Wilmington Trust Corporation, the US listed wealth manager, plans to expand its Wilmington Family Office practice on the East Coast, with a ...

Wilmington Trust Corporation, the US listed wealth manager, plans to expand its Wilmington Family Office practice on the East Coast, with a significant increase staff in its Delaware, New Jersey, and New York offices. It also plans to establish a WFO office in Connecticut, which will bring the number of Wilmington Trust staff specialising in family office services to more than 70 nationwide. Ted Cecala, chairman and chief executive of Wilmington Trust, said: "The combination of the WFO on the East Coast and the family office services we provide on the West Coast through Grant Tani Barash & Altman positions us as a leader in this expanding market." A key addition to the firm's staff is John Garniewski, who joins the WFO from one of Delaware's most prominent accounting firms. Mr Garniewski is based in the Wilmington practice, which he co-leads with Benjamin Ledyard, a veteran Wilmington Trust wealth advisor. Other prominent hires include Jay Smolin and Neil Tendler, who most recently were with Deutsche Bank Alex Brown in New York City. Mr Smolin and Mr Tendler will oversee the WFO teams in Princeton, Manhattan, and Connecticut. Wilmington Trust initially gained family office capabilities when it affiliated with Beverly Hills-based GTBA - which focuses on clients in the entertainment and sports industries - in 2004. There are more than 4,500 family offices in the US. In recent years, the challenges of keeping pace with a multitude of investment options, advances in technology, changes in tax regulations, and staff turnover have made it increasingly difficult for families to maintain their own family offices, said Wilmington Trust. Wilmington Trust Corporation's assets under management totalled $40.4 billion at the end of March this year.