PEOPLE: TIMOTHY LEACH — CURRENCY SWINGS DON’T FAZE THIS MONEY MANAGER

Timothy Leach couldn’t have picked a more turbulent time to ramp up international money management at ABN Amro Asset Management (USA) Inc.

Southeast Asian currencies are rebounding — for now — although those countries still face formidable economic hurdles. Meanwhile Europe’s markets are bracing for the great unknown: the euro, a single currency whose introduction is set for 1999.

not to worry

But uncertainty clearly doesn’t faze Mr. Leach, who in February joined the four-month-old Chicago affiliate of Netherlands-based ABN Amro Bank NV. His company oversees $6.5 billion in managed assets, including mutual funds, institutional accounts, pension plans and endowment funds.

One of Mr. Leach’s first orders of business is to connect investors with his parent company’s global asset management arm, which oversees $85 million in 22 countries.

“We’re not trying to invest in Asia from Chicago,” Mr. Leach says. “We have very active asset management offices in Hong Kong and Singapore. The same thing is true in Europe.”

the place to be

Mr. Leach also plans to use the same global network to sell American securities to foreign investors.

That’s a very hot market, notes Marshall Front, chairman and director of Trees Front Associates Inc., a Chicago investment adviser that manages $1.2 billion in client assets.

“Offshore investors are moving more aggressively than they have in years to move capital into the U.S.,” he says, “which is perceived to be economically stable, where the dollar is perceived to be strong and where the yield tradeoff clearly favors investment in U.S. government bonds.”

Crain News Service