The retired Bank of America Corp. executive hired this week to head BB&T Corp.'s wealth management business aims to develop the division's presence in several East Coast markets.
David Fisher, who spent 10 years as a senior managing director of B of A's private banking division before retiring from the Charlotte company in 2003, said he wants to increase BB&T Wealth Management's share in markets such as Baltimore, Washington, northern Virginia, Richmond, Va., Charlotte, and Atlanta.
He also wants to add more offices in Florida. BB&T Wealth Management currently has offices in St. Petersburg, Jacksonville, and Orlando.
BB&T, which had assets of $127.6 billion at midyear, created the wealth management division in July 2003 to combine its personal trust and private financial services businesses. But analysts said the division had lackluster growth under Mark Wenick, who left in July to pursue a private business opportunity.
The division serves clients with at least $1 million of assets or with net worth of at least $5 million. It had $10 billion of assets under management at the end of August, and its 585 employees are divided into 27 regional teams across BB&T's 11-state territory.
Mr. Fisher, whose hiring as the division's manager was announced Monday, said in an interview that he wants to increase assets 20% annually over the next five years through organic growth.
He said he does not think the unit's model needs substantial change. Relationship managers just need to do a better job of "mining the franchise," he said.
Mr. Fisher said he plans to go after business owners, corporate executives, and established wealthy individuals. "There are so many of these customers that reside in our footprint," he said. "We just have to pursue them instead of waiting for them to come to us."
Mr. Fisher, 59, said he is not worried about the much larger B of A. "Size is their problem, not ours," he said. "They are about being big; we are about being the best. It is really two different approaches."
Lee Youngblood, a financial services manager who runs fee-based business lines at BB&T, said the Winston-Salem, N.C., company wanted an executive who had run a wealth management or private baking organization before, someone who "might be further developed than we are and might have some experience in knowing where we want to go."
BB&T found that executive spending his retirement as a chief operating officer at Doozer Software in Birmingham, Ala.
"We quickly became aware that Mr. Fisher wasn't looking to retire. This was just a hiatus," Mr. Youngblood said. "He had the knowledge. All it took was to bring him up to date with the regulatory changes. We know that we probably couldn't have gotten the co-head of one of Bank of America's businesses if they were still employed there, but he was retired and now he has decided it was time to get back in the game."
Mr. Fisher, who will be based in Charlotte, said he is glad to be back in an industry where he spent 26 years.
"BB&T came to me," he said. "They were seeking someone with my background and I jumped at the opportunity."
Mr. Youngblood said Mr. Fisher will "lead BB&T Wealth Management through the next steps in its evolution as the source for high-touch service for our valued affluent clients."
