Amsouth Bancorp. is bringing in an outsider to head its brokerage division.
Noah Zecher will join as chief executive officer of the Birmingham, Ala.-based banking company's Amsouth Investment Services unit in mid- December. He arrives from First of America Bank Corp., Kalamazoo, Mich., where he was national sales manager of brokerage and trust.
Mr. Zecher will report to Michael C. Baker, senior executive vice president at the bank and head of Amsouth's capital management group.
Lincoln B. Yersin, who was president, chief executive, and chairman of Amsouth Investment Services, will remain as president. He will report to Mr. Zecher.
Mr. Zecher, who gave notice at First of America Nov. 21, declined to comment about his departure. He plans to leave his job Dec. 6 and begin at Amsouth Dec. 16, he said.
His boss at First of America, executive vice president John Rap, said Mr. Zecher has not yet been replaced.
The 45-year-old Mr. Zecher came to First of America in mid-1994 after several years as national sales manager with KeyCorp. A native New Yorker who grew up in nearby New Rochelle, he cut his teeth as a financial consultant at Merrill Lynch & Co.
Mr. Zecher joins a brokerage business at Amsouth that expanded in Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, and Florida under Mr. Yersin's leadership, Mr. Baker said.
Mr. Baker also credited Mr. Yersin with helping the brokerage straighten out compliance problems left behind by a previous management team.
"We are trying to put all the players in the right positions in order to continue the momentum this subsidiary has achieved in the last year," Mr. Baker said.
He was quick to add that he is confident in Mr. Yersin, whom he expects to remain at Amsouth. Mr. Baker said he does not expect any more management changes at the broker-dealer in the near future.
Mr. Yersin was unavailable for comment.
