US banks dare to cross cultures

When investment bankers at San Francisco-based high-tech boutique Robertson Stephens began to receive regular e-mail messages about business developments at their new parent, BankAmerica, they feared the worst: "It was an indication that big brother had come," says a Robertson Stephens source. It wasn't that the e-mails were directives on anything substantial, he says: "The news was just irrelevant. It didn't add any value."

Downstairs, in the corridors of the much larger financial institution, the commercial bankers at BankAmerica were likewise annoyed by their new colleagues. "It's typical for them to underestimate the value that a commercial banker can bring to the business; the assumption is that he's not as sophisticated," says a former commercial banker at BankAmerica. This banker left soon after the merger, when a series of meetings between the commercial and investment bankers convinced him...