Bank Consultant, PioneerOf Cross-Selling, PlanningRetirement Next Spring

Barry Leeds, a veteran of the financial services industry who popularized the idea of cross-selling, said he will retire in April.

Mr. Leeds and his firm, Barry Leeds & Associates, have helped develop industry policies and practices regarding the way banks sell products to consumers. In more than two decades as a consultant, Mr. Leeds, 60, helped his clients improve customer satisfaction and retention.

The firm was founded in 1977 and specializes in market research, compliance, and consulting. Among other things, it does mystery shopping and customer satisfaction surveys for banking companies to help them improve service.

Paul Lubin, 48, who joined the firm in 1991 and has been president since 1998, will take over as chief executive officer when Mr. Leeds steps down.

"It's time to relax," Mr. Leeds said in an interview. He will continue to work with the firm's clients through April.

Mr. Leeds began his career at Citibank in the early 1960s. He was recruited to rival Chase Manhattan Corp. in the 1970s to be its director of marketing. Mr. Leeds said it was at Chase that he came up with his first breakthrough, the consolidated banking statement.

"We had to jerry-rig the systems," Mr. Leeds said, explaining the challenge of combining information about savings, demand deposit, and loan accounts from separate computer systems on one monthly statement. "It was a big thing for retail."

Later, he came up with the idea of cross-selling, a strategy adopted by many banking companies, including Citigroup and Chase.

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