Press Release Details

MINNEAPOLIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 14, 2001--RSM McGladrey, Inc., a leading national accounting, tax and consulting firm, has entered into a strategic marketing alliance with Clark/Bardes Consulting's Banking Practice, a Minneapolis-based provider of customized compensation, benefit, and bank-owned life insurance (BOLI) services to community banks.

"Our agreement with Clark/Bardes Consulting enables us to offer our bank clients additional services designed to help them recruit and retain their best people," said Dan Trigg, executive vice president of RSM McGladrey's national financial institutions practice. "These services focus on compensation and benefit consulting for bank officers, including bank-owned life insurance solutions."

"In our discussions with RSM McGladrey, we discovered minimal overlap in the clients we serve, though we both serve more than 1,000 community banks nationwide," said Rich Chapman, president and CEO of Clark/Bardes Consulting. "Our nationwide consultants will be working with RSM McGladrey professionals to introduce us to clients who can benefit from our customized approach to developing compensation, benefit and BOLI strategies."

Chapman said bank-owned life insurance has become the prevalent tool banks use to offset the rising cost of employee benefits, adding, "Our consultants help bank clients create an optimal portfolio that best suits their business objectives, while also providing regulatory compliance and documentation."

RSM McGladrey's Trigg said Clark/Bardes Consulting's Banking Practice was selected as its alliance partner due to the firm's market leadership and depth of understanding of the financial institution industry.

"Our reputation in the financial institution industry has come from our ongoing focus on the needs of community banks," he said. "We wanted to work with a firm that had the same commitment to this industry."

A subsidiary of H&R Block (NYSE:HRB), RSM McGladrey, Inc. is one of the nation's leading accounting, tax and consulting firms serving mid-sized companies and financial institutions. RSM McGladrey is also linked with more than 70 independently owned CPA firms in the United States and Puerto Rico through the McGladrey Network. In addition, RSM McGladrey is the U.S. member of RSM International, the seventh largest accounting and consulting organization in the world with 600 offices in more than 75 countries. The company's web site is www.rsmmcgladrey.com.

Clark/Bardes Consulting's Banking Practice is the largest and most comprehensive provider of compensation, benefit and BOLI portfolio services to banks across the country. Exclusively focused on the banking industry and endorsed by more than 40 banking trade organizations, the Banking Practice specializes in four primary capabilities: compensation consulting, executive and director benefit planning, ownership succession planning, and bank-owned life insurance. With more than 1,600 client banking organizations, the Banking Practice's primary mission is helping banks keep their best people.