Orange County executives working at America’s biggest banks are continuing to rise high up the corporate ladder.
The latest is Newport Beach-based Mark Sederquist, who in July was named Bank of America’s California division executive for consumer banking and investments, overseeing all business strategy and operations for the bank’s largest retail market.
Sederquist is responsible for 870 retail financial centers—previously called bank branches—with about 8,700 employees, or more than a fifth of the bank’s entire consumer retail workforce.
The bank has relationships with one out of every two California households and deposits of $237 billion.
Even though his predecessor worked out of San Francisco, Sederquist, a resident of Ladera Ranch, intends to stay in Orange County.
“My roots are here. My family is here,” he said during an interview at his Fashion Island office that overlooks Newport Beach harbor. “This is one of the most beautiful places in the country, the world.”
Bank of America is the largest bank by deposits operating in Orange County, with $22.8 billion as of June 2018, according to the Business Journal’s annual list. Its market president continues to be Allen Staff.
No Way But Up
Raised in the Central Valley city of Turlock, Sederquist graduated from Stanislaus State University with a business degree that included an internship at Merrill Lynch. A friend of his father inspired him to become a financial adviser and two weeks after graduation, he started at Morgan Stanley.
In 2002, he jumped to Bank of America’s investment unit in San Diego. In 2004, he arrived in Orange County, where the financial adviser unit at that time ranked No. 37 out of 42 markets based on the bank’s metrics, Sederquist recalled.
“There was no way to go but up,” Sederquist said. “Within 24 months, we were number one in the country.”
As a result of the 2008 financial crisis, Bank of America acquired Merrill Lynch, a deal that wasn’t the smoothest, he said.
“At that time, many of the Merrill Lynch advisers looked at the bank as a hindrance or a liability,” Sederquist said. “I was able to come in and quickly show the advisers how to maximize relationships.”
With a base in Laguna Hills, he eventually was in charge of a complex of Merrill Lynch offices. In late 2009, it ranked 113th out of 120 complexes.
“By the end of 2011, we were No. 1 in the country,” he said.
His climb continued in 2014 when he was named to oversee a division encompassing Southern California and Arizona at Merrill Edge, the bank’s online, call center and bank-branch brokerage platform.
8.7K Employees
The fact that the bank didn’t pick an executive from the branch banking side of the business and instead is relying on someone with Sederquist’s background in wealth management is a clear sign of the bank’s future focus.
Traffic at the centers has fallen about 12% annually as about three-fourths of its checks are deposited outside the branches. Bank of America is handling 40 million deposits online per quarter.
Hence, the bank nationally has reduced its branch count from 6,100 about five years ago to about 4,300, a level that should be maintained going forward, he said.
The Merrill Banking Edge
Bank of America has spent more than $120 million to renovate 62 of its 86 centers in Orange County.
“When you walk in, it almost looks like a Merrill Lynch office than a formal bank branch,” Sederquist said.
The centers now have home loan specialists, small business bankers and financial advisers. It’s able to compete against registered investment advisers by offering lower fees of 45 to 85 basis points versus the RIAs who often charge “well above that,” Sederquist said.
It’s emphasizing education such as protecting clients from elderly abuse fraud, advising first-time homebuyers, and visiting nonprofits and schools to educate students on finance.
He wants employees to stay with the bank so they can help build longer-term relationships. Employees will also be spending more time with churches, local chambers, veteran groups, and nonprofit boards.
The teller line is hidden near the back to de-emphasize that area. The bankers now focus on “relationships” rather than transactions such as deposits. Instead of waiting for customers to walk in the door, the bankers are expected to drum up business.
“The financial centers have changed,” Sederquist said. “In the past, 25 to 30 years ago, they were these massive 15,000-square-foot pillar branches with marble. Those days have changed a lot. Our financial centers now are about 4,500 square feet. We don’t need all that excess space.
“We have changed with the times.”
OC’s Banking
Influence Growing
While Orange County’s banking world isn’t as large as San Francisco or Los Angeles’, local executives are making a notable mark at some of America’s largest financial entities.
A key reason is that Orange County “is a top performing market year in and year out,” according to Mark Sederquist, who was recently tapped to head Bank of America’s consumer banking and investments for California.
Other high-ranking executives based in Orange County for large American banks:
• Bank’s executive vice president of commercial and corporate banking, overseeing a number of divisions in five Western states.
• Irvine-based Joe Yurosek is California market president at Fifth Third Bank.
• Brian Mulvaney, who worked at Union Bank’s Irvine office as managing director overseeing commercial banking in Orange County, last month was promoted to market president for the Pacific Northwest region. Union Bank’s Irvine office also includes Mike Feldman, who is the national director overseeing its private bank and its $32.2 billion in wealth assets, and Dick Chatham, managing director, group head of the bank’s real estate industries.
• Mechanics Bank’s John DeCero, who often works at its Irvine office, is co-chief executive at what is now the state’s fifth largest following its takeover of RaboBank.
