Wachovia Corp.'s wealth management arm said it had hired C. Winston Wilkinson, a senior executive at Fifth Third Bank, to be private banking director for its western region.
Mr. Wilkinson, who also was named an executive vice president, is now based in Oakland, Calif., and reports to Morrison Creech, the managing executive of wealth management private banking, the company said Thursday. He is responsible to establish and lead teams of wealth management private banking relationship managers in California and Arizona.
Wachovia's private banking clients are typically working professionals such as executives, doctors, lawyers, and business owners who have financial planning, estate planning, credit, and insurance needs.
Private banking is a new division of the Charlotte banking company's wealth management business; the division was previously known as the private advisory group. Since 2004, it has added 30,000 clients and reported double-digit growth in loans, deposits, revenue, and investment revenue each year.
Wachovia announced last month that it plans to more than double its staff of 240 relationship managers during the next three years by hiring in high-growth markets throughout the parent's footprint. The wealth management business plans to add teams in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Phoenix. Wachovia already has a private banking team in Southern California serving clients in Irvine, San Diego, and Los Angeles.
Mr. Wilkinson led Fifth Third's consumer bank division. But before joining Fifth Third in 2006, he was a retail executive at Wachovia's mortgage division. He worked at Wachovia for 15 years.
