Mellon Financial is to merge three sets of online banking services for wealth management clients over the next six to nine months. The converged system is to replace a patchwork of products and applications accumulated by the Pittsburgh-based company. The group comprises three businesses: the legacy private wealth management business for high-net-worth clients, which Mellon retained after selling its retail banking operations in December 2001 to Citizens Financial Group; Mellon United National Bank, acquired in February 1998 and catering to high net worth individuals and small businesses; and Mellon 1st Business Bank, acquired in 1997 as a lender to small and mid-size businesses in California. "There are a lot of similarities in the operations, but there are a lot of nuances," said Timothy Tully, chief operating officer of Mellon's private wealth management group. Mellon plans to start the systems mergers on the West Coast of the US and move eastward, beginning with clients of Mellon 1st in August. Mellon is to merge with Bank of New York around 1 July, but Mr Tully said the operational merger of the two banking companies' systems would not occur before 2008.