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NATIONAL URBAN LEAGUE’S PRESIDENT HUGH B. PRICE 

TESTIMONY 

IN SUPPORT OF NATIONSBANWBANK OF AMERICA APPLICATION 

FOR MERGER 

FEDERAL RESERVE BOARD 

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Go& day, my name is Hugh B. Price, I am the President of the National 

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Urban League (NUL) headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1910, 

the NUL was formed to assist African Americans making the transition from 

the rural south to the northern industrial cities. During this period in 

American history, African Americans were fighting Jim Crow laws and other 

post reconstruction policies. In order to overcome the poverty that was a 

result of these exclusionary policies, the NUL developed programs to 

enhance employment, education and housing opportunities. 

Today, the mission of the Urban League movement is to help African 

Americans and other people of color become economically self-reliant and 

equal citizens under law, Building on the substantial work and influence 

of our 115 affiliates, our three-pronged agenda is to: 
9 Ensure the academic and social development of children so that they 

are equipped for self-reliance and citizenship in the 21” century; 

9 Promote racial inclusion and harmony so the opportunity structure is 

open to those we serve; and 

9 Foster economic self-sufficiency for our constituents through gainful 

employment, business development and homeownership. 

Through our economic self-sufficiency agenda the NUL has developed 

partnerships with various financial lending institutions like NationsBank. As 

a result of these relationships, the NUL is in a keen position to discuss an 

institution’s record of performance and commitment to serving communities 

of color. 

The NUL supports the NationsBank and Bank of America application to 

merge. We have a long history of partnership with NationsBank. 

Throughout this partnership, we have seen NationsBank demonstrate its 

commitment to ensuring that African Americans and others of color have 

access to credit and reside in communities that are economically viable. I 

would like to highlight five examples that evidence NationsBank’s record of 

performance. 
First, NationsBank’s President for Community Initiatives, Cathy Bessant, 

testified before the Senate Banking committee chaired by Senator 

Alphonse D’AMato’s with advocacy and community groups in support of 

both strengthening and maintaining the Community Reinvestment Act 

(CRA). It was unique to find a leading financial lending institution willing to 

sit on the same panel with advocacy groups and offer complimentary 

testimony on behalf of enhancing the CRA. This act by NationsBank alone 

demonstrates the bank’s courage and commitment to extending credit to 

those *who have been traditionally neglected. 

Second, NationsBank’s commitment to the prevention and eradication of 

differential treatment at the branch level. Through its mystery-shopping 

initiative, NationsBank conducts self-testing at the branch level to detect 

patterns of differential treatment by its employees. We think that 

NationsBank’s interest in policing itself demonstrates foresight, and that is 

another reason why the NUL supports NationsBank’s application to merge. 

Third, NationsBank made a commitment to lend $10 billion over the next 10 

years to underserved communities. Within a four-year period, NationsBank 

had not only met its commitment, but exceeded it by providing $13 billion to 
traditionally neglected communities. We are sure that the new bank will 

exceed its $350 billion commitment to underserved communities. 

Fourth, NationsBank pledged to provide $25 million to Community 

Development Financial Institutions (CDFls) through its own CDFI fund 

Again, NationsBank showed courage and commitment when it announced 

the establishment of its CDFI fund on the same day that President Clinton 

signed the federal CDFI fund into law. It was NationsBank’s view that their 

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fund would complement the federal governments effort to finance CDFls. 

We viewed that NationsBank’s announcement of the $25 million CDFI fund 

as another sign of its commitment to increasing access to credit for 

traditionally underserved communities. 

Fifth, NationsBank held Blueprint 2000. Blueprint 2000 was a convening of 

nearly 500 community leaders from 111 urban and rural communities 

across the country. The event served as a retreat and think tank for 

community groups to seriously ponder their neighborhood’s development 

opportunities 

Finally, let me add that NationsBank has been very aggressive in 

advancing African American executives up the ladder to positions of profit- 
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and-loss responsibility for major business units. Its impressive track record 

could be and should be emulated by other financial institutions. 

We look forward to seeing the enlightened philosophy of NationsBank 

extend throughout the entire footprint of the new bank. 

