B of A exec who presided over merger of SecPac unit resigns.

Richard T. Griffith, the Bank-America Corp. executive vice president who headed the often-acrimonious merger of a major unit of the former Security Pacific Corp., has resigned.

Mr. Griffith, 51, said he would remain at BankAmerica through the summer to help with the merger of Continental Bank. Then, he said he is "retireing from banking" and has no specific job plans.

"My goal is to get my golf handicap to three," Mr. Griffith said.

No Replacement Yet

Mr. Griffith added that he had accomplished his goals, including the consolidation of institutional trust units and the revamping of the bank's global payments systems.

BankAmerica has not yet selected a replacement for Mr. Griffith, who in the spring of 1993 was appointed chief executive officer of several wholesale units including Sequor Group, a former SecPac unit specializing in securities lending and securities processing and clearing.

The group was believed to generate between $60 million and $100 million annually in earnings for Security Pacific.

Role in the Merger

When he took over Sequor, Mr. Griffith replaced BankAmerica veteran Richard Fulp, who resigned. At the time, Mr. Griffith was charged with accelerating the pace of the merger, and with moving several of Sequor's businesses from New York to San Francisco.

The merger left employees disgruntled as BankAmerica scrapped businesses that Sequor had been in, particularly the clearing of government securities for primary dealers.

In the two years following the merger, all of Sequor's top executives resigned.

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