Bank of Boston Promotes Its Media Lending Chief To Run Syndications

Bank of Boston Corp. on Tuesday named Mary-Etta Schneider as managing director and head of loan syndications, filling a key post that had been vacant since March.

Ms. Schneider, 42, had been at Bank of Boston for nine years, most recently as managing director and head of the bank's strong media and communications lending division.

She replaces James C. Lewis, who left Bank of Boston to head Fleet Financial Group's media and communications unit.

"Syndications is a key component of our strategy of bringing the full menu of capital markets solutions to our client base," said Rusty Aertsen, group executive of the bank's global capital markets group.

In the first half of the year, Bank of Boston ranked 14th in deal value among loan agents, leading $9.6 billion of loans, according to Loan Pricing Corp. It ranked eighth in number of deals, leading 50 transactions.

In 1995, under Mr. Lewis, the bank was the top syndicator of leveraged transactions of $50 million to $250 million.

"This is a company that does have a corporate banking legacy, and it is very strong in certain specialized industries," said Henry C. Dickson, a banking analyst at Smith Barney.

The bank's "strengths from a syndication point of view come out of their middle-market relationships," said Sally Pope Davis of Goldman Sachs & Co. She expects the bank to "become a more significant player" nationally.

Prior to joining Bank of Boston in 1987, Ms. Schneider spent 10 years with Citicorp in New York, where she structured and syndicated debt and equity for leveraged lease transactions.

She has also worked for the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

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