KPMG Peat Marwick Appoints U.S. Financial Services Director

Jane H. Jelenko has been named national industry director for banking and financial services at KPMG Peat Marwick LLP, New York, the U.S. arm of KPMG International.

Ms. Jelenko, who starts Wednesday, succeeds Gene O'Kelly and will be responsible for assurance, tax, and consulting services for KPMG's banking and finance sector.

In an interview last week, Ms. Jelenko, 49, said that although KPMG's competitors might separate their audit, tax, and consulting areas, her main responsibility will be to connect these functions.

"Clients may not care about this, but there is increased value when we connect these business lines," she said. "Being on the board of directors for 20 years, I know that."

Based in Los Angeles, she also retains her title as national consulting leader for the industry segment, where she has advised financial institutions on strategy, reengineering, technology, and risk management. She joined Peat Marwick in 1977 and was named a partner in 1983.

Her unit has served all top 10 bank holding companies, including Wells Fargo & Co., Citicorp, First Union Corp., BankAmerica Corp., and Norwest Corp.

"As M&A activity continues in banking, there are clear underlying trends in this healthy market for companies to pay for these deals," Ms. Jelenko said. "Bank companies continue to look to extend their product lines." Some of these deals are fueled by the increasing costs of the year-2000 problem and of the European monetary unit, she said.

In 1970, Ms. Jelenko graduated cum laude from Barnard College in New York, and in 1977 she received her MBA from the University of Southern California, Los Angeles.

Before Ms. Jelenko joined Peat Marwick, she worked in operations research for the investment department of Morgan Guaranty Trust Co., New York, and managed technology at First Interstate Bank, Los Angeles. Her first job was with a software company in New York that built systems for money-center banks including Manufacturers Hanover Trust and First National City Bank.

Ms. Jelenko's promotion comes shortly after a key management shuffle at KPMG International, when Paul C. Reilly, 44, was named to the newly created post of international chief executive officer in the United States.

Mr. O'Kelly succeeded Mr. Reilly as vice chairman in charge of all financial services business for KPMG Peat Marwick, a post Mr. Reilly held since 1995.

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