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The Bank of America Plaza (left) is seen reflected in the facade of a nearby building in downtown Dallas.\u00a0<\/p>\n
2019 File Photo\/Staff<\/p>\n
Things are about to get hectic for Bank of America, the official bank of FIFA World Cup 2026<\/a>, but not as hectic as Dallas has already been.\u00a0<\/p>\n With more 14,000 employees in North Texas broadly and about 1,000 at its current downtown tower, Bank of America<\/a> finds itself at the center of both\u00a0the rapid influx of financial services into Dallas-Fort Worth and\u00a0\u2014 as it plots a move to Uptown\u00a0\u2014 the debate over the future of Dallas’ urban core.<\/p>\n Wendy Stewart, the bank\u2019s Atlanta-based president of global commercial banking, and Jennifer Chandler, Bank of America\u2019s Dallas president and the incoming chair of the Dallas Regional Chamber, spoke with\u00a0The Dallas Morning News on Wednesday morning on the pressing topics facing the bank and North Texas. Here\u2019s what they said, edited for length and clarity:<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Why does a physical presence in a region still matter when much of banking happens through the cloud?<\/p>\n Stewart: \u201cWhat we find is that it doesn\u2019t matter if you are an individual through the companies that we cover in global commercial banking, and even into the large Fortune 50 companies that are here, at the end of the day, people want to do business with people that they know. Banking is a business that is built on trust, and without a relationship, you can\u2019t have trust. They want to have a local banker, because they have been in these communities for decades, in some cases over 100 years, and they want to have a banker that\u2019s based here, somebody that knows the community, somebody that their kids go to school with, they may worship together, they play sports together, they live life together, and that is crucial.<\/p>\n \u201cSo if we don\u2019t have people that are in this community, we\u2019re not going to be set up for success to deliver for clients and what they need. If everybody\u2019s up in the Northeast and has to fly back and forth, that model does not work for us. We\u2019ve been investing heavily into every market, and we find this is the same, whether you\u2019re in Dallas, you\u2019re in Boise, you\u2019re in Atlanta. \u2026 We\u2019re in 97 markets around the United States, and that sentiment from clients, where \u2018I want somebody on the ground and local,\u2019 is really strong, and that\u2019s why we\u2019ve been investing heavily in all of these markets, not just Dallas, but around the U.S.\u201d<\/p>\n Jennifer Chandler, Bank of America\u2019s Dallas president, speaks during the Dallas Regional Chamber\u2019s 2026 annual meeting at Music Hall at Fair Park in February.<\/p>\n Chitose Suzuki\/Staff Photographer<\/p>\n You\u2019ll be moving out of Bank of America Plaza for Bank of America Tower at Parkside next year<\/a>. What will the new location bring to the table?<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Chandler: \u201cWe\u2019ve got a beautiful building, One Bryant Park in New York, and when you\u2019re there, you see the vibrancy, the interaction across our colleagues, bringing us together. So it was time. It was important to stay in the city of Dallas, that was very key to the decision, and we have a lot of expertise on our real estate team that went through the process, and that location is going to be great for our clients. We\u2019re incredibly excited to be co-located with the Texas Stock Exchange<\/a>, and all that\u2019s going on there, and it\u2019ll have all the amenities we need. It\u2019s really important we do an incredible job retaining our employees. This is a great place to work. I mentioned I\u2019ve been here 25 years, that\u2019s very common. But knowing their needs, so amenities like having Klyde Warren Park right across the street, how exciting is that? \u2026 But it was a thoughtful process. Most importantly, is it great for our clients? Yes. Was it great for our employees? And then, could we stay in the city of Dallas?<\/p>\n \u201cThe other challenges you see in downtown Dallas, we\u2019re going to keep supporting. We\u2019ve personally donated several million to help with Dallas Housing Forward to look at what we\u2019re doing to compassionately help the homeless. Safe In The City, Bank of America was supportive of that. So we\u2019ll continue to support downtown. We want it to be vibrant as well, and we played a key role in that and continue to.