message
7 of Memory could have on this important American
8 site. It was at that meeting that the crucial
9 relationship between the Memorial and BankBoston
10 began.
11 BankBoston participated in that meeting and
12 responded to our plans and saw in it the opportunity
13 to remember the historical tragedies of European
14 Jews in a way that would speak to the universal
15 issues of danger of bigotry, intolerance, and racial
16 hatred. BankBoston began a relationship with the
17 Memorial providing us with financial resources as
18 well as a wide range of support. Most importantly,
19 BankBoston provided leadership to enlist other
20 institutions and individuals in support of the
21 project.
22 BankBoston's influence on our project has
23 been extraordinary. The bank has supported our
24 capital campaign in a wide range of special projects
25 that help bring universal lessons to young people
0168
1 and visitors from all backgrounds. I'm very proud
2 of the Memorial, its critical success, and its
3 ability to speak to hundreds of thousands of
4 visitors. Simply put, the Memorial could not have
5 been built and would not have sustained its
6 operations and extraordinary and educational
7 programs without BankBoston's remarkable leadership.
8 I also think the experience with the
9 Memorial told us a lot in support of a Boston-based
10 institution. BankBoston, Fleet, and all of our
11 corporate supporters were Boston based. I'm pleased
12 to speak in support of the merger.
13 PRESIDING OFFICER SMITH: Thank you very
14 much. (Applause)
15 We are ready for the next panel.
16 (A pause)
17 PRESIDING OFFICER SMITH: Panel Six will
18 start with the Reverend Sharpton.