The merger of Bank of America and MBNA originally looked like a daunting case of disparate cultures being mashed together. One was firmly in the suit-and-tie, cult-of-the-customer camp, while the other was a business casual, let's-grow-by-merging sort of a company. But Bank of America made it work. It chose to keep various important MBNA methods and its sprawling IT system. It also locked in several top MBNA executives. And it managed to tinker with the dress code and other conventions without upending the ship. Not all MBNA employees have to suit up every day. In many ways, the biggest issue in a merger of this scale is culture. I think the Charles Schwab-U.S. Trust deal was one that could not find a way to meld two distinct cultures.

For more:
- here's an article from The New York Times
- A branding shift for Bank of America. Article