Short Takes: New Post for Chase's Retail Brokerage Chief

Len Malkin, president of Chase Manhattan Corp.'s retail broker-dealer, is leaving that post Oct. 20 to become director of space planning for the bank, a bank spokesman confirmed.

Employees of Chase Investment Services Corp., which Mr. Malkin headed since 1992, were notified of the change on Thursday, said the spokesman, Ken Herz.

The move is not a demotion, said Mr. Herz, adding that Mr. Malkin pushed for it over the objections of his superiors. His new assignment involves deciding where Chase should have offices around the world.

Scott Bresky, an executive who reported to Mr. Malkin, will become interim president of Chase Investment Services while the bank decides whether to name him president permanently, pick someone else from inside or outside Chase, or reorganize. Mr. Herz declined to elaborate on how the investment business might be reorganized.

Mr. Malkin's move is unrelated to the fact that Chase has said it's interested in buying an asset management company, said Mr. Herz.

Overseeing a staff of 350 people including 250 brokers spread across Chase's branch network, Mr. Malkin has seen sales of mutual funds, stocks, and bonds jump from $60 million in 1996 to a projected $80 million this year.

One person familiar with the situation said Mr. Malkin, 51, may have sensed that he could rise no further within the bank's investments business.

An alumnus of Manufacturers Hanover and Chemical, he had been passed over for the top investments job twice, most recently when the investments business was reorganized this spring.

Mr. Herz said that was not the reason for his transfer. "Len wanted the opportunity to do something different," he said.

Mr. Malkin will report to Joseph Sponholz, one of Chase's top executives who is chief administrative officer and a member of the bank's policy council.

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