Tony DeLucia is looking to expand his distribution team at BB&T Asset Management as the firm continues to increase its business outside the BB&T bank. In an interview with The MFWire, DeLucia confirmed that he aims to extend his reach beyond the bank's traditional footprint in the Southeast, looking to the Northeast, Midwest and West.

"We've had a very successful two years," said DeLucia, senior vice president and director of distribution at BB&T Asset Management. "We're growing based on need."

DeLucia's team currently includes two external wholesalers four internal wholesalers, DeLucia himself and an eighth team member who plays a dual key account and fund administration role.

"We're really like a small business where nobody has just one responsibility," DeLucia said. "Like any sales management task force, we always want more sales people."

The need to expand his team, DeLucia said, comes from a "big push" over the last 1.5 years to distribute BB&T Asset Management's offerings outside of BB&T itself. DeLucia confided that they're bringing in sizable business via mutual fund supermarkets, regional broker-dealers and some banks, and he's talking with wirehouses, too.

"Historically, we predominantly distributed through the BB&T franchise," DeLucia said. "Now, more than half of our new assets are flowing in from outside of BB&T."

American Banker's Steve Garmhausen also profiled BB&T Asset Management's distribution efforts. DeLucia confided to American Banker that BB&T Asset Management's long-term mutual fund assets grew from $2.2 billion on March 31, 2009 to $3.1 billion on April 30, 2010. 

Edited by: Neil Anderson, Managing Editor


Stay ahead of the news ... Sign up for our email alerts now
CLICK HERE