Wilmington Trust Co.'s growth is being helped along by a wave of consolidation among financial companies that cater to the affluent, the company says.
Mergers in recent years have not only put some customers in play but also freed up talent that Wilmington has hired, said Ronald Wood, an executive vice president and the head of its wealth advisory business.
Wilmington has been pushing to attain a more national scope for several years, and its revenue from trust and investment advisory services rose from $79.8 million in 2001 to $121.9 million last year, up 52.8% in the period.
The merger and acquisition activity taking place around it has helped in particular to bolster the eight-year-old New York City office, which has grown from three employees to a staff of 40 and now accounts for 14% of Wilmington's new-business generation, Mr. Wood said.
"There has been a lot of disruption, mergers and acquisitions, and New York has been particularly affected by that," said Mr. Wood. "We've recruited good people from some of those firms."
Last month, for example, Wilmington's New York office hired former Fiduciary Trust Co. International executive Murray Stoltz to be a senior private-client adviser and the head of sales management.
Three-quarters of the New York office's business is new client assets and investment advisory relationships, Mr. Wood said, and a quarter of this business is fiduciary.
Charles Schwab Corp.'s purchase of U.S. Trust Corp. in 2000; and in the same year, Alliance Capital Management's of Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. and UBS AG's of Paine Webber Group Inc.; the Franklin Templeton Investments purchase of Fiduciary Trust in 2001; Lehman Brothers' of Neuberger Berman Inc. in 2003; and JPMorgan Chase & Co.'s of Bank One Corp. in 2004 are deals in the wealth management business cited by Mr. Wood.
Wilmington Trust ventured into Florida about 25 years ago, and since 1997 it has opened offices in Pennsylvania, California, New York, Georgia, and Maryland.
Though the mergers of some rivals may drive away a few of their existing customers, it is more the new wealth management customers who are in play, according to Burton Greenwald, an analyst at the BJ Greenwald Associates consulting firm in Philadelphia. Many of them fear they will not get enough attention from a large, multifaceted financial company, he said.
"As they seek new business, playing the 'independent' card is a very important part of their presentation," said Mr. Greenwald. "It suggests [clients] won't get lost, and it's probably a positive factor in the marketplace."
Wilmington does not have the independent field to itself, however. Bessemer Trust has been among the best at touting its independence. Mr. Greenwald said.
As it establishes a national footprint, Wilmington Trust has expanded beyond its proprietary investment offerings. Its purchase in 2002 of the Atlanta investment counseling firm Balentine & Co. gave it a well-regarded quantitative investment shop. And it has created an open architecture platform in the past four years.
Wilmington, including its investment affiliates Roxbury Capital Management and Cramer Rosenthal McGlynn, had assets under management of $39.7 billion at Dec. 31.
"I think they are doing a full-court press building their high-net-worth trust business," Mr. Greenwald said.
The company is aiming for a broader audience as well. Late last year it rolled out seven mutual funds - three funds of funds, one composed of exchange-traded funds, and three domestic equity portfolios.
One of Wilmington's hottest growth areas is its family office business, said Mr. Wood.
The company entered the business, which caters to the fast-growing ultra-wealthy segment, in 2004 with its purchase of Grant Tani Barash & Altman LLC, a family office firm in Beverly Hills. It will expand the service to Baltimore on May 1 and then to New York in this year's second half, Mr. Wood said.
The family office concept - it includes everything from advisory services to paying bills to insurance and concierge services - is "kind of the in-vogue thing today," he said. "The family office business we are creating is a recognition of the need to be independent and objective," he added.
Asked whether Wilmington plans to enter new geographic markets anytime soon, Mr. Wood said the company is focused on building business in its existing footprint.