\u201d<\/p>\n Related story: Dallas wants to put \u2018Y\u2019all Street\u2019 on the map, marking the city\u2019s growing financial corridor<\/a><\/p>\n Talk about y\u2019all\u2019s relationship with the Texas Stock Exchange and sharing a building in the future.<\/p>\n Chandler: \u201cWith the Texas Stock Exchange, you can imagine the corporate clients that Wendy\u2019s team covers and our investment banking team covers, those are our clients. You\u2019ll be able to walk through the door, have the experience, and so that just put a ribbon around [the new building].<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n \u201cWe obviously have a significant market share banking corporate clients, and the way we do that\u2019s incredibly important. It\u2019s a seamless experience from the individuals that walk through our financial centers, the CEOs that work with those companies, and bridging the conversation to the investment banks. So when you think about IPOs, all that\u2019s going to occur in that building.<\/p>\n \u201cTaking a broader step back, and what it means for the bank, the attraction of companies incorporating in Texas. People think of the stock exchange like, go ring the bell, and that\u2019s a fun, great thing. But the more exciting story is the work we\u2019re doing in Austin, and what we did ahead of the Texas Stock Exchange. It\u2019s here for a reason. We made the regulatory environment easier for people to list. We made it less expensive, and then the continued work is also to incentivize the company to incorporate in Texas versus places like Delaware. So that\u2019s the bigger part of the story. The physical location is incredible, but it\u2019s all that legislative work behind it that\u2019s going to mean that story continues to happen.\u201d<\/p>\n Was Bank of America part of the conversation in getting the Texas Stock Exchange to eventually sign a lease at the new tower<\/a>?<\/p>\n Chandler: \u201cWe left that to all the appropriate real estate people. I think everybody involved could probably see the natural synergy, but I wouldn\u2019t say we inserted ourselves in that process, nor even with the location. There\u2019s great buildings all over the Metroplex. We have relationships with every exchange. So I would just say we all, I think, saw the synergy and how incredible it would be, but we didn\u2019t drive the conversation.\u201d<\/p>\n At first ‘Y\u2019all Street’ was this nebulous concept of finance in North Texas. Now, there\u2019s a defined financial district emerging around Klyde Warren Park<\/a>, near your new office. What\u2019s y\u2019all\u2019s take on that?<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Chandler: \u201cI always say, all the tides rise together. There\u2019s plenty of opportunity for all of us, so it\u2019s exciting. It\u2019s not the old days, like when you literally had to walk the certificate down. So some of it is more symbolic, but the real synergy is important. One, we\u2019re going to be able to help make Dallas more vibrant across the board. All of the jobs, people are coming here, they\u2019re adding to the economic vitality and growth of North Texas. So that\u2019s huge. It\u2019s a win for the city of Dallas, because if you think of all the ancillary partners, the jobs, it\u2019s not just the exchanges and the financial institutions. There\u2019s regulatory, there\u2019s compliance, there\u2019s data, there\u2019s processing. So it means a win for this entire hub, and I already said it, but I\u2019ll say it again. It does also mean a win for downtown, which is so important to all of us. It will mean growth here.\u00a0It\u2019s a great place for young talent. Dallas is a young city.<\/a> They love to be able to work right here and hop over to the Katy Trail. It means we\u2019ll keep the financial services talent.<\/p>\n A rendering shows the Bank of America Tower at Parkside.\u00a0<\/p>\n Courtesy of TXSE<\/p>\n Stewart: \u201cIt also really helps to diversify the economy. Over the last 20 years, when you think about the U.S. economy and the cities or the geographies that have fared better than others, the more diversified the economies, those are the cities that are growing and thriving. And conversely, you can look at certain cities around the U.S. where that hasn\u2019t been the case. So I think to be able to diversify the economy for Dallas is huge. I totally agree with you on the talent, and what we typically see when we look at migration trends is, if someone moves into a community post-grad, the likelihood that they stay is going to be better. So that\u2019s just going to keep growing the economy over the long term.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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