Chase: Back in the bulge-bracket
You have had a lot of experience with bank mergers. What is the biggest lesson you've learnt from them?
I learned a lot 40 years ago when I was involved in the merger of the New York Trust Company and Chemical. I worked for New York Trust and this was clearly a takeover by Chemical. I was working in the credit department at the time, and before long all my role models were gone.
For people on my side of the acquisition it was very threatening and demotivating. For a long time, I wouldn't tell anyone which side of the merger I was from. Being acquired made us feel like second-class citizens.
Then the first big transaction I was directly involved in as the head of Chemical was our merger with Texas Commerce Bank. Even though TCB was about one-third our size, we still spoke of it as a merger, with respect and admiration for the people they were.
When Chemical and Manufacturers Hanover merged, John McGillicuddy and I approached it philosophically the same way. This was the first big merger of equals in recent history, and some people criticized our partnership and the merger of equals as a sign of weak management.