Wilmington Trust Adds Insurance-Product Expertise to Capital Markets Group

Wilmington Trust, a leading provider of institutional trustee, agency, and administrative services through its Corporate Client Services (CCS) business, announced today that it has hired a team of corporate trust professionals to enhance its ability to provide trust services for insurance products.

The team, whose three members join Wilmington Trust from LaSalle Global Trust Services’ (LaSalle) office in Troy, Michigan, is headed by Bob Bockrath, who assumes leadership of trust administration for the insurance products area within CCS’ Capital Markets Group. Mr. Bockrath was with LaSalle for five years and Comerica Bank for 14 years before that. He is joined by Bob Donaldson and Melissa Marion, both of whom worked with Mr. Bockrath at LaSalle and Comerica. The team will establish a new Wilmington Trust office in Birmingham, Michigan.

With its new team, Wilmington Trust will provide trustee and agency services such as maintaining custody of insurance policies and collateral documents, servicing and cash-flow management of insurance-related loans, and making payments to investors in insurance-related securitizations, including premium finance deals and contingent capital transactions. In the insurance arena, Wilmington Trust already provides services for group insurance trusts, insurance escrows and statutory deposits, capital surplus notes, Regulation 114 and reinsurance trusts, XXX securitizations, and catastrophe (CAT) bonds.

"With this group now part of our larger CCS team, we can provide an expanded range of corporate trust services to insurance clients,” said Bill Farrell, executive vice president of Wilmington Trust and head of CCS. "Bob and his team will help us meet the needs of a growing base of clients and continue our momentum in the CCS business.”

CCS is a leading provider of institutional trustee, agency, asset management, retirement plan services, and administrative services for clients worldwide who use capital market financing structures, as well as those who seek to establish and maintain nexus, or legal residency, for special purpose entities.

Wilmington Trust Corporation (NYSE: WL) is a financial services holding company that provides Regional Banking services throughout the mid-Atlantic region, Wealth Advisory Services for high-net-worth clients in 36 countries, and Corporate Client Services for institutional clients in 88 countries. Its wholly owned bank subsidiary, Wilmington Trust Company, which was founded in 1903, is one of the largest personal trust providers in the United States and the leading retail and commercial bank in Delaware. Wilmington Trust Corporation and its affiliates have offices in Arizona, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Vermont, the Cayman Islands, the Channel Islands, London, Dublin, Frankfurt, Luxembourg, and Amsterdam.