The wealth management arm of Wilmington Trust Corporation will be playing to its strengths this year and not open new offices, said Mark Graham, executive vice president and head of Wilmington’s Wealth Advisory Services.

Those strengths, according to Mr Graham, include the Delaware-based company’s regional strongholds in the northeast, mid-Atlantic and southeast and four markets: business owners, fiduciary services, family offices and investment services for endowments and foundations.

“We think we can grow nationally and leverage our reputation through referrals without opening a bunch of new offices,” he told this publication in an interview.

Working with business owners who have had liquidity events has been a particularly successful specialty for the company because clients can also work with Wilmington’s commercial bank, according to Mr Graham.

“We’re on both sides of the balance sheet,” he said.

Business owners are also a target market for Wilmington’s Family Office division, which provides outsourcing services for single family offices and also functions as a multifamily office.

Although Wilmington, which has $40 billion in assets under management, doesn’t plan to open new offices, it will be beefing up its talent pool in markets such as Atlanta, Boston, New York and Los Angeles, Mr Graham said.

“A lot of good people have become available,” he said.

Wilmington’s commitment to growing in the southeast and northeast has been underscored by bringing in wealth management veterans Jack Sawyer in Atlanta and Roger Hobby in Boston in the last two years.

“The southeast is a critical market going forward and Jack has assembled a top team in Atlanta,” he explained, “and Roger comes from Fidelity and knows the Boston market as well as anyone.”

Wilmington will also be paying close attention to the ultra-competitive New York market, which has seen an influx of new players in the last few months, with more expected this year.

“We’re going to continue to add folks in New York who can create relationships and help clients,” Mr Graham said.

He also noted that Wilmington’s chief client officer, well known industry veteran Tony Guernsey, is based in New York and has assembled a team headed by Murray Stoltz, president of the New York office.

“New York is as competitive as any in the world,” Mr Graham said, “but it is also a very large market.”

Wilmington’s minimum to open a new account is $3 million in investible assets, he said, while the average new account has $10 million.