BT Official Quits Amid Asset Management Reshuffling

A senior executive at Bankers Trust New York Corp. has left amid a restructuring of the bank's asset management group.

Frank P.L. Minard, a senior managing director in charge of asset management activities in the United States, said he would leave by yearend "to pursue other opportunities," according to an internal memorandum dated Dec. 16.

Mr. Minard departed as Bankers Trust is reshuffling the leadership of its asset management group.

The $140 billion-asset banking company has created a unit-global asset management services-which will be led by Mary Cirillo, a senior managing director and head of global institutional services who was hired away from Citicorp in June.

Bankers Trust spokesman William McBride said the reorganization was part of the bank's overall focus on matching services more closely with client groups. "The whole point was to get closer to the market," Mr. McBride said.

Bankers Trust is known for managing index funds. Of its $320 billion of assets under management, $220 billion are in index funds.

Analysts said Mr. Minard left because the reorganization would diminish his role.

His duties were split into two groups-quantitative asset management and active management. Jeremiah H. Chafkin, also a senior managing director, has assumed responsibility for the quantitative team, including index, cash, fixed-income, and stable-value funds. Mr. Chafkin was chief of staff for the investment management group.

Responsibility for actively managed funds was reassigned to the bank's private-client group, which is led by A.B. "Buzzy" Krongard, a vice chairman.

"He might have decided it was not worth his while if he wasn't going to be running the whole kit and caboodle," said Diane B. Glossman, an analyst at Lehman Brothers.

Analysts also said the changes reflect the continuing impact of mergers. In September Bankers Trust bought Alex. Brown & Sons, the Baltimore brokerage that specializes in equity underwriting. Mr. Krongard, whose group now oversees all of Bankers Trust's actively managed assets in the United States, was chief executive officer of Alex. Brown.

A highly regarded executive, Mr. Minard joined Bankers Trust two years ago from PaineWebber Group, where he was chairman of its Mitchell Hutchins Asset Management subsidiary.

Market watchers said they expect Mr. Minard to land another job soon, perhaps at Morgan Stanley Dean Witter Discover & Co.

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