NationsBank name soon to be a memory	[Times photo: Steve Hasel]
	Workers prepare a foundation for a Bank of America sign last month in Inverness. The new name officially debuts in Florida Monday.

By JEFF HARRINGTON

© St. Petersburg Times, published May 3, 2000

The biggest onetime name change in the history of Florida banking is shaping into a rather anticlimactic affair.

Officially, NationsBank branches in Florida aren't kicking off their new identity bearing the name of parent Bank of America Corp. until Monday. That's when executives from the megabank's Charlotte, N.C., headquarters will be dispatched throughout the state to announce more than $3.1-million in charitable contributions and celebrate the new name with local dignitaries.

But from the Panhandle to the Keys, the switch is already a fait accompli.

By the end of the day Tuesday, Florida's largest bank finished taking the wraps off the last of its new signs at all 800-plus NationsBank branches and 1,400 ATMs in Florida. A few of the branches will be briefly re-covered for ceremonies next week.

The former NationsBank, based in Charlotte, bought BankAmerica Corp. of San Francisco last year and adopted the California bank's name.

Florida is the last state in line for the name change and the most expensive, costing the bank $23-million. Earlier this year, Bank of America began switching signs at its office towers throughout the state, including those in Tampa and St. Petersburg. A week ago, it began unbagging the temporary NationsBank wraps covering Bank of America signs at the branches.

Ken Lewis, Bank of America president and chief operating officer and former head of its Florida operations, journeyed to Jacksonville on Monday and Miami on Tuesday to usher in the name change and address thousands of bank employees.

The last major sign change in Florida came in October 1998 when 525 former Barnett Bank branches joined the NationsBank fold. The day of that conversion was marred with computer glitches and customer service problems. NationsBank erred in predicting which branches former Barnett customers would visit and struggled to train former Barnett workers on its computer system.

The Bank of America transition should be much smoother since it involves a change in name alone. The computer network is not affected.

Bank of America spokeswoman Angela Ashley said changes were made ahead of Monday for one simple reason: sheer volume. More than 6,500 external and internal signs were replaced throughout Florida. The old signs, weighing about 52 tons, will be recycled.

Checks, automated teller machine cards, credit cards and other items marked with the NationsBank logo will continue to be honored.

Bank of America controls more than $44-billion in deposits in Florida, giving it about a 22 percent share of the market.

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