Steve Houston, managing director at Barclays Wealth, has just been appointed as head of wealth management, Americas.

Houston takes over from Jack Petersen, who will become an investment representative in the firm's New York office. In his new role, he will be responsible for building Barclays Wealth's high net worth client business in the region, as well as managing and expanding its existing investment representative network. The wealth manager presently has 14 offices across the country.

"As part of a significant global investment in our business and platform, we are rapidly growing in the US and attracting top-performing teams. Steve is the right person to drive our regional build-out," said Mitch Cox, the head of Barclays Wealth, Americas and head of global research and investments, in a statement.

The company has been stepping up its Americas franchise with a series of hires over the past weeks, the most recent among which was the naming of two new investment representatives to its Los Angeles office, as reported by this publication.