Mellon Bank Corp said J. DavidBarnes has retired as chairman and chief executive officer and
resigned from the board of the company and its Mellon Bank
subsidiary.
    The company said senior director Nathan W. Pearson will
succeed Barnes but also appointed a special search committee to
review all internal and external candidates for chairman.
    Mellon said "Mr. Barnes felt a change of management at this
time would help the bank move more quickly and with less
constraint in meeting the needs of shareholders, customers and
employees."
    Pearson is 75 and is financial advisor to the Paul Mellon
Family Interests. Barnes is 57.
    On Friday Mellon reported a 59.8 mln dlr first quarter
loss. It had placed 310 mln dlrs of Brazilian loans on a
nonaccrual basis and said it would cut its quarterly dividend
to 35 cts per share from 69 cts due to energy, foreign,
commercial real estate and heavy industry loans.
 Reuter
