Republic New York Corp. said Wednesday that it had named Dov C. Schlein to succeed chairman and chief executive officer Walter H. Weiner as part of a new senior management team.
Mr. Schlein, 51, is scheduled to begin his new role in April, when the 68-year-old Mr. Weiner said he plans to retire. Mr. Schlein has been president of the bank and vice chairman of the corporation since 1986.
The announcement comes in the middle of a reorganization by the $50.4 billion-asset bank. The goal is to channel resources to retail and private banking operations and away from the exotic trading activities that spelled trouble for the bank last quarter, analysts said.
Because of losses in Russian securities holdings, Republic reported a $92.7 million loss for the third quarter, compared with profits of $112.3 million a year earlier. Republic announced the restructuring program in October.
Analysts said the management changes appeared to be an orderly succession and not linked to the bank's third-quarter difficulties.
Some market watchers said the bank began planning the restructuring long before trading woes mounted. "They have been developing a new strategy, and they are putting in a new management team to help carry it out," said Ronald Mandle, an analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein & Co.
Mr. Schlein joined Republic in 1976 as vice president in operations. In his early career, he spent six years at KPMG Peat Marwick LLP, where he worked on audits of financial institutions. Mr. Schlein is a certified public accountant.
Analysts said Mr. Schlein, like Mr. Weiner, has maintained a low profile over the years, and therefore few details about him are known. Mr. Schlein was not available to comment Thursday.
Two other Republic executives were also promoted.
Elias Saal, 46, is to succeed Mr. Schlein as president of the bank and will become chairman of the executive committee of the bank and the corporation. He has been vice chairman since 1995.
Stephen J. Saali, 34, will become president of the corporation and vice chairman of the bank. He was named managing director of the corporation in 1997.
In a statement Wednesday, Mr. Weiner said the company will publicize the results of its business-line review in the first quarter. Analysts are expecting Republic to record a restructuring charge then.
Mr. Weiner has been chairman since 1980. Before that, he spent 15 years as an attorney at New York law firm Kronish Lieb Weiner & Hellman, leaving as a senior partner to become Republic's chairman. During his tenure, Republic grew from $6.4 billion of assets to $50.4 billion and its branch network spread from 36 offices to 104 throughout the New York region.
In a statement, Mr. Weiner credited Republic's global management with helping the company build "its extraordinary niche in worldwide banking."
