Sears Picks Bank One as Sole Card Issuer
CHICAGO - Bank One Corp. announced Monday that it has been selected to be the sole commercial credit card issuer for Sears, Roebuck and Co.Sears said it would convert about 30,000 commercial cards that are issued by multiple providers to Bank One MasterCards by the middle of the year.
The cards would combine purchasing, business travel, and fleet management expenses on one card.
"The single-provider approach will help us increase cash flow, improve reporting and data flow, and leverage Internet technology," said Larry Raymond, vice president and treasurer at Sears.
Sears' portfolio will be the second-largest commercial card account for Bank One. Its largest commercial card portfolio is that of the Department of Justice.
- Miriam Kreinin Souccar
Wamu's CEO Got $1.5M Bonus, 10% Raise
SAN FRANCISCO - Washington Mutual Inc. paid Kerry K. Killinger, chairman and chief executive officer, a bonus of $1.5 million last year, more than double what he received in 1998.Mr. Killinger also got a 10% raise in salary, to $1 million, according to the company's proxy filed Monday with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Seattle-based thrift posted record earnings last year, up 20%, to $1.8 billion.
In the proxy, Washington Mutual's board cited Mr. Killinger's efforts to improve the company's asset quality and operating efficiency and to expand by acquisition. The thrift's asset size grew to $186.5 billion last year.
- Laura Mandaro
Dain Rauscher Hires Van Kasper Bankers
SAN FRANCISCO - Minneapolis investment bank Dain Rauscher Wessels has hired three investment bankers that advise financial institutions on mergers and capital raisings from First Security Van Kasper of San Francisco, which is owned by First Security Corp. of Salt Lake City.Murray Bodine and Greg Madding, both managing directors, and Edward Murphy, vice president, joined Dain Rauscher last week to form a San Francisco-based financial institutions team.
They were reunited with two former colleagues from Van Kasper, financial institutions research analysts Joseph Morford and Jeffrey Runnfeldt.
At Van Kasper, the group advised small to midsize financial institutions such as Palo Alto, Calif.-based Greater Bay Bancorp when it agreed to acquire Coast Bancorp for $136 million last year.
At Dain they will target institutions with under $10 billion of assets, focusing on banks in the western United States. Mr. Bodine said the team moved to Dain for the firm's "broader platform" for equities and trust-preferred and fixed-income products.
- Laura Mandaro
Deutsche Plans 3 More U.S. Hedge Funds
NEW YORK - Deutsche Bank AG's U.S. asset management arm is planning to open at least three new hedge funds this year, increasing its focus on that lucrative business as its low-fee index-fund assets shrink.Deutsche Asset Management, which already oversees three hedge funds as part of the $290 billion under management in the United States, will open the new funds with $330 million from Deutsche Bank, said chief investment officer Dean Barr.
The German bank, which has lost about one-third of the $200 billion of index-fund assets it inherited when it bought Bankers Trust Corp. last year, is joining the effort by financial companies to build up hedge funds because of rising demand for investments not closely correlated to benchmark stock indexes.
- Bloomberg News
