Sky Financial Group Inc., a Bowling Green, Ohio, regional banking company, is in growth mode, and the new president of its trust unit says he expects double-digit growth in the wealth management business as it piggybacks the bank's expansion.
John S. Gulas, who was hired Thursday to be the president and chief executive officer of Sky Trust, said the parent plans to use acquisitions and organic growth to continue an aggressive expansion strategy in Ohio and neighboring states. "Both Sky and the wealth management group are in growth mode," he said. "This company is not looking to differentiate us away. We want to take an integrated approach to growth."
Mr. Gulas, who was an executive vice president and chief fiduciary officer at UMB Financial Corp. in Kansas City, Mo., is to be responsible for wealth management businesses that include Sky Trust, Sky Retirement Services, Sky Investments, and private banking. He also is to join Sky's executive management team.
Sky has $4.61 billion of assets under management, up 5.97% since Jan. 1 and 62.3% since Dec. 31, 2002. Mr. Gulas said he expects double-digit annual growth.
"I am looking at this firm and looking at our assets under management, and I see that we have been growing in a flat market," he said. "Sky has made the case to clients that it can grow even when market conditions are not growing. I think we have an excellent opportunity to expand as Sky continues to expand."
The $15.2 billion-asset parent has gained a reputation as a serial acquirer. In the past eight years it has bought 11 banks.
This June it bought Belmont Bancorp in Bridgeport, Ohio, and announced plans to buy the two-branch Falls Bank in Stow, Ohio - part of the growing Akron market. The deal is expected to close in the fourth quarter. Sky has branches in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Indiana, and West Virginia.
Mr. Gulas said he decided to go to Sky because it has been such an aggressive buyer. In recent years, he said, Sky has expanded its footprint into Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Detroit, and Toledo and Columbus, Ohio.
Analysts said that, because it has been such an active deal-maker, Sky has gotten accustomed to integrating acquired companies while continuing to look for more deals.
"Wealth management growth tends to follow a bank's growth as long as that growth is done sensibly," said Rus Prince, the president of Prince & Associates, a Shelton, Conn., investment consulting firm. "Regional banks have to expand their wealth management units intelligently. You can't just expect to open a wealth management office and succeed. You need that local management."
Mr. Gulas said he is confident about growth in Sky's wealth management business because of the company's regional approach.
"It is hard to say where we will go next. The focus has been on looking at Ohio markets and spreading into neighboring states," he said. "I don't know that they have a goal of state-hopping. I think we are focused on developing in a narrow footprint for now."
Expanding Sky's wealth management arm is part of the parent's strategy, Mr. Gulas said. "Sky has a strategy called Sky Trek that is intended to integrate the organization," he said. "We want to increase sales across all of the bank's units by working together."
Mr. Gulas will be responsible for all fiduciary, investment management, and retirement services offered by Sky Trust. He will work with the wealth management teams to increase client relationships within private banking, asset management, trust administration, retirement planning, and retail brokerage services.
He said he will maintain Sky's open architecture approach to wealth management. Sky has no proprietary investment products.
"Open architecture gives us the ability to access a $350 billion national asset management facility," he said. "We want to find the best matches for our customers to suit their asset allocation needs."
At UMB Financial he developed a relationship team of financial planners, trust advisers, portfolio managers, private bankers, and brokers. Before UMB, he was a regional managing director in the affluent services division at Wachovia Corp.
Mr. Gulas said he would spend his first 90 days at Sky traveling to meet with each of the wealth management arm's regional presidents.
"I don't want to come in and say, 'Here is what is going to happen,' " he said. "I want to get feedback from the organization regionally. This is a regionally oriented organization, and the organization takes that seriously. It isn't just a sales gimmick." The regional presidents decide how each region should be served, he said.
