1st Union Lures a Chase Executive For Private Banking Drive in

First Union Corp., swiftly staffing up for a Northeast expansion, has plucked a top executive from Chase Manhattan Corp. to lead efforts to lure affluent customers.

F. Daniel Prickett will join First Union as head of private banking on July 10, the Charlotte, N.C., banking company said Thursday.

A 25-year veteran of the investment management business, Mr. Prickett has spent the past two years at Chase Manhattan. He served as head of U.S. private banking in 1993, and last year became managing executive for Chase Asset Management, a unit that manages $26 billion in mutual funds, unit trusts, and private accounts.

He arrives at First Union as the company is preparing to merge with First Fidelity Corp., a $36 billion-asset banking company in Lawrenceville, N.J. The merger, coupled with some smaller, pending acquisitions, will transform First Union into a $123 billion-asset banking powerhouse.

While First Union officials said talks with the new private banking chief began three months before last week's merger announcement, the company emphasized in announcing Mr. Prickett's appointment that he is arriving at a pivotal time.

"The First Fidelity merger opens the door to the nation's most affluent market, and we plan to leverage our robust private banking line throughout this expanded territory," the announcement said.

First Fidelity's operation spans five Northeastern states, and takes in the wealthy New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut suburbs of New York City.

Industry observers said Mr. Prickett's recent experience in the New York-area market makes him a prize catch.

First Union is "one of the few banks that seem to grow the business with an eye on market share," instead of simply trying to outdo last year's performance, said Richard Scheide, a private banking consultant with David Ross Palmer Associates.

"I can't believe he would have gone to First Union if he didn't think that they intended to be one of the top private banking and trust companies in the country," Mr. Scheide added.

At First Union, Mr. Prickett will report to Donald A. McMullen Jr., an executive vice president who oversees the company's capital management group.

"Definitely, this is a show of force for us, and a show of commitment to delivering private banking services in all our markets," Mr. McMullen said in a telephone interview.

Right now, First Union has a team of 250 client managers for the affluent, working out of 35 private banking centers - which will increase to 55 centers once the merger is completed. First Union manages $11.8 billion in private client assets, which include trust and private banking customers.

Mr. McMullen said the plans are to expand the number of managers and centers, but added that it was too soon to say how much. What is clear is that First Union is positioning its private banking effort as much more than simply a lending resource for the well-to-do.

"I think that this could be one of the ultimate delivery vehicles for packaging our services together, especially for the affluent," Mr. McMullen said. It would include "everything, down from asset management, to private banking, to trust services."

In hiring Mr. Prickett, industry observers say, First Union is getting an investment expert whose 25 years of experience include stints at the Boston Co., including 13 years in California as head of its Boston Safe Deposit and Trust Co. unit.

Separately, First Union is expected today to complete its purchase of the ABT Funds, a Palm Beach, Fla.-based mutual fund family that is marketed to the wealthy.

- Cristina Merrill contributed to this report.

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