Dresdner Team Will Steer Global Asset Operations

new board to oversee its worldwide asset management operations.

The seven executives, from both the San Francisco and Frankfurt offices of Dresdner RCM Global Investors, are to set overall business policy for the banking company's asset management operations. Regional and local managers will continue to oversee distribution.

Joachim Madler, 51, head of the institutional business division, is executive officer of the group and will stay in the banking company's Frankfurt headquarters, with four other committee members. William L. Price, 59, who will remain global chief investment officer for the asset management group, is also on the committee. He and another member will remain in San Francisco.

Businesses once run out of various offices are "now in one business line," said bank spokesman Stefan Lutz.

Though Dresdner's strategy and focus will remain the same, streamlining will let it compete more efficiently in an increasingly global marketplace, Mr. Lutz said.

Dresdner has combined its global fund management operations in San Francisco-based Dresdner RCM Global Investors, formerly RCM Capital Management, which Dresdner bought from Travelers Group in 1996. In 1995 the banking company bought London-based Kleinwort Benson Investment Management, and last year it formed Meiji Dresdner Asset Management, a joint venture with Meiji Life Insurance Co. in Japan.

But some observers said the banking company has been slow to take full advantage of its newly acquired capabilities.

"Dresdner is not known for being able to integrate foreign companies into its structure," said Adrian Pilz, an analyst at Fox-Pitt, Kelton in London. To a large degree, he said, its acquisitions served various niche markets, but there was little commonality of targets and corporate vision.

By reorganizing under a common management structure, Dresdner might realize both cross-selling potential and back-office consolidation, he said. Last year's joint venture with insurer Allianz AG produced some back-office efficiencies but failed to produce the product alliance many analysts had expected.

As of Sept. 30, Dresdner had about $234 billion of assets under management worldwide. Of these, Dresdner RCM Global Investors manages roughly $69 billion worldwide, including $37 billion in the United States.

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