The trust bank hires Spagnoletto to roll out high-end personal banking. Northern Trust has hired Shellee Spagnoletto to provide private banking services in Atlanta, a new offering for that market. The expansion reinforces its policy of providing a full array of wealth-management services in major U.S. markets.

“Atlanta has been our home for two years and as we continue to grow and expand here, so too will our financial services to meet the needs of our clients,” says Northern Trust Bank FSB- Georgia president and CEO Bob Meier. “We're very excited and proud to introduce private banking services to our current and future clients.”

New in town

Meier adds that the expansion of Northern’s wealth management services to include private banking “reinforces our strategy to reach and serve successful individuals and families.” Atlanta boasts the fastest-growing population of millionaires in the U.S., according to Claritas, a San Diego-based market research company.

Northern has 83 offices in the U.S. – located, it likes to emphasize, “within a 45 minute drive of 40 percent of the nation's millionaire population.”

Northern began operations in Atlanta two years ago with the acquisition of registered investment advisory Legacy South. Since then, the company says it has nearly doubled its assets under management. Legacy South had about $300 million in assets and approximately $3 million in annual revenue when Northern announced its intention to buy it in the fall of 2002.

Spagnoletto will be responsible for providing private banking, cash-management and lending services to private clients. She has a 20-year track record as a private banker, a private banking team leader and an investment management advisor with Chase Manhattan, First Union, Wachovia and SouthTrust.

Northern's personal financial service unit had $ 111.1 billion in assets under management and $209.9 billion in assets under administration on 31 March 2005. –FWR