Chief Operating Officer Takes Reins of Chase Insurance Unit

Chase Manhattan Bank Corp. formally appointed Peter Aharonyan to head Chase Insurance Agency.

He was promoted last week from acting president to succeed Dennis Kosovac. Mr. Kosovac left in March for a job at International Business Machines Corp.

Mr. Aharonyan, who was the unit's chief operating officer for three years, said he plans no big changes.

"We have a successful model," he said. "The plans are to continue to work the same model."

The bank has built a wide-ranging insurance sales program that offers whole life, term life, and property and casualty insurance to individuals and businesses. The sales network includes telemarketers, branch workers, and professional life agents.

Revenues of the unit grew 25% last year, said William Hoefling, who oversees it as the executive vice president in charge of diversified consumer services.

A spokesman said pretax revenues in the insurance division are approaching $100 million a year.

Chase's insurance effort has been fashioned after the European bancassurance model, which integrates insurance sales programs into the bank culture.

Mr. Aharonyan said he will continue to use banks in England, France, and Germany as examples of successful bancassurance efforts.

"We look to Europe because they've moved ahead faster," he said.

Mr. Aharonyan said he hopes to translate to insurance the domestic successes other Chase units have had in applying technology to operations.

For instance, the bank is building a system to provide a better view of the entire customer relationship. And it is building systems to provide branch platform workers with a range of insurance capabilities.

"We're looking to automate as much as possible in the branches," he said.