We believe that the new bank offers the opportunity for unprecedented 

economic growth. in the communities that Urban Leagues serve. As a 

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result, the new bank will create new venues for venture capital, enhance 

the level of mortgage credit to low income areas, and revitalize 

economically distressed neighborhoods, making the regions served by this 

entity more viable and prosperous. To this end, the League will share with 

executives of the bank its ideas on how the newly-constituted bank can 

enhance credit and economic opportunities for African Americans as well 

as those with low incomes, We look forward to working with the new bank 

to address the economic issues facing our constituency and 

enthusiastically support their application for merger. 
I stand before you today a Bishop in the African Methodist 

Episcopal Zion Church, a denomination with a membership 

totaling more than 3.5 million people worldwide headed by the 

Board of Bishops, of which I am a member, including: Bishop Cecil 

Bishop, Bishop George W. Walker, Sr., Bishop Milton A. Williams, 

Bishop S. Chuka Ekemam, Sr., Bishop Joseph Johnson, Bishop 

Richard K. Thompson, Bishop Enoch B. Rochester, Bishop 

Marshall H. Strickland, Bishop Clarence Carr, Bishop Nathaniel 

Jarrett, and Bishop Warren M. Brown. It is with great pride that 

I relish the opportunity to extol the virtues of NationsBank, an 

organization with which I can relate back almost a quarter of a 

century. Under the leadership of Hugh McCall, NationsBank has 

not only done well for itself but it has done well for all the areas 

in which it has flourished. I’m not here to testify as to what 

NationsBank has done around this great country, but in the 

region nearest and dearest to my heart, the Charlotte1 
I 

I stand before you today a Bishop in the African Methodist 

Episcopal Zion Church, a denomination with a membership 

totaling more than 3.5 million people worldwide headed by the 

Board of Bishops, of which I am a member, including: Bishop Cecil 

Bishop, BishoIj George W. Walker, Sr., Bishop Milton A. Williams, 

Bishop S. Chuka Ekemam, Sr., Bishop Joseph Johnson, Bishop 

Richard K. Thompson, Bishop Enoch B. Rochester, Bishop 

Marshall H. Strickland, Bishop Clarence Carr, Bishop Nathaniel 

Jarrett, and Bishop Warren M. Brown. It is with great pride that 

I relish the opportunity to extol the virtues of NationsBank, an 

organization with which I can relate back almost a quarter of a 

century. Under the leadership of Hugh McCall, NationsBank has 

not only done well for itself but it has done well for all the areas 

in which it has flourished. I’m not here to testify as to what 

NationsBank has done around this great country, but in the 

region nearest and dearest to my heart, the Charlotte1 
Mecklenburg Metropolitan Area. 

As you probably already know, the Charlotte Metropolitan 

Area with its population approaching 2 million, is one of the 

fastest growing areas of the United States. I have lived in 

Charlotte since 1974 and have watched it and NationsBank grow 

exponentially. My first interaction with NationsBank came in 

1975, when I was the pastor of Gethsemane A.M.E. Zion Church 

and founded the Gethsemane Enrichment Program. The 

Gethsemane Enrichment Program was established as and still 

remains a program for underprivileged children in the Charlotte 

area, which provides after school and summer supplementary 

academic support, enrichment activities, and personal growth 

opportunities. Currently, 500 children participate in this program 

which has been nationally recognized by President Bush and the 

U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and locally 

recognized by two governors of North Carolina and numerous 

2 
The Kghr Rcvercnd George E. Bar&. Jr. Mrs. Iris Miller Barrlc 

l’miding B;rhop Miriionq Suprru;ror 

other state and local organizations. 

However, before the recognition and the success of the 

program, NationsBank, then North Carolina National Bank, was 

a strong corporate partner in the effort to get it off the ground. 

Hugh McCall,’ then president of what is now NationsBank, 

donated a desperately needed bus to the program on behalf of the 

bank. This bus enabled us to get the Enrichment Program off the 

ground, by providing a means of transportation for children 

whose families often did not have cars to get their children to the 

program. Since then, NationsBank has contributed hundreds of 

thousands of dollars to the program, three brand-new large 

capacity vans, and the help of hundreds of other local businesses 

who saw NationsBank’s example and followed its lead. 

This type of community involvement is indicative of the kind 

of corporation NationsBank is. When many corporations were 

asked to help, they answered with a standard, ‘What’s in it for 

3 
F,;:‘i, ! 

Eastern North.C;~~l!,~aEpiscopal District 

The Righr Reverend George E. Barrle, Jr. Mrs. Iris Miller Bartlc 

Pmiding Bishop Mi*,ionoly Suprrs;‘or 

us?” NationsBank answered, “How can we help make the program 

a success?” There was nothing in it for NationsBank. None of the 

people involved with starting up the program, including myself, 

could have offered the bank anything of value. Most of the 

children’s parents we served had either negligible or no business 

with the bank. NationsBank invested because it felt that this 

program would be good for the community, period. It is this kind 

of farsighted leadership that has enabled NationsBank to be 

where it is today as a corporation, and Charlotte to be where it is 

today as a community. 

