BANKING

Wells Downplays Merger Impact: In a memo to managers regarding BankAmerica’s proposed acquisition of Security Pacific, Wells Fargo Chief Executive Carl E. Reichardt and President Paul Hazen noted that there is room for Wells to grow in California “even if we never did another acquisition.” The two executives said that in the early 1980s, B of A was four times the size of Wells. “We outperformed them then on quality, not quantity. We will continue to do it in the current decade,” Reichardt and Hazen said.