Marine Names Skipper of Investment Unit
Marine Midland Banks Inc. has tapped William N. Hudson Jr. to lead the bank's newly consolidated investment and securities division, which includes private banking and trust.
Mr. Hudson had been head of corporate and municipal banking, but saw much of his empire dissolve when Marine scuttled its municipal bond underwriting and banking business in August.
Marine, a struggling unit of Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corp., hopes that the new alignment will encourage cross-selling of mutual funds, annuities, municipal bonds, and securities to branch customers and affluent investors.
"I've centralized all the marketing and the sales efforts," said Mr. Hudson, a career Marine Midland banker who was appointed to the new post about three weeks ago. "We found that there's confusion as to what product or what service a client may be looking for."
|More Aggressive' Marketing
His domain includes private banking, which is the biggest part of the division; trust and employee pension services; retail municipal bond sales; and Marinedge, the bank's in-branch retail investment program. The division serves about 25,000 customers, Marine said.
James Thacher, the head of Marinedge, is in charge of business development and marketing for the division. "We're going to be more aggressive," Mr. Hudson said of marketing plans.
Mr. Hudson's appointment followed the September departure of Susan Rau, a senior vice president who was head of private banking, employee benefits, and trust activities.
Marine, which is based in Buffalo, asserted that no jobs will be cut as a result of the new alignment. Mr. Hudson said some back-office operations in trust and private banking will be combined, but claimed that will free some officers to work more directly with customers.
Marine's investment division manages $10 billion of assets and employs 430 people. In addition, it contains Public Financial Management, an adviser to state and local governments that manages $4.5 billion of assets.
Marinedge's business plan calls for 5,000 new clients in 1992 and a 28% increase in investment counselors to 55.
Mr. Hudson, an executive vice president, reports to Charles M. Mitschow, a senior executive vice president in charge of the recently reorganized regional bank.
PHOTO : William N. Hudson Jr., Centralizes marketing, sales
