Alliance Capital Management, New York, has reorganized its mutual fund distribution efforts, reshuffling several executive roles.
Richard Davies, a senior vice president who had been responsible for Alliance's bank distribution efforts, has been reassigned to cover relationships with a range of advisory-based sales channels, said Michael Laughlin, chairman of Alliance's distribution arm.
The bank channel operation will now report to Richard Saccullo, an executive vice president, who will be responsible for all "transactional" or brokerage-type sales of mutual funds in the United States, Mr. Laughlin said. Mr. Saccullo previously had sole responsibility for fund sales through nonbank broker-dealers, Mr. Laughlin said.
Mr. Davies, meanwhile, will head up a "consultative sales" unit, Mr. Laughlin said; its concerns will include wrap-fee, retirement, and high- net-worth strategies. These units had reported to Mr. Laughlin.
"The advisory area has been growing rapidly, and Dick has a good feel for that side of the business," Mr. Laughlin said.
Mr. Davies will, however, retain some key senior relationships with certain banking companies, such as NationsBank Corp. and First Union Corp., both in Charlotte, N.C., Mr. Laughlin said. In his new role, Mr. Davies will also seek to expand Alliance's share of the bank trust department business.
He "will also retain his role as the liaison with the Equitable, which is our parent and has its own captive sales force," Mr. Laughlin said.
Meanwhile, Alliance has hired David Conine from Merrill Lynch & Co. as an executive vice president and director of marketing, products, and strategic relationships. Mr. Conine was at Merrill for 28 years and most recently headed its fund marketing. He joined Alliance Monday, and the other changes were effective last week.
Mr. Conine was hired to free Mr. Laughlin from day-to-day management responsibilities and allow him to focus on other areas, such as the distribution of Alliance's offshore funds, Mr. Laughlin said. Like Mr. Davies and Mr. Saccullo, Mr. Conine reports to Mr. Laughlin.
Mr. Conine's hiring is related to the reshuffling of responsibilities in Alliance's distribution area, in that it gave Mr. Laughlin the chance to assess the management structure, he said.
The reorganization is not a detour from Alliance's strategy to increase its distribution efforts through banks, Mr. Laughlin said. The company, which has $219 billion of assets under management, is still intent on building a 14-person, bank-focused sales force and is searching for an executive to head that unit, he said.
Banks account for about 9% of all of Alliance's fund sales, Mr. Laughlin said, down from 23% five years ago, when losses in the bond market affected sales to bank customers. But the fund company is intent on changing that, he said.
It also wants to double its 1% market share in the banking industry by yearend. Mr. Laughlin said he hopes to double this share again, to roughly 4%, by the end of 1999.
