Bank of America Becoming Bank of Asia as Revenue Rises 30%

photo: Jin Lee/Bloomberg

A black leather couch in Jayanti Bajpai’s 17th-floor Hong Kong office bears witness to Bank of America Corp.’s turn of fortune in Asia.

Twenty months ago, Bajpai sat on the sofa with discouraged Merrill Lynch & Co. colleagues, asking them one at a time to focus on the benefits of the firm’s merger with Bank of America, the largest U.S. lender by assets, he said. By the end of last year, conversations held on the same couch, which overlooks Hong Kong Park, had turned to deals.

Bank of America is headed for its best year advising on mergers and acquisitions in Asia-Pacific since 2005, and arranging initial public offerings since 2007, data compiled by Bloomberg show. The combined companies have generated 30 percent more revenue from traditional investment-banking businesses in the region than they did as separate entities, according to a person with knowledge of the matter who asked not to be identified because the figures aren’t public.

“It’s basically getting the focus back,” said Bajpai, 45, a 23-year Merrill Lynch veteran named co-head of Asia-Pacific corporate and investment banking in March 2009. “We spent five months stabilizing the ship, and then it turned. People were worried about the bank’s future, rather than worrying about the bank’s business.”

Read Full Article