Union Bank eyes WM expansion in retail footprint

FWR Staff

28 April 2008

Bank is looking to increase private-client uptake in key West Coast markets. Union Bank of California plans to expand its wealth-management operations in its home state and in the Pacific Northwest this year.

The new emphasis on geographical expansion coincides with San Francisco-based Union Bank's move to move its wealth-management business from its business-banking unit to its Global Markets division, which also houses its asset-management and retail-brokerage businesses.

Huge market

"California and the Pacific Northwest are really high on the list of high-net-worth areas," Union Bank's wealth-management head Mary Curran tells the San Diego Business Journal today. "We see growth opportunities focused on running companies, and they're not focusing on the personal side," Curran tells the Business Journal.

Union Bank had 330 branches in California, Oregon and Washington state at the end of 2007. It wealth-management unit provides private-banking, trust, estate-planning, investment, brokerage and insurance services. -FWR

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