Diffusion, founded in 1995, claims to have over 35 customers including
BankAmerica, BankOne, First Union Bank, SmithKline Beecham, and GTE TSI.
The write-down came during the same quarter that saw the merger of the former Charlotte, North Carolina-based NationsBank with San Francisco-based
BankAmerica Corporation.
After working in the White House, she became vice president of syndications at
BankAmerica Capital Markets Group in San Francisco.
BNP's bid would involve the second-highest price ever paid in a bank deal, falling just shy of the pounds 25.9 billion merger between NationsBank and
BankAmerica last year.
The company obtained the improvements and modifications to its secured credit facility from its existing lenders, led by
BankAmerica Business Credit Inc., which has served as agent for Hills' bank group since October 1996.
Companies mentioned include Chase Manhattan (CMB), Northern Trust (NTRS),
BankAmerica (BAC), NationsBank (NB), Franklin Resources (BEN), AIG (AIG), Medtron ic (MDT), Bristol-Myers (BMY), Eli Lilly (LLY), Uniyted Healthcare (UNH), Humana (HUM), Dayton Hudson (DH), Gap (GPS), Dollar General (DG), Family Dollar (FDO), W algreen (WAG), Gillette (G), Procter & Gamble (PG), Lucent Technologies (LU), AT& T (T), Cisco (CSCO), EMC Corp.
Led by the Federal Home Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae) with a 40% gain and
BankAmerica Corp.
BankAmerica alone reportedly has more than $3 billion in outstanding loans to South Korean firms, and Citicorp more than $2 billion.
All the companies (American Standard,
BankAmerica, Microsoft, Norell and USAA) consider technology controls a serious business strategy issue, Bashein notes, and all have multiple safety nets, with social controls - that is, peer pressure from other employees to behave responsibly and take good security precautions - as the last line of defense.
The moves highlight jostling in a long-staid sector that reaches fever pitch in 1992 when San Francisco's
BankAmerica Corp., the nation's No.
BankAmerica, for example, plans to save $1 billion annually by firing up to 15,000 workers.
The group confirmed that it had held talks with
BankAmerica on the purchase of the US bank's retail operations in Taiwan, Singapore and India.