ALBERT HENRY WIGGIN Biography - Bussiness people and enterpreneurs

 
 

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ALBERT HENRY WIGGIN

Born: 1868                                                                     
Birthplace: Medfield, Mass.                                                     
                                                                               
Considered somewhat of a Wunderkind when he became youngest vice president     
ever at Chase National Bank at 36, he had already helped to organize the       
Banker's Trust Company (1903) and had been vice-president of the National       
Park Bank in New York City for five years. He climbed steadily in rank and     
influence, becoming president of Chase (1911); chairman (1917), then           
chairman of the governing board (1930), while serving on some 59 corporate     
boards. Under his reign, the Chase National Bank and its holdings,             
including the Mercantile Trust Company and the Chase Securities                 
Corporation, grew significantly. A Congressional probe (1933) into the         
company's holdings revealed that Chase (among others) had skirted laws         
prohibiting banks from operating as a trust and from handling securities       
in doing so through its affiliates. Wiggin personally was found to have         
used his “official and fiduciary position for private profit,” leading to   
an out-of-court settlement of a stockholder suit.                               
Died: 1951