Product Description

Dead Bank Walking is a stunningly candid portrait of the historic merger between Security Pacific Bank and Bank of America, a combining of two giants that set in motion the fever of banking marriages we now witness. This book not only answers the WHO, WHAT and WHY of the mega-merger, but stands alone as an object lesson on all mergers. It evokes the humor and frantic chaos surrounding a deal that is still regarded as either a brilliant coup or a tragic swan song to banking sovereignty and independence. In Dead Bank Walking, Robert H. Smith, former Chairman and CEO of Security Pacific (and later President of Bank of America) spins a tale that will enthrall business people and mesmerize readers who never thought they could be interested in an epic about bankers. Part business thriller and part interpersonal drama, the story details the final paroxysms of a 120 year old institution revered by Wall Street for its leading edge thinking and entrepreneurial spirit--until it got into trouble.

Dead Bank Walking begins innocently enough when Smith assists real estate developer Charles Keating in his acquisition of Lincoln Savings. This act and the resulting S&L crisis trigger a chain reaction of legislation, regulatory crackdowns, and economic difficulties that threaten the very existance of Security Pacific.

The story includes a virtual Who's Who of politics and Wall Street: Warren Buffett, Donald Trump, Alan Greenspan, Bill Seidman, Carl Reichardt, Pete Wilson, Bob Campeau, Chris Hemmeter, Peter Ueberroth and many other movers and shakers.

Dead Bank Walking shuttles the reader from elaborate bankers conventions in Hawaii to contentious Board Rooms. It peeks through the crevices of high finance, as Smith and Richard Flamson--an outspoken and gutsy chairman dying of a rare blood disease--embark on a strategic acquisition spree that ultimately extends the bank's vision to include worldwide securities companies and a controversial and ultimately dangerous Merchant Bank.

Too far too fast? Absolutely. When economic recession pounds California and Security Pacific's stock slides, consultants warn management to halt the acquistions and if possible locate a merger partner. If Smith can't, the Board will find someone who can. A potentially momentous merger with Wells Fargo Bank falls through at the eleventh hour and an uncanny sequence of events brings Security Pacific to the brink of disaster. Smith's colorful management team labors to solve the problems and ultimately embarks on a year-long odyssey with Richard Rosenberg, Chairman and CEO of Bank of America.

Smith recounts in vivid detail, the triumphs, disasters, mind-games, insults, ego trips, walk-outs, and layoffs as he and Rosenberg work, sometimes at cross purposes, to create the most powerful bank in the United States, often in the face of ridiculous forces that seek to derail the merger at every juncture. Near the end, Smith realizes that he stands to lose everything--from his personal wealth to his reputation--should the deal collapse. In a final life and death episode, he faces a potential $1 billion penalty that may represent a material breach of the merger agreement. Smith partners up with brilliant attorneys for an almost hallucinatory last dance with the Internal Revenue Service in order to preserve the merger and save his own scalp. And lingering beneath the deal is the unfathomable bureaucracy of Bank of America, a foreboding maze of committees which in the end destroys the most unique and valuable assets of the institution it works so hard to acquire.

Fifty percent comedy, fifty percent tragedy, Dead Bank Walking is an exhilarating, timely and supremely unique business story populated by a cast of characters one would expect to find only in a work of fiction. Read it, and never think of your bank--or the people who run it--in the same way again.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #681016 in Books
• Published on: 2000-01-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 448 pages

From the Publisher
Working with Bob Smith in putting this book together has been an interesting and eye opening experience. I found Bob to be a very down to Earth individual, much different than I would have expected from a person who headed up the fifth largest banking institution in the United States and enjoyed coffee with some of the most important and influential financial people in the world.

The first time we spoke on the phone, Bob Smith told me he wanted everyone to know what really went on behind those closed doors as Security Pacific fought to stay above water. He felt the former employees and those who retired from Security Pacific should know the whole story.

Bob found a talented screenwriter, Michael Crowley to collaborate with. While Bob Smith spun the tale, wordsmith Crowley carefully crafted the words into a great read. I dare say, as you are reading the book, you feel like you're watching a movie as the story progresses.

There are those who think a lot of Bob Smith, there are those who condemn him. One thing is for sure, read this book and find out what really went on during this historic merger and look at the banking mega-merger craze it kicked off. I have to agree, you'll never look at your bank or your bankers the same way again.

Enjoy!

Ed Helvey Publisher

About the Author
Robert H. Smith joined Security Pacific in 1961, after serving a tour of duty as a naval officer and earning a degree in public adminstration from the University of Southern California. While working his way up the corporate ladder, Smith added a law degree and, in 1991 assumed the position of Chairman of the Board and CEO of Security Pacific, the fifth largest US banking company.

Smith continues to serve on the boards of national and internation corporations, universities and charitable groups. He also served as a member of the Market Oversight Committee of the SEC, the California State Teachers Retirement Board and taught management for six years at the Pacific Coast Banking School.

Michael K. Crowley has worked as a screenwriter and published several non-fiction articles. His is a graduate of the School of Cinema Television at the University of Southern California with a degree in film writing.

Customer Reviews

A Unique Insider's Perspective
Having read other books (Den of Thieves, Barbarians at the Gate, etc.) written on some of the other deals which took place in the late eighties and early nineties, I was looking forward to something similar with "Dead Bank Walking."

While the book certainly delivers an informative account of Security Pacific's rise and eventual merger with Bank of America, it also offers the perspective of one of the deal's main decision makers. Instead of the 'Monday Morning Quarterback' approach of most business retrospectives, Smith offers the reader the opportunity to understand all of the factors which influenced this mega-merger and the eventual aftermath.

I'd recommend this book to anyone involved in the financial services industry or considering a career in finance.

Dead Bank Walking, but with a big limp
I was there during the period of this book, at a lower level of Security Pacific. I found the book almost unbelievably exciting and scary. It explains much about what was happening to the "troops" that we could not understand. Smith did a good job of keeping the true problems away from all of us, including employees and the public, as he no doubt had to in order for the merger to succeed. All in all, anyone with any interest in banking and finance should find this an exciting and informative book.

A timely business book
I bought this book because it looked like a people-book about big deals and mergers and I was surprised by how gripping it was. It is also extremely funny. It is not like any other business book I have ever read. I came away with a sense of the participants as people. It is also well written. The first half of the book is about how Security Pacific got into trouble with banking regulators and some famous dealers like Trump and Peter Uebberoth. This part of the book is fast and hilarious and fascinating. The second half is about the merger of Security Pacific and Bank of America,and here the story really took focus and became quite intense. I can't remember getting so emotionally involved in a story about business. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in business and banking--especially if you are sick of books promoting companies that masquerade as business stories.