Bank of America, whose offices throughout the country include this one in Dallas, is planning $4.63 billion in lending and investment over the next three years in Connecticut.

In an unexpected move, Charlotte, N.C.-based Bank of America has told Connecticut officials that it has plans for $4.63 billion in lending and investment over the next three years in the state. Meanwhile, Massachusetts officials are still waiting for similar commitments from the bank.

Last summer, officials in both states expressed their displeasure when the bank laid off employees, despite previous promises of maintaining employment levels. The bank later released specific numbers and assured the states that employment levels would be maintained over time.

Since then, Connecticut officials have encouraged the bank to make specific investment and employment commitments to the state.

“We want the bank to be as specific as possible,” said Attorney General Richard Blumenthal.

While the bank has made specific commitments to Connecticut, that is only part of a broader pledge to put $100 billion toward lending and investment in the Northeast over the next 10 years.

The bank also agreed to maintain – at least through the end of 2005 – the current minimum interest rates for Interest on Lawyers Trust Accounts, which supports legal aid services in the state.

“This is a significant starting point – and hopefully only a signal of what’s to come,” Blumenthal said in a prepared statement. “Bank of America is sending an important message that it understands both the opportunities and obligations of increased power and presence, opportunities to better its bottom line and obligations to better serve the public’s interest.”

State Treasurer Denise L. Nappier agreed.

“Bank of America has a tremendous opportunity to be a vigorous and dynamic force for economic growth in our state, providing much-needed capital and expertise to assist Connecticut businesses and families,” she said in a prepared statement.a

‘A Good Start’

According to BofA spokesman Greg Barnard, the bank is not releasing numbers in Massachusetts. He said BofA did not actually release numbers in Connecticut, either, but provided them to state officials during discussions.

Barnard said the bank has had numerous meetings with community groups in Massachusetts.

“The discussions were pretty detailed,” Barnard said.

However, the bank has yet to inform state officials in Massachusetts about its lending and investment goals.

David Cotney, deputy commissioner for the Massachusetts Division of Banks, said his office is still waiting to hear from the bank.

“We have not received any type of similar communication [as Connecticut],” Cotney said.

The bank plans to dedicate $4.63 billion to programs like small-business lending, consumer lending, affordable housing and economic development in Connecticut, according to the state treasurer’s office. Bank officials also told the attorney general and treasurer that it will establish a three-year, $1 million technical assistance community development fund to promote financial literacy and asset-building programs and support the development of low- or moderate-income housing.

“Certainly it’s a good start,” Blumenthal said.

Still, Blumenthal would eventually like to see more dollars committed and more specificity about issues like employment. The bank and the state are developing a relationship, he said.

“But the proof ultimately will be in the numbers,” he said. “I think we’re working through the issues.”

Cotney said he knows the bank is talking about goals with each individual state and is waiting to hear from the bank.

State Sen. Andrea Nuciforo Jr., co-chairman of the Legislature’s Financial Services Committee in Massachusetts, said he has yet to hear from the bank on state goals.

“We do expect to hear something from the bank in the next few weeks,” Nuciforo said.

However, Nuciforo said the bank has done a few things to firm up its commitment to Massachusetts, such as identifying community organizations it plans to work with, like the MassHousing Partnership, a self-supporting state agency that promotes the development and preservation of affordable housing.

Despite the commitments to community groups in Massachusetts, the bank hasn’t released exact figures like it did in Connecticut.

It’s unusual for large institutions to release specific numbers as Bank of America did in Connecticut because it could give clues to business plans, noted John Carusone, president of the Bank Analysis Center in Hartford.

“Frequently, large institutions are pretty tight-lipped about such things as employment levels and loan and depository goals,” said Carusone.

But a number of factors went into states like Massachusetts and Connecticut pressuring the bank to release specific goals. New England states, especially centers like Hartford and Boston – and to some extent, Providence, R.I. – were long home to headquarters of national banks. But the consolidation of the banking industry has resulted in the loss of institutions like FleetBoston Financial and others and has made New England states particularly sensitive to large institutions wielding their power, according to Carusone.

“Everyone’s a little anxious,” he said.

The anxiety was heightened last summer with the controversy over employment levels in the two states. Carusone said his readings of Massachusetts’ public records suggested there were “hard feelings about the carefree attitude of Bank of America with respect to the banking industry and the policymakers in Massachusetts.”

In fact, state Rep. John Quinn, the former co-chairman of the Committee on Banks and Banking in Massachusetts, filed in December “An Act Relative to the Board of Bank Incorporation and Bank Mergers,” which outlines four key provisions for bank mergers. Those include a statement from the acquiring institution that would have to include projections of anticipated bank branch closings and estimated job losses in the Bay State, including job reductions due to outsourcing of employment to locations outside of the country.

Another provision would require any acquiring financial institution to make an amount equal to 1 percent of its assets located in the state available for call by the Massachusetts Development Finance Agency for a period of 10 years for the purpose of providing loans to the agency for loan financing, bond issuance, commitment guarantees or any other uses.

In Connecticut, state officials aren’t the only ones paying attention to the recent disclosure of $4.63 billion in lending goals. That could mean $4.63 billion less for the state’s community banks to lend over the next three years, Carusone said.