People Moves
Executive Moves December 2008
The following moves took were reported in December 2008.
UK
The nephew of Bruno Schroder, the billionaire controlling shareholder of the Schroders fund management group which includes a private banking business, was promoted to the main board in a boardroom shakeup.
Philip Mallinckrodt was promoted to the board in recognition of his success in transforming the group's private banking division, Schroders said in a statement.
Stephen Brooks, the finance director, is leaving the company and will be succeeded by Kevin Parry, who is a Schroders non-executive director and audit committee chairman.
Affiliated Managers Group, a Boston-based asset management
company appointed Gordon Hogarth as managing director in charge
of European distribution at its
London office. In this newly created role, Mr Hogarth leads
the company’s multi-affiliate distribution platform while
catering to existing clients in
Europe.
Mr Hogarth's appointment follows the opening of AMG's
London office in February and its appointment of David Waite to
lead AMG's
Middle East effort.
UK investment bank and wealth manager
Close expanded its investment management division with four
new appointments.
Andrew Buchanan and Rebecca Chambers were appointed to strengthen Close’s offshore investment management capability and work alongside the existing investment specialists.
Mr Buchanan rejoined Close as senior portfolio manager after a
spell at Coutts in
Jersey and is responsible for the day-to-day management of a
portfolio of discretionary investment management accounts. Ms
Chambers joins from university as trainee portfolio manager. Both
are based in the
Jersey office.
Two further appointments focused on relationship management and client service. Mohamed Baluchi and Andrew Tattersall take up senior manager roles within the investment management division.
Hal Catherwood took up leadership of the
Belfast office of London-listed private client investment manager
Brewin Dolphin, having helped set up the office with Henry
Algeo and Randal Herron in 2005.
Mr Algeo, previous head of the
Belfast office, was appointed regional managing director for the
Scottish and Irish region.
Longbridge Search & Selection, