Bisys Insurance Services of Harrisburg, Pa., an insurance service provider to banks and other institutions, dismissed 17 employees last week, including the head of its bank marketing unit.
Robert K. Gallmann, who was senior vice president for financial institutions, was relieved of his duties along with 16 others on Sept. 23, without notice.
Reached at his home in Harrisburg on Thursday, Mr. Gallmann said company executives had told him that the changes came after a review of revenues and expenses.
"The jobs were eliminated," he said.
A recording on Mr. Gallmann's business line referred callers to Al Herman, a company senior vice president. Neither Mr. Herman nor J. Randall Grespin, an executive vice president who oversees the bank operation, was available to comment.
Executives at two banks Bisys works with said they have more questions than answers about the Bisys moves. Both spoke on condition of anonymity.
One said he was briefly told that Bisys does not plan to deemphasize bank distribution. The other bank executive said he had not heard from the company about the matter.
Mr. Gallmann, who said he is looking for another post in the bank insurance industry, characterized his parting as amicable. He said he understands that Bisys is looking for new synergies within its existing operations.
"Bisys had expanded through a lot of acquisitions over the past 18 months or so," he explained. He said he had been told Bisys would "step back and take a look at the marketplace and still be in the bank insurance market."
Banks comprise a small portion of Bisys' overall insurance business, Mr. Gallmann said. He declined to discuss numbers and referred questions to Bisys
Mr. Gallmann joined Bisys in May 1997 from Chase Insurance Group, where he was a vice president. He had been with Chase for nine years.
Bisys Insurance Services is a division of Bisys Group of Little Falls, N.J., which got into the insurance business in 1996 when it bought Underwriters Group, Harrisburg, Pa.
