Chicago-based Privatebancorp has applied to the Office of Thrift Supervision and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation to licence a special purpose federal savings bank, to be named The PrivateWealth Trust Company. The new subsidiary will be part of PrivateBancor's PrivateWealth Group business unit and will consolidate and expand PrivateBancorp's trust and wealth management business nationally to individuals and families with wealth ranging from $1 million to over $100 million. "By creating this new subsidiary with a federal charter, we will gain a more flexible platform to deliver trust and wealth management services nationally in ways that we believe will serve the best interests of our diverse client base," said Larry Richman, PrivateBancorp president and chief executive. "It also allows us to improve the delivery of these services to our clients in locations where we do not currently have a physical presence." Mr Richman, formerly chief executive of LaSalle Bank, joined PrivateBancorp last November. His move followed Bank of America’s $21 billion acquisition of LaSalle on 1 October. LaSalle had assets in excess of $100 billion. Wallace Head, chief executive of The PrivateWealth Group, said consolidating most of its trust and wealth management business on the new platform would facilitate the marketing and delivery of trust and wealth management services on a national basis under the supervision of a single regulator. PrivateBancorp, which had assets of $4.5 billion as of 30 September 2007, has 18 offices located in the Atlanta, Chicago, Detroit, Milwaukee, St Louis, and Kansas City metropolitan areas.