In another high-level personnel move that raises questions about its future direction, Bankers Trust New York Corp. said Thursday that its top financial officer is planning to retire.
Timothy T. Yates, 48, chief financial officer and controller, is to leave this summer to "spend more time with my family and pursue other personal interests," according to a statement released by the bank.
Bankers Trust said it has not named a successor to Mr. Yates, one of several senior executives who have recently left or said they plan to leave the company. Among them is Charles S. Sanford, chairman and chief executive officer, who has said he plans to retire before the middle of next year.
The departures were announced in the wake of record trading losses and lawsuits related to derivatives sales by a banking company that had recast itself under Mr. Sanford into a trading and investments specialist.
"There's ample time to pick a successor," said Bankers Trust spokesman Tom Parisi said in the wake of Mr. Yates' announcement. "It's too early to say right now" whether the new chief financial officer would be from inside the bank or an outside candidate.
Mr. Parisi rejected speculation that Mr. Yates resigned under pressure relating to the earnings problems.
"It's not as unusual as it once was for people on Wall Street who have had heavy responsibilities, put in long hours, and received high compensation to retire early and try to put some balance into their lives," the spokesman said.
Earlier this year, Neil Allen, head of the bank's emerging markets unit, quit to join Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette. More recently, Ignacio Sosa, a senior emerging market securities trader, left to join Bank of Boston Corp.
Analysts also doubted any direct connection between the resignations and recent losses from trading and derivatives activities.
"I don't believe in any conspiracy theories," said Raphael Soifer, a banking analyst with Brown Brothers Harriman in New York.
However, Mr. Sanford's decision to retire early without having designated a successor, combined with Moody's Investors Services' move last week to lower the company's senior debt rating, may have indirectly contributed to Mr. Yates' early retirement.
Born in New York City, he spent his entire career with Bankers Trust. He joined the New York bank 24 years ago after earning a master's degree in business administration from Harvard Business School.
He was one of the bank's highest-paid executives, earning $1.3 million in salary and bonus in 1993 and $485,000 last year.
Before assuming his current responsibilities in 1991, Mr. Yates served as chief of staff for the global markets business and, before that, headed the loan syndications and high-yield debt securities unit.
Analysts say Bankers Trust faces an uphill struggle to reverse its first-quarter loss and get back to the kind of earnings to which shareholders had grown accustomed over the last few years.
"Second-quarter earnings won't be anything to write home about," said Diane Glossman, a banking analyst with Salomon Brothers.
In an assessment released Wednesday, Ms. Glossman predicted Bankers Trust would earn $1.10 a share in the second quarter, versus $2.09 per share in the same quarter a year ago. The bank lost $2.11 in this year's first quarter.
Citing the slow pace of head-count reductions, modest earnings from trading and risk management operations, and cutbacks in proprietary trading, Salomon said it was slashing its full-year 1995 earnings estimate for Bankers Trust to $2.75 from $4.15.
