From the fund industry's perspective, overall equity sales in 1991 were decent.

Mr. Braniff, 50, will be responsible for equity sales, trading and research.

The company said it posted a pretax gain of $80.5 million from the equity sales in the second quarter.

"We were surprised," said Mr. Speca, who thinks equity sales will do even better in early 1992.

"We've seen a continued slowdown in equity net sales, a lot of which is due to the recent market volatility," she said.

Nearly the entire equity sales and trading desk was gone, as were people from practically every department.

He said the equity sales could take place in four or five months.

He became national sales director in 1988 before switching to equity sales and trading in 1990.

This has fueled an unprecedented boom in track construction and expansion, with much of the capital coming from equity sales.

It delivers equity sales and research as well as corporate finance services.