Chase Manhattan Says No To Investment Bank Purchase

Chase Manhattan Corporation chairman and chief executive officer Walter Shipley said Thursday the company is not interested in acquiring an investment banking firm but is instead focusing on growing its own.

"We have no interest at the current time of acquiring a pure investment banking unit," Shipley told reporters after a speech at the Executives' Club of Chicago.

Shipley also said Chase, the largest financial company in the United States, was still focusing on integrating its merger with Chemical Banking Corporation.

"We have an implementation strategy right now," Shipley said when asked about the companies acquisition strategy. "Our full focus of our efforts and intentions (is) continuing to execute that merger."

But when asked about Fleet Financial Group Inc's corporate trust business, Shipley said Fleet put some of that business into play and Chase was interested, but it was up to Fleet to make a decision on any sale.

Shipley also said that Dean Witter Discover & Co and Morgan Stanley Group Inc had been on Chase's "radar screen" before the two decided to merge. But after the speech, he qualified his statement.

"Any of the major firms have all the other major firms on their radar screen, so don't read anything special into that," Shipley said. Shipley also indicated he expected consolidation to continue among the major U.S. banks.

"I'd be surprised in the next three to five years if you didn't see some consolidation between a couple of the top half a dozen or so banks in the country to take strong market positions and certain geographies and put them together," he said.