Bank, state talk on MBNA Baldacci seeks to retain jobs

AUGUSTA – Gov. John Baldacci and other state officials met Tuesday with Bank of America representatives for the first time since the colossal financial services company announced it would purchase credit card lender MBNA for $35 billion.

MBNA employs 3,000 in Maine and has been an economic force in the midcoast area and in other regions in the state over the last 10 years.

Baldacci, supported by Waldo County legislators, and Belfast and other municipal officials from cities where MBNA operates, is trying to persuade Bank of America to not only keep the 3,000 MBNA jobs here, but also expand in Maine.

When the acquisition of MBNA was announced in June, Bank of America CEO Ken Lewis said 6,000 jobs from the combined companies would be eliminated. Once the merger is complete, Bank of America will employ 200,000.

Baldacci and Economic Development Commissioner Jack Cashman have suggested that Bank of America could realize tax breaks of up to $1.6 million over 10 years through the state’s Pine Tree Zone program if the company adds jobs here.

Bank of America’s spokeswoman Alex Liftman said Tuesday’s meeting was productive, covering a variety of topics. The takeover is not expected to be complete until late this year or early next year, she said, making decisions about job cuts difficult to discuss now.

Teams from both companies began meeting last week to plan the merger of the two businesses.

“No definitive decisions have been made,” she said, and no time frame has been set for cutting jobs.

The company met with Delaware Gov. Ruth Ann Minner last week, Liftman said.

“Both meetings [with Baldacci and Minner] are part of our open, ongoing dialogue with representatives of Maine and Delaware as part of the merger,” she said.

MBNA’s corporate headquarters and its largest concentration of jobs, more than 10,000, are in Delaware. Bank of America operates a credit card division there, employing 1,500.

Aside from cuts achieved where administrative functions are duplicated, observers have suggested that jobs in the management of credit card lending also might be cut from both firms, as Bank of America creates its own credit card division from MBNA and its own operations.

Bank of America suffered a black eye to its image in Boston and other parts of New England during its acquisition of Fleet Bank. That takeover, which took nearly two years, was completed a few months ago.

When the merger was made final in April 2004, Liftman said the company announced it would cut 12,500 jobs across both Fleet and Bank of America. In October of last year, after more analysis, the company cut another 4,500 jobs in the region.

The company is opening a new call center in East Providence, R.I., this fall that will employ 700 to 900.

Liftman said bank officials also met Tuesday with Sen. Susan Collins.

MBNA employs 1,900 at its sprawling campus in Belfast off Route 3. Another 1,100 work in smaller offices in Fort Kent, Presque Isle, Farmington, Orono, Brunswick and Portland.

The Belfast campus could employ up to 5,000, city officials have said, but one challenge MBNA has faced is finding a large enough labor pool to draw from to fill its jobs. Presently, employees commute to Belfast from as far was 50 miles away.

MBNA spokeswoman Carolyn Marsh has said the company’s Maine operations are consistently the second or third best producing from among MBNA’s offices around the United States and in Canada, Ireland, England and Spain.

Belfast and state officials hope Bank of America will recognize what they believe is a high-performing work force.

“We’re going to evaluate all of it,” Liftman said.

Before MBNA is folded into Bank of America, Belfast city officials and the Belfast Area Chamber of Commerce want to acknowledge the impact the company has had on the region, both in economic development and philanthropy. Conservative estimates put MBNA’s philanthropy in Maine at $50 million over the last 10 years.

An MBNA Appreciation Day is being planned for Oct. 1 in Belfast.

Bank of America’s Liftman said the company intends to honor MBNA’s philanthropic commitments and will annually donate $200 million to various charitable endeavors, making it one of the most generous corporations in the United States.