UMB doubles asset management department

UMB Financial Corp.'s asset management division has added five wealth management advisers in a case of "one bank's loss is another bank's gain."

Five former employees of U.S. Trust, the private wealth management division of Bank of America, joined UMB March 30 - just weeks after Bank of America closed its Springfield wealth management office, which targeted high-net-worth clients.

Jamie Esch, southwest Missouri market president for Bank of America, said the Charlotte, N.C., bank's January merger with investment firm Merrill Lynch created some redundant services, leading to the bank's decision to dissolve its local U.S. Trust office, 1903 E. Battlefield Road.

"It wasn't just a decision made here in Springfield - the bank as a whole has gone through significant changes throughout the franchise," Esch said. "The bank looked at all the markets we serve to see if we could make our banking run more efficiently."

Esch said U.S. Trust's Springfield office clients are now being served by either the U.S. Trust office in Kansas City or Bank of America's traditional investment services in Springfield. He added that the advisers that were let go when the office closed received full severance packages, but declined to offer details.

The former U.S. Trust financial advisers - Jim Brock, Steve Hutchinson, Rhonda Sorensen, Debbie Abraham and Susan Myers - weren't unemployed for long.

"We had been wanting to expand our presence in the asset management area here in southwest Missouri for some time," said UMB Southwest Missouri Region President Ann Marie Baker. "When all of these people became available at the same time, it made sense to move forward with those plans to expand."

Baker - who was promoted in February from Springfield community bank president to president of the southwest Missouri region, including Joplin, Carthage and Monett - said the decision to add to the asset management division is not limited to southwest Missouri; UMB Financial Corp.'s asset management division experienced 63 percent growth in new business in 2008.

But the expansion in this region is somewhat different because of its sheer scale: Five new advisers join UMB's four existing asset management employees.

"This particular expansion is unique in that we're more than doubling our size in one day, but this is going on in other regions as well," she said.

Baker said the five advisers have significant client histories in the Joplin and Carthage area, though they do not bring any existing accounts with them to UMB.

The expansion also necessitates a new space for the department, which currently works out of the bank branch at National Avenue and Battlefield Road. Baker said UMB is working to lease another facility, though she declined to disclose the location until a legal agreement is signed.