B of A Chief Known for Innovating

In an industry that seems to put a premium on homogeneity, Richard M. Rosenberg, chairman and chief executive of BankAmerica Corp., stands out. He always makes an impression; some even call him “Hurricane Rosenberg.�

“He is like a whirlwind,� said Barry Deutsch, a Coral Springs, Fla.-based bank consultant. “He’s got this enormously high energy level combined with immense intellectual curiosity. If his body isn’t in motion, his mind is.�

Rosenberg, once described as a Mel Brooks look-alike, was something of a celebrity even before he took the helm of BankAmerica Corp. and got credit for turning around the bank’s once-moribund branch system.

And now he is credited with fashioning a blockbuster merger with California rival Security Pacific Corp. that will return BankAmerica to its place as the nation’s No. 2 banking company, just a few billion dollars smaller than Citicorp.

A short, stocky 61-year-old, Rosenberg is an innovator in an industry not known for change. He’s fond of saying that a bank isn’t like a drug company--�there is no breakthrough� that can come out of the lab and double the company’s earnings, he has said.

However, some are critical of Rosenberg’s style, maintaining that he is taking on more than BankAmerica can handle. “We almost come to the feeling that he’s doing some of the things that got BankAmerica in trouble in the early 1980s,� said Gerry Findley, a Brea-based bank consultant. “He creates a lot of pizazz, action. But successful banking requires a certain amount of what we call grunt operations.�

Rosenberg, a former Wells Fargo executive who began his banking career in public relations, is credited with marketing firsts that have changed the face of retail banking.

While heading the marketing and advertising department at Wells Fargo about 20 years ago, Rosenberg introduced the now-ubiquitous scenic check.

He is the “father of packaged accounts,� the first account that combined checking, savings and credit card services in 1973, an admiring Wells Fargo executive said. Now these accounts are so widely used that its a rare bank that doesn’t offer one. Bank of America’s packaged account, called the Alpha and introduced by Rosenberg, is one of the bank’s most popular products, spokesman Peter Magnani said.

Rosenberg urged Wells Fargo to become the first bank to raise rates paid to depositors when the banking industry was deregulated in the early 1970s, according to a bank spokeswoman. In 1973, Wells hiked its basic deposit rate to 5% from 4.5%. The banks competitors didn’t follow suit for nearly two years, and Wells gained significant market share in the interim, the bank says.

At Bank of America, Rosenberg introduced a “sales culture� to BankAmerica’s retail branch system. He launched pay-for-performance plans for lower-level officers and fueled the big bank’s recovery, Magnani said.

“We went from three years of record losses to record earnings in 1988, 1989 and 1990,� Magnani added.

Bio: Richard M. Rosenberg Chairman and chief executive of BankAmerica Corp. If BankAmerica completes its merger with Security Pacific, he will become chief executive of the combined bank.

Age: 61

Born: Fall River, Mass.

Education: Received a degree in journalism from Suffolk University in Boston in 1952. Later, he earned a master’s degree in business administration and a law degree from Golden Gate University in San Francisco.

Family: Married, two children.

Resume: A former Navy Reserve commander who helped evacuate refugees from Vietnam, he started his banking career in Wells Fargo Bank’s public relations department and worked his way up to become head of the bank’s advertising and marketing division. He was named vice chairman of Crocker Bank in 1984, where he served briefly before joining Seattle-based Seafirst Corp. as president and chief operating officer. He joined BankAmerica in 1987 as vice chairman and head of its retail banking group. Named president of the company in February, 1990, and succeeded A. W. Clausen as chief executive in May of the same year.

Business focus: Rosenberg is widely recognized as a marketing expert who introduced the first scenic check, the first account that packaged several bank services--such as savings, checking and credit card accounts--and for revitalizing BankAmerica’s branch system.