Monday, Aug. 21, 1950

Insured Dates

The walls of seven Bank of America branches last week blossomed with pictures of a pretty girl, captioned "LISA, who is she?" Employees also sported picture buttons of dark-haired, smiling LISA.

Customers soon found that LISA stood for "Life Insurance Savings Account," the hustling $5.7 billion Bank of America's newest pitch. Under the LISA plan, any customer between the age .of three months and 46 years, who agrees to save from $200 to $1,000 by making regular monthly deposits, gets a free life-insurance policy without a physical examination. If the depositor dies before his savings program is completed, his beneficiary gets the full amount that he intended to save.

LISA is the creation of polished, personable Executive Vice President Evan A. Mattison, who has rung up many a banking "first" for the Bank of America. He set up its installment financing system, also lured in many a small businessman by lending him working capital on accounts receivable. He thinks that LISA will not only bring in new customers, but will persuade present depositors to save on a more regular basis. Said he last week: "Insurance makes them squeeze their piggy banks every month." At week's end, some 200 new customers had made a date with LISA. Eventually, Mattison hopes to get 500,000 new savings deposits.

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