BT's Sanford to Step Down in Mid-'96

Trust New York Corp. before the middle of next year, the bank said Tuesday. No successor has been named. However, according to spokesman Thomas Parisi, Eugene Shanks "is a strong candidate since he's president and the No. 2 man in the firm." Mr. Sanford, 58, had earlier announced that he would retire by the time he reached 60. Although his decision to leave the bank is not a surprise, it comes earlier than expected. Mr. Sanford joined Bankers Trust in 1961 as a commercial banking officer. He became president in 1983, and chairman and chief executive in 1987. He was instrumental in guiding the bank away from commercial lending into riskier but higher-yielding trading activities and structured finance. Mr. Sanford's strategy came under criticism recently when Bankers Trust suffered heavy losses from its emerging-market debt trading and after regulators fined the bank $10 million for failing to inform customers of the risks inherent in investing in complex derivatives instruments.