In Brief

Harris Melds U.S., CanadaAsset Management Units

Harris Bank and its Canadian parent, Bank of Montreal, have combined their wealth management businesses into a single unit managing $58.4 billion in U.S. dollars.

The North American asset management group, launched Monday, is headed by Terry A. Jackson, executive vice president of asset management services and president of the Trust Company of Bank of Montreal.

A Bank of Montreal spokesman said the group was created "to maximize expertise north and south of the border" and to make the wealth management businesses more efficient.

"It's not being done to cut costs," the spokesman stressed. He said the group has 500 employees-300 of them in Canada-and expects to add more.

The move brings together the private-client businesses of three Bank of Montreal subsidiaries: Chicago-based Harris Trust; Toronto-based Nesbitt Burns, a brokerage firm; and Trust Company of Bank of Montreal. Together, they manage $36.5 billion of assets on behalf of wealthy people.

The group also includes two institutional asset management units, a discount brokerage, and two proprietary mutual fund families.

They are: Harris Investment Management, which manages $7.3 billion of client assets; Jones Heward Investment, a Bank of Montreal unit ($1.5 billion); Bank of Montreal's discount brokerage ($2.2 billion); the First Canadian Funds ($5.8 billion); and the Harris Insight Funds ($5.1 billion.)

The president of Harris Investment Management Inc., William Leszinske, and the senior vice president of Harris' investment products group, Peter Capaccio, now report to Mr. Jackson.--Katharine Fraser Banc One Names Ohio, W.Va. Trust Consultant

Banc One Corp. recently named Martha G. "Marty" Miller as trust consultant, a sales role, for its investment management group's operations in six cities in Ohio and West Virginia.

Banc One, Columbus, split up the sales forces of investment management and trust in January. There are 10 senior trust salespeople.

A new group of 52 investment consultants, dubbed Private Asset Management, are responsible for selling investment products for Banc One Securities Corp.

Private and commercial lenders throughout Banc One's system now refer clients separately to private asset management for investments and to trust consultants for fiduciary services.

Ms. Miller, an attorney, worked for National City Corp. in Columbus as a sales manager for investment and trust planning. She had also served as a trust legal officer for Cleveland-based National City.--Katharine Fraser

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