Bankers Trust New York Corp. has tapped one of the highest-ranking woman in banking to oversee its international private banking operation.
On Tuesday, Bankers Trust announced that Karen N. Horn, chairman of Banc One Corp.'s Cleveland bank, would be coming aboard Oct. 1 as managing director and deputy head of private banking.
In hiring Ms. Horn, the $114 billion-asset New York banking company is gaining an executive with broad experience as a federal regulator as well as a banker.
Before assuming the chairmanship of Bank One Cleveland in 1987, Ms. Horn served for five years as president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland. During that time, she was also a member of the Federal Open Market Committee.
Ms. Horn is also a director of British Petroleum PLC, Eli Lilly & Co., Rubbermaid Inc., and TRW Inc. as well as being a trustee of the Rockefeller Foundation. In addition, she is a director of the U.S. Russia Investment Fund.
"It's hard to ignore someone with her background and connections," said Richard A. Marin, Bankers Trust's managing director and the head of both international and domestic private banking.
In her new post Ms. Horn will report to Mr. Marin. She is "a person who moves very well in the kind of circles - global, high net worth, and investments - that we need to travel in," he said.
Columbus, Ohio-based Banc One Corp. has made no formal announcement of Ms. Horn's departure. David Stith, chief executive of the Cleveland bank, will succeed her Sept. 30.
"As we consolidate our charters down from state to state, our CEOs are focusing on commercial banking, and that's not an area of interest to her," said John Russell, a Banc One spokesman.
Bankers Trust, with nine private banking offices and private clients in 50 countries outside the U.S., has been gaining steam in its international private banking business, according to executives who said it was time to carve out a separate position to handle the extra work. The bank currently manages more than $200 billion of client assets.
"The percentage of the international private banking has grown at a heady pace," Mr. Marin said. "It's harder and harder for one person to get their arms around the whole world."
Mr. Marin said he had initiated a search for the position with executive recruiters, but that Ms. Horn was recommended by Bankers Trust's head of human resources.
At that point other candidates paled by comparison. While Ms. Horn ran Bank One Cleveland, the bank's assets increased at an annual rate of 11% and its return on equity averaged approximately 19%.
It's hoped that her high-profile will raise the standard of private banking service at Bankers Trust.
"We've always had a strength of product at Bankers Trust that is second- to-none," Mr. Marin said. "Now there is a real emphasis on service and distribution to bring them up to the same level."
