LaSalle Bank Exec To Be CEO of Amro Investment Unit
ABN Amro Asset Management (USA) Inc., the Chicago-based investment arm of ABN Amro Bank in Amsterdam, has appointed Randall C. Hampton president and chief executive officer, effective Jan. 1.He is to succeed James B. Wynsma, 63, who will become chairman.
Mr. Hampton, 56, is to remain executive vice president of institutional trust services for the trust and asset management group of LaSalle National Bank, a unit of ABN Amro Holding of Amsterdam.
Mr. Hampton said his appointment partly reflects a move toward closer relations between LaSalle and ABN Amro Asset Management. "There's a tremendous referrals network that wasn't fully utilized before," he said.
At LaSalle, Mr. Hampton was in charge of building the retirement service business. He hopes to boost that business at ABN Amro, he said, by using its mutual fund family as the centerpiece for defined-contribution products.
Before joining LaSalle Bank in January 1998, Mr. Hampton spent three years as vice chairman of Ariel Capital Management of Chicago and 28 years with Northern Trust Co., also in Chicago.
ABN Amro Asset Management manages more than $8 billion of assets in the United States, including $3.5 billion in the ABN Amro Funds.
ABN Amro Bank has over $104 billion of assets under management worldwide.
- Amy L. Anderson
Bank of America Cuts 40 Full-Service Brokers
The brokerage arm of Bank of America Corp. of Charlotte, N.C., laid off 40 full-service brokers this week.The series 7 sales representatives at Banc of America Investment Services had offered investment products through branches and investment centers. The cuts, which bring the sales force to 700, took place in 25 centers across the nation, a spokesman said.
The layoffs were made as part of positioning the brokerage for 2000, the spokesman said.
"We did it to reconfigure the sales force to ensure our resources are most effectively deployed to reach our goals for the coming year," the spokesman said.
He declined to say whether the remaining representatives would get stepped-up sales goals.
- Karen Talley
Pa. Bank Teaming Up With Asset Manager
Drovers Bank in York, Pa., has formed a unit within its investment services division that gives investors access to outside asset managers.It was announced Tuesday that Oak Tree Investment Group works with clients who have $100,000 or more to invest. Drovers' financial planners may refer clients to investment advisers from ECA Investment Group Inc. of Hanover, Pa.
In turn, ECA could refer Drovers investors to specialists from other boutique investment firms that normally require a much higher level of investment.
"A bank our size can't, in-house, provide the level of expertise the big players can," said A. Richard Pugh, president and chief executive officer of Drovers Bank.
"Through this alliance we can access that expertise at top levels."
Drovers Bank, with more than $690 million of assets, is a subsidiary of Drovers Bancshares Corp. The investment services and trust division manages more than $266 million of assets.
- Amy L. Anderson
