Bank Leumi CEO who headed turnaround will join reinsurer, retaining post on board.

Richard Kane, president and chief operating officer of Bank Leumi Trust Company of New York, left his job this week to take a more "attractive" position at global reinsurer Guy Carpenter & Co., the bank said Wednesday.

Mr. Kane, who has been with Bank Leumi since 1988 and oversaw a shakeup there following losses caused by problem loans, will remain on its board of directors. His duties will be assumed by Zalman Segal, Bank Leumi's vice chairman and chief executive. David Friedman will continue as the bank's chairman.

"I have enjoyed my tenure at Bank Leumi. While I leave my senior position with regret, it is with the satisfaction of knowing that Bank Leumi is successfully implementing its long-range development plan," Mr. Kane said in a prepared statement.

Bank Leumi Trust, with $2 billion of assets, is the largest subsidiary of Bank Leumi le-Israel B.M., one of Israel's leading banks. Based in Tel Aviv, with more than $30 billion of assets, Bank Leumi embarked on a major restructuring in the U.S. after the New York unit lost a combined $145 million from 1990 through 1992, mainly on problem real estate and business loans. The shakeup included a 26% reduction in staff to 738.

Bank Leumi Trust turned the corner in 1993, earning $1.8 million for the first nine months of last year. Nonperforming loans were still high, however, at more than 27% of $1 billion in total loans and leases.

The New York subsidiary would not reveal its earnings for the first nine months of 1994, but said its nonperfoming assets as a percentage of total assets had dropped to 4% as of Sept. 30.

Before joining Bank Leumi, Mr. Kane, 54, spent 15 years at Citicorp, where he served as president and CEO of Diners Club International, president of Citicorp retail services, president of Citicorp credit services, and general manager of the New York banking division.

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