Sir William's New Bank

Although he has always moved mysteriously in international circles, Sir William Wiseman, tenth baronet of Ulster, partner in Manhattan's Kuhn, Loeb & Co., has never made much of a public splash. He graduated from Cambridge, was gassed at Ypres, studied espionage at Scotland Yard, at 30 was the second most powerful Briton in the U.S., unofficial head of His Majesty's World War I secret service in the U.S. and Woodrow Wilson's "confidential Englishman." Afterward he joined Kuhn, Loeb, the second greatest U.S. private banking house (the first: J. P. Morgan & Co.), but kept his British passport and his family title, which was conferred by James II. A sometime playwright (one play) and much married (three marriages, two unsuccessful), he spoke softly in a clipped British accent, attired himself in double-breasted navy blue, and kept out of the papers.

Last week, at 70, Sir William made a public announcement that got his picture in the New York Times. He reported the creation of a private world bank, the first of its kind, named the Transoceanic Development Corp., Ltd. Sponsored by Kuhn, Loeb, First Boston Corp., and London's S. G. Warburg, the corporation has 27 participating firms famed in the banking world. Among them: Credit Suisse, David and Laurance Rockefeller, Sal Oppenheim Jr. & Cie. (Cologne), N. M. Rothschild & Sons (London), Deutsche Bank Group (Frankfurt), Amsterdamsche Bank (Holland). The bank's purpose is to buy equity shares in foreign enterprises and furnish risk capital to businesses in countries other than the U.S. and Canada.

The capital of $10 million is small, to allow the new institution to take a look at the field without tying up lots of cash during the waiting period. Later, when Transoceanic finds what it wants, the members stand ready to sink many more times the original capitalization into the business.

Last week Sir William was characteristically self-effacing about the new venture. In the whole field of international investment there are only two major financial groups--the World Bank and the (British) Commonwealth Development Finance Co., Ltd.--both government institutions. Why had he set up a private bank to get into the field? Replied Sir William: "We want to make money."

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