Additionally, I have personally seen NationsBank at work in 

three other situations. A few years ago at Livingstone College, a 

small, historically black institution in Salisbury, N.C. a town 

about 30 miles north of Charlotte administered by the A.M.E. Zion 

Church, NationsBank 

interest rate far lower 

gave a $7 million dollar loan with an 

than even the best market rates. Before 

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receiving this loan Livingstone was facing dis-accreditation by the 

regional accreditation committee for institutions of higher 

learning. NationsBank’s loan not only enabled Livingstone to 

correct the things it needed to correct for re-accreditation, but 

also gave it’ the money it needed to make much needed 

improvements to the school’s physical facilities and academic 

programs. 

In a similar vein, NationsBank granted a $500,000 lowinterest loan to Clinton Junior College, another A.M.E. Zion 

Church-administered school to help it with re-accreditation. 

Clinton is located in Rock Hill, South Carolina a town 20 miles to 

the south of Charlotte. Clinton was really struggling until the 

loan from NationsBank gave it new life. 

Here in California a short while ago, an A.M.E. Zion church 

was burned down. Today, that church is rebuilt largely due to the 

surreptitious efforts of NationsBank in giving and obtaining 

5 
financing on low-interest loans. 

Many of my colleagues on the Board of Bishops could give 

numerous examples of the instances in which NationsBank has 

granted loans to churches in their areas. Churches which could 

not get loans ‘previously, just based on the fact they were in 

“undesirable” areas, were extended loans by NationsBank, thus 

enabling thousands of people the privilege of worshiping in their 

own communities. Without NationsBank, these parishioners 

would never have been able to enjoy the privilege of worshipping 

in their communities like millions of other human beings. 

These are but a few examples of NationsBank’s corporate 

community activism. The revitalization of downtown Charlotte, 

contributions to the arts, funding for low-income housing, funding 

for churches in so-called “undesirable areas” and support for the 

public schools are other examples of the pots in which 

NationsBank has its super-philanthropic fingers. Many of its 
The kghr Reverend George E. Bark Jr. 

l’miding Bbhop 

Mrs. lrir Miller Barrle 

h4i*,ionnry Suprr”;,o, 

endeavors go unpublicized, but as I mentioned earlier, 

NationsBank is not a “what’s in it for me corporation.” Under the 

wise leadership of Hugh McCall and the ever-accessible 

NationsBank management team, the bank has seemed to come to 

the realization that like a domesticated fish, a company can grow 

no bigger than the bowl it is in. If that bowl is kept in good 

condition, good things are put in and the bowl is kept clean the 

fish will grow and flourish. In a community, if it is kept in good 

condition, investments made in its people and infrastructure, and 

the blights of poverty and ignorance are combated, the company 

will grow and flourish. 

I highly recommend the merger between NationsBank and 

BankAmerica and can say with confidence that the vast majority 

of my colleagues on the Board of Bishops endorse it as well. It is 

can understandable why some will be leery of it. I mean the 

prospect of a coast-to-coast banking is unprecedented, but the 
The Rirghr Reverend George E. Barrle, Jr. Mrs. Iris Miller Bar& 

Priding Bishop Mirrionary Supcrviror 

opportunities that will be created in communities all over this 

country 

creation 

will far outweigh any apprehensions created by the 

of this benevolent giant. I have nothing personally to 

gain from testifying on behalf of NationsBank today, in fact I am 

on the state b’oard of directors for First Union, one of its chief 

competitors. However, I and my colleagues believe there is 

something to be gained for the lives of the communities and 

individuals affected by this merger if they are even blessed with 

a percentage of the activist spirit exhibited by Hugh McCall and 

NationsBank. 

In closing, NationsBank is a model corporate citizen and 

from what I’ve read and heard about Bar&America, it seems like 

the old adage stating “birds of a feather flock together” is true. As 

a representative of the Board of Bishops of the A.M.E. Zion 

Church, a citizen of the Charlotte area, and a private individual, 

I give, for whatever it is worth, the highest endorsement to this 

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marriage of two giants of finance and corporate conscience.