A swashbuckling biography of Bank of America CEO Hugh McColl and the banking empire he created.
Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
Too long and too soft on its subject, this account of the rise of Hugh McColl is entertaining even though Yockey sticks too close to the point of view of McColl, the man who created the first national bank when he joined his Nationsbank with Bank of America. Although the merged company took the B-of-A name, Yockey makes it clear that McColl was the ultimate victor. Given what appears to be unlimited access to McColl, Yockey describes the deal making that helped McColl turn a sleepy local bank in Charlotte, N.C., into a powerhouse in the state and then into a dominant regional bank. McColl started by buying up smaller banks that couldn't compete in the new environment of the late 1980s and early 1990s and then took full advantage of the liberalization of banking laws that made interstate banking a reality. The story of the monster merger, as Yockey casts it, is a story of a shrewd Southerner outfoxing the slick and arrogant New York money men. To this regional animus Yockey adds McColl's need to prove his worth to his father. Much in McColl's life and career is raw material for a good story, but Yockey barely stops short of hero worship and always puts McColl in the best possible light. He accepts at face value McColl's edict to his troops to avoid charity drives and community involvement as the bank expanded throughout North Carolina because such extracurricular activities would be distractions. McColl's role in the changing banking industry warrants treatment by a writer willing to ask and answer tough questions. Yockey merely celebrates his subject as the epitome of boom-time success. 75,000 first printing; 150,000 ad/promo. (Oct.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Booklist
Time investment columnist Daniel Kadlec proclaimed Hugh McColl a "master of the universe" earlier this year in his book on America's greatest deal makers. Even before McColl's stunning takeover of BankAmerica, Kadlec had slated him to be included in his book because of his successful acquisition of 50 banks over 15 years. McColl started his buying spree as head of North Carolina's NCNB Bank, and he now commands a coast-to-coast financial empire. Yockey, who had McColl's cooperation and blessing, offers this thoroughly researched tome that traces McColl's life and tracks his deals. Yockey's previous efforts at biography consist of 25-year-old profiles of AndrePrevin and Zubin Mehta. Ironically, Yockey found a Mehta-autographed copy of the book Yockey had written among those in McColl's collection in his study. If Yockey were writing fiction, he would be accused of stereotyping his hero. McColl is an ex-marine with a disarming North Carolina drawl who instills loyalty but practices it as well and who is absolutely ruthless when it comes to making deals. David Rouse
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Review From Business Week, November 15, 1999,
By Business Week (USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: McColl: The Man with America's Money (Hardcover)
In the late 1950s, Hugh L. McColl Jr.'s father told him: ''Son, you don't have the brains to be a farmer. You'd better be a banker.'' Bad call. If Dad had hired Hugh Jr. to run the family farm, history might have been different--and the elder McColl might have wound up owning the next ConAgra Inc. Instead, McColl's desire to prove himself supplied the motivation to turn a sleepy Southern institution into the nation's first true coast-to-coast bank. Most impressive is that McColl built his megabank--NCNB-cum-NationsBank-cum-Bank of America--not from New York or San Francisco, but from Charlotte, N.C.In McColl, author Ross Yockey provides the most revealing profile yet of the banker who, even in the twilight of his career, remains an enigma. Given his brash style and penchant for invoking military imagery, McColl has been an easy foil for reporters, who have caricatured him as an ex-Marine who acquires banks with all the finesse of General Sherman. Implicit in this view is the notion that McColl can't possibly manage this sprawling empire. But Yockey paints a more textured, and more sympathetic, portrait. He shows McColl as a man who shrewdly anticipated the trends that would sweep banking in the 1990s--and who, a decade earlier, began positioning his institution for long-term survival. McColl's keen understanding of banking laws helped him find the loophole to enter key states such as Florida and Texas ahead of the competition--and thus win the critical mass needed to become the acquirer and not the acquired. What's more, McColl's early, massive investment in technology meant that many banks that had skimped on computers had no choice but to sell out to him. McColl's willingness to bare his soul to Yockey is all the more impressive, given his love-hate relationship with the national press. Granted, this is an authorized biography, and the author does pull a few punches: For example, there are few comments coming from McColl's early rivals to the throne inside the bank or from the many bankers whose institutions McColl acquired over the years. Yockey gives particularly short shrift to the controversies surrounding the merger between McColl's NationsBank and San Francisco's venerable Bank of America last year, as well as McColl's 1997 buyout of Montgomery Securities. The deals resulted in an exodus of virtually all of BofA's top executives and more than half of Montgomery's partners. And at 636 pages, the book plods--especially in its coverage of McColl's early years. Despite such shortcomings, Yockey manages to get inside McColl's head during episodes that range from crucial merger negotiations to the harrowing near-crash of NationsBank's corporate jet a few years back. Yockey also probes McColl's relationship with his father, as well as his passion for the Southern cause in the Civil War, which drove him to build a bank far surpassing those of his Yankee rivals in New York. McColl succeeded, and banking has never been the same. By DEAN FOUST
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Can you say BORING?,
By A Customer
This review is from: McColl: The Man with America's Money (Hardcover)
Although some of the subject material is interesting, this book is poorly written and just plain BORING. The author must have been paid by the word; he fills over 600 pages with petty details of relatives and co-workers. I had intended to read this book cover-to-cover, but I just couldn't stomach some of the meaningless drivel. This book could have been a good read at 200 pages, but not 600+.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Ponderous, plodding, weighty,
By
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: McColl: The Man with America's Money (Hardcover)
As a former employee of Bank of America, NT & SA (the REAL Bank of America), I bought this to see how the old Bank could get so taken by this guy. It confirmed what I'd already suspected, that the old BofA's wimpy management at the time was no match for this operator. Unfortunately, the book is pretty light on the merger details. It does contain some glaring errors about the old BofA.
The book is way too long, and is essentially a big valentine to Hugh McColl. Thankfully, I bought a used copy. It should be titled, 'A History of Banking in North Carolina and the Deep South.'
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