Chemical links corporate trust and global securities units.

Chemical Banking Corp.'s international transaction processing division is expected to announce today the creation of a new securities processing unit that will combine its corporate trust and global securities services operations into one organization.

The new unit of Chemical's Geoserve division will be called Global Securities and Trust.

"By integrating the operation under a single management structure, we will be able to leverage ourselves better to create better relationships with customers," said D'Arcy LeClair the senior vice president who is slated to head the new unit. "It will expand our flexibility and responsiveness in meeting the securities processing needs of corporate and institutional clients worldwide."

Mr. LeClair said the stimulus for the new unit was the belief that existing customers are looking for an integrated system for all their securities processing requirements.

"By combining the units, we will be able concentrate on new-product development and use existing relationships with Wall Street to provide a higher level of service," he said. "We are making a statement to the industry by making this move, which shows our commitment to providing customers with one unit, one team, and multiple services and products,"

Lawrence Willis, executive vice president of First Manhattan Consulting Group in New York, said, "With the higher percentage of foreign securities out there, the need for international expertise is increasing, so by bringing both of these operations together there is a synergy which links the expertise in both groups with the ability to provide support to existing and potential customers dealing with foreign institutions and foreign-based issues."

Since it merged with Manufacturers Hanover in 1992, Chemical's global trust department's accounting and reporting system, Chemtrust, has been plagued with technology problems.

But Mr. LeClair said the problems have been resolved and more than 5,700 of its accounts are on the system.

"We currently have over $60 billion in assets of our master trust and employee benefit accounts using the system. And it is working fine," he said. "The rest of the accounts, which include Ginnie Mae securities, large banks, and brokers are managed on separate systems which meet the specific needs of the accounts."

"Each function of the operation is different, and as such will continue to use various systems to handle the business needs," he continued.

Chemical, one of the top suppliers of securities processing services in the world, has over $1 trillion of assets under custody.

Earlier this summer, the bank announced that it would form a joint venture with Mellon Bank Corp. that will focus on providing stock transfer and shareholder services to publicly held companies. Industry sources said that move might have provided the catalyst for the new organization.

"The creation of Global Securities and Trust is totally separate from our arrangement with Mellon Bank but, in some ways [they] will complement each other," Mr. LeClair said. "We look at both of these moves as the best way we can provide services to the customer while strengthening our internal operation."

Geoserve is the operating services organization within Chemical Banking Corp. which provides transaction processing, fiduciary, and information services worldwide.

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