Concord still top bank fund administrator, despite woes of its client BankAmerica.

Concord Holding Corp. held on as the largest administrator of bank mutual funds in the quarter that ended June 30 despite a plunge in the fund assets of its biggest client, BankAmerica Corp.

The New York-based company administered $27.6 billion of bank mutual fund assets at midyear, $800 million less than at the end of March, according to Lipper Analytical Services Inc., Summit, N.J., which compiled the data.

The drop was caused by BankAmerica's loss of one-fifth of its proprietary mutual fund assets - or $2.1 billion - as institutional investors fled a troubled money market fund.

Concord was able to gain enough new business to soften the blow.

Specifically, Concord brought out a new mutual fund family with $276 million of assets for First American Corp., Nashville, and picked up $702 million of assets from a new contract with Keycorp.

The new funds don't have as much "hot" institutional money, which Concord's management hopes translates into steadier assets and fees.

"There's more stability than there ever was before," said Joseph F. Kissel, a Concord executive vice president.

Further good news came July 1 - too late for the second-quarter ranking - when Keycorp moved in another $1 billion of fund assets to Concord.

Eventually, Concord is expected to get the remaining $2.9 billion of Keycorp mutual fund assets now administered by Winsbury Co., Columbus, Ohio, though no decision has been announced.

Administrators can do important work for mutual funds, like marketing, distribution, training, and regulatory filings. Banks aren't required to use them, but most do, since these firms can be a significant source of expertise.

The rankings of the largest bank mutual fund administrators were little changed from the first quarter. PFPC Inc., a Wilmington, Del., unit of PNC Bank Corp., Pittsburgh, held onto the second position, with $25.8 billion of assets.

Although the lion's share of PFPC's assets are institutional funds, it managed to avoid the problems Concord had, and actually gained $1.1 billion of assets.

PFPC's position among banks is bolstered by its relationship with PNC, for which it administers about $20 billion of proprietary fund assets. PFPC's second-biggest bank client is Comerica Inc., Detroit, with $3.5 billion of assets.

One new name appeared among the largest bank fund administrators - Shareholder Services Group, Boston, a unit of First Data Corp., Hackensack, N.J.

Shareholder Services bought the administration business from Boston Co., a unit of Mellon Bank Corp., Pittsburgh, and grew its bank assets by $600 million to $22.3 billion.

Mellon's fund administrator is Boston Institutional Services Inc., a privately held company run by Boston Co.'s former president William J. Nutt.

The biggest new client in the quarter was landed by a relative newcomer to the business - Sunstone Financial Group Inc., Milwaukee. It administers Northern Trust Corp.'s new Northern Funds, which used converted trust funds to seed most of their $1.7 billion of assets.

Sunstone was formed in 1989 by a former Firstar Corp. mutual fund executive, Miriam Allison. Until its deal with Northern, Sunstone's only bank client was Firstar, which had $2.4 billion of assets in the quarter.

"We chose them because they are very familiar with the private banking and personal trust business," said Northern executive vice president Sheila A. Penrose.

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