Huntington Consolidates Services for the Rich

Mirroring other banks' moves to make the most of wealthy clients, Huntington Bancshares has integrated trust, investments, and lending into a new "private financial group."

Huntington, based Columbus, Ohio, announced last month that it had set up the group. It follows a model used in recent years by BankBoston Corp., Compass Bancshares, Fleet Financial Corp., LaSalle National Corp., National City Corp., and PNC Bank Corp., among others.

Huntington manages $6 billion of assets for private clients. In the new group each is assigned an adviser who acts as a liaison to specialists in trust, investment management, lending, brokerage, and insurance.

"The products offered to our clients really represent as broad a reach as you'll find" in financial services for the rich, said Richard W. Stenberg, a director of the private financial group. Mr. Stenberg was most recently regional trust executive in the Cleveland area.

Two new markets for the group will be Naples and Sarasota, Fla., where Huntington recently announced it would buy 60 banking offices with $2.6 billion of deposits from NationsBank Corp.

Huntington already offers private financial services in Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, and West Virginia.

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