Motor city loses big wheels but not headquarters.

• Position: Charlotte

GMAC Inc. is based in Detroit. It says so on the automobile lender's Web site. It says so in its regulatory filings. But CEO Al de Molina lives and works in Charlotte. So do the company's chief risk officer, chief marketing officer, treasurer, head of human resources and chief compliance officer. By the litmus test of former Bank of America Corp. CEO Hugh McColl, GMAC is based in the Queen City. "Mr. McColl used to say, 'The headquarters is wherever I am,'" says de Molina, who worked at BofA for 17 years and has lived in Charlotte for 20. "I wouldn't go that far."

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Many have speculated that GMAC would move its headquarters to Charlotte because of the city's rich supply of banking talent. But Detroit has history and heartbreak on its side. GMAC, then General Motors Acceptance Corp., was started there 90 years ago to help GM sell cars. Since then, the Motor City has fallen on hard times. Its population has decreased 45% since 1960, and the unemployment rate in the metro area has been in double digits since January, hitting 16.4% in July. When it announced its major expansion in Charlotte last spring, GMAC decided not to move its headquarters. "The titular headquarters have always been in Detroit," de Molina says. "And we didn't think that Detroit nor Michigan needed to have another kick in the side of the head."

In 2006, GM sold controlling interest in GMAC to investors led by New York-based Cerberus Capital Management LP, and GMAC...