Bank One Louisiana has named Mark Bensabat to become market president on Oct. 15 in its home city, Baton Rouge.
Mr. Bensabat is now manager of the Baton Rouge commercial division at the bank, a subsidiary of Chicago-based Bank One Corp.
He will succeed John Bateman, who will retire in October as president and chief executive officer of the Baton Rouge market.
Mr. Bateman will then become vice chairman of Bank One Lousiana. Lee Griffin, its president and CEO, is expected to also become its chairman then.
Mr. Bensabat is an executive vice president, as he had been since 1996 at First Commerce Corp. of New Orleans, which the old Banc One Corp. bought last June.
He came to First Commerce in 1981, joining its First National Bank of Commerce. Later he was the corporate banking manager for Baton Rouge at First Commerce's City National Bank there. He also managed international banking and mergers and acquisitions for First Commerce.
Mr. Bateman, the future Bank One Louisiana vice chairman, joined Banc One in 1996, when it bought his employer, Premier Bancorp of Baton Rouge.
He had joined Premier, then named Louisiana National Bank of Baton Rouge, in 1963. He became manager of its commercial loan division in 1984 and president of its Baton Rouge market in 1993 and of its Central Louisiana division in 1995.
Bank One Louisiana also said executive vice president John Hamilton will retire June 30.
Mr. Hamilton is president and CEO of City National, which Bank One still operates under that name. He joined City National in 1959 and became senior credit consultant for Baton Rouge and Lafayette in 1994. He assumed his present post when Banc One bought First Commerce.
