Family Office
Wachovia private bank appoints regional managers
Central and Northeast region heads join new business from Bank of
America. Wachovia has made two regional-management appointments
for its private-banking business, both poached from rival Bank of
America.
Trent Williams, formerly Baltimore market manager for Bank of
America's retail-oriented Premier Banking and Investments group,
has been made head of private banking for Wachovia Wealth
Management's Northeast region, which takes in New York, New
Jersey, Connecticut, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Delaware,
Washington, D.C., and northern Virginia.
More to come
Keith Schmidt, formerly Dallas division sales chief for Bank of
America's Premier group, takes the lead for Wachovia
private-banking business in Texas, Colorado and -- in a bit of a
geographic leap -- Chicago.
Williams in based in Baltimore; Schmidt is based in Dallas. They
report to Morrison Creech, managing director of Wachovia Private
Banking.
This past spring, Charlotte, N.C.-based Wachovia took Wachovia
Private Advisory Group out of its retail-banking line and made it
part of Wachovia Wealth Management, re-naming it Wachovia Wealth
Management Private Banking in the process.
Wachovia's private-banking group focuses on clients with between
$250,000 and $5 million in investable assets. By putting it into
its wealth-management channel, which generally targets investors
with at least $5 million, Wachovia thinks it will be better
positioned to shunt the bank's low-tier wealth clients to
higher-tier service offerings as they grow more affluent over
time.
But Wachovia Private Banking also hopes to grow along with a
growing population of "mass" affluent clients, whether or not
they graduate to higher wealth tiers.
Pointing to a forecast for a 30% increase in U.S. households with
$250,000 to $5 million in investable assets by 2010, Creech says
Wachovia wants "to be well positioned to grow and deliver our
robust suite of wealth products and services across a broader
client base."
Wachovia Private Banking plans to double its relationship-manager
force to around 500 over the next three years, with particular
emphasis on growth markets within the bank's retail footprint
such as New York, Florida, Texas and California. -FWR
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