BankAmerica to Quit Some Business in Asia

BankAmerica Corp. said it will sell its consumer banking businesses in Taiwan, Singapore and India, after deciding it has little hope of building significant market share in any of those areas. The bank also said it will expand its larger consumer businesses in Hong Kong and Macao as part of a restructuring of its Asian retail operations. It will also sell its credit card business in Taiwan. BankAmerica merged with Nationsbank Corp. in late September in a $46.9-billion transaction, which created the largest U.S. bank. The sale won’t affect the company’s much larger, 34-year-old Taiwan corporate and commercial banking businesses, said Peter Banko, the bank’s Taiwan country manager. Separately, Janey Place, one of BankAmerica’s most senior women executives, has resigned. Place, 52, was the former head of NationsBank’s 100-person strategic technology group. The bank did not give a reason for the resignation. Shares of Charlotte, N.C.-based BankAmerica fell 44 cents to close at $60.81 on the NYSE.