Chicago-based Bank One, the fifth-largest bank holding company in the United States, is about to enter the asset management business throughout Asia. It has just hired Paul Rubens from FarEastern Alliance Asset Management in Taiwan to run its regional effort in Tokyo as managing director.
Rubens notes Bank One has enjoyed a corporate banking presence in Japan and the rest of the region for decades, sometimes under the name of First Chicago. It plays a role in trade finance and correspondent banking. I will be working with the bankers to take the asset management product to their clients, he says.
The initial focus will be selling to corporate pension funds, but Bank One has...
