Corelink Founder Called It Quits As Bisys Took Stake in the Firm

Richard L. Saalfeld has left Corelink Resources, the bank investment product marketing firm he founded two years ago.

Mr. Saalfeld, whose last title was chairman, left late last month, days before Corelink's biggest shareholder, Concord Holding Corp., was purchased by Bisys Group.

Bisys, a supplier of financial services and technology to banks, purchased Concord, which distributes bank mutual funds, in a deal worth $120 million.

With the acquisition, Bisys received Concord's 46% of Corelink and an option to push that stake above 50%.

Right now, Dennis Sheehan, Concord's chief financial officer, is acting as Corelink's chairman. Executive recruiters said Concord has put out feelers to find a permanent replacement.

In an interview, Mr. Saalfeld tied his departure to Concord's new owners, adding that there was "mutual" agreement between himself and Bisys executives that he would leave.

Bisys, he said, wants to put its own imprint on Corelink. "They will be much more involved, more so than Concord," he said.

But Robert McMullan, chief financial officer at Bisys, said a determination by Corelink's board, not Bisys officials, was behind Mr. Saalfeld's departure.

Bisys, he added, had no legal muscle to force Mr. Saalfeld out, since the departure occurred before the deal to buy Concord closed.

The two executives also disagree about where Corelink is heading.

Mr. Saalfeld said Bisys will "shut down" its own fledgling investment product marketing unit and adopt Corelink's technologies and methods of operation.

Mr. McMullan insisted no such decision had been made. Corelink "has a future," he said, but the exact path has not been charted.

Mr. Saalfeld, a former executive vice president at BankAmerica, established Corelink to help community banks set up and run mutual fund and annuity sales programs.

Concord saw the company as an additional sales channel for the propriety bank funds it distributes.

Corelink has 30 clients, mostly smaller banks in California. The company also wholesales annuities through BankAmerica's Texas branches.

Mr. Saalfeld said Corelink sold about $100 million of mutual funds and annuities last year and is on pace to sell $300 million this year.

Corelink is based in Concord, Calif. Bisys headquarters is in Little Falls, N.J. Concord Holding is based in New York.

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