Wilmington Trust Corp. says it is expanding its family office and business management services to the East Coast to attract more ultra-wealthy customers and exploit those it already has there.
Benjamin J. Ledyard, a senior wealth adviser who was promoted Monday to managing director and head of East Coast operations for the company’s family office division, said in an interview that this new business line could drive overall growth at the Delaware trust company.
“Look at the demographics,” he said. “Ultra-wealthy individuals with more than $30 million in assets are the fastest-growing market segment. This is definitely an area of the market that clients have asked us to get into. There is a demand for these services.”
Wilmington Trust has been offering family office services in California and along the West Coast only since October 2004 when it bought Grant Tani Barash & Altman LLC, a Beverly Hills business management and family office firm that serves high-net-worth clients.
The trust company has clients in all 50 states and 30 other countries. Mr. Ledyard said Wilmington Trust wants to establish a bigger presence in the Middle Atlantic states and then expand market share in New York and Florida, where Wilmington Trust already has trust banking operations.
“New York and Florida are really a ready market for us,” he said. “Then we definitely want to look to grow through the Midwest and the Southeast, where we already have an office in Atlanta. There are a lot of clients in those areas, and we don’t really have a strong presence there yet.”
Wilmington Trust would plant its family office business more deeply in areas where it is strongly established.
“Certainly, I see strong wealth creation all over the country,” Mr. Ledyard said. “I want us to continue to grow where there are pockets of wealth. That may be Washington, D.C., or Chicago down the road. Our focus for now will be on Delaware, Pennsylvania, New York, and Florida.”
Analysts said many banks are plowing this field. Burton Greenwald, an analyst at BJ Greenwald Associates in Philadelphia, said banks like City National in Beverly Hills, Calif., U.S. Trust in New York, and UnionBanCal Corp. in Los Angeles are growing nationally by aiming to serve the ultra-wealthy.
“It is difficult to stand out when this is a tactic that many banks are exploring,” he said.
Mr. Ledyard said Wilmington Trust would stand out by offering customized services including multigenerational wealth counseling, budgeting and cash-flow management, tax planning, investment oversight, insurance policy consulting, and concierge services.
“Trust shops, like us, are in the process of creating or have created family office capabilities,” he said. “Some may call it family office services, but very few are really providing it.”
In addition to traditional wealth management and trust services, Mr. Ledyard said, Wilmington’s concierge services, or lifestyle management services, will help the company stand out. These services would include anything from paying bills to walking the dog or helping an ultra-wealthy person buy a car, he said.
Grant Tani has supplied such services on the West Coast for years, he said, and they helped the firm establish itself in the competitive California market.
“Grant Tani has been the model on how to deliver high-touch concierge services,” Mr. Ledyard said. “We plan to take this efficient model and bring it to the East Coast. The clients will be similar here. We hope to attract customers from the entertainment industry, executives, and high-income professionals.”
Wilmington Trust has used its family office business to foster growth in California. After the Grant Tani deal, the bank moved to larger offices in the Century City section of Los Angeles. In May it hired Gregory F. Stanford to be president of Wilmington Trust FSB California to help increase market penetration.
The company’s East Coast family office business is to have its own office by early next year near the parent’s Wilmington, Del., headquarters. With a full staff of family office professionals, Mr. Ledyard said, he hopes to build on the existing client base but with an open architecture array of products and services.
“We want to crate a truly separate and objective business from Wilmington,” he said. “While family office clients can use the services of the trust companies and use the investment products, in no way will our objectivity be conflicted in any way.”
