The new president of U.S. Bancorp's wealth management group says that realigning its wealth management and securities servicing units into a single division should generate double-digit annual growth in assets under management for the next few years at the Minneapolis company.
Mark S. Jordahl, who was promoted from chief investment officer of the company's proprietary fund arm to president of the wealth management group, also said in an interview Friday that increased cross-selling efforts should enable the new division to expand its revenue.
The division has nearly $90 billion of assets under management as of June 30, according to Steve Dale, a spokesman for U.S. Bancorp.
"The wealth management space is growing at upper-single-digits or lower-double-digits across the industry" Mr. Jordahl said. "We think that with our products and capabilities and this new approach we can grow at or beyond that pace."
The former investment chief for the banking company's First American Funds said that customers are interested in using a single provider for multiple products and services but that U.S. Bancorp had not been able to take advantage of this.
"Our newest customers are coming in the door, and they are interested in receiving a totality of services from us," he said. "We have an opportunity to appeal to people because we can deliver more products and services than our competitors can."
Now that the bank has combined all its wealth management and securities services, he said, it will take a fee-based, financial planning approach with its customers.
"Most people that are approaching retirement don't have the comprehensive plans that they need," he said. "Individuals want a comprehensive plan and a trusted adviser."
Mr. Jordahl said U.S. Bancorp has offered financial planning to its private banking customers with $1 million to $10 million of investable assets but now will offer this service to less-affluent customers.
The new wealth management and securities servicing division is to be run by Diane Thormodsgard, who has been a vice chairman and the head of U.S. Bancorp's wealth management business since April, the company announced Friday.
The wealth management group includes U.S. Bancorp's private-client group, private asset management, and the investments and insurance services units. Each of these businesses had been run autonomously.
"It will be easier to gather assets and manage assets under a single umbrella," Mr. Jordahl said. "We want to work to get rid of all of our silos in order to work around our customers."
The securities services group will consist of corporate trust services, institutional trust and custody, U.S. Bancorp Fund Services LLC, and FAF Advisors, which provides investment management services for the First American Funds.
Mr. Jordahl said U.S. Bancorp has a strong national presence and there are many opportunities for his unit to grow.
"We think that we have an attractive universe of products and an opportunity to attract more investment-centric clients by delivering these products in a seamless way," he said.
U.S. Bancorp, with $223 billion of banking assets, is the sixth-largest commercial bank in the United States.
It has 2,499 banking offices and sells lines of banking, brokerage, insurance, investment, mortgage, trust, and payment services to consumers, businesses, and institutional customers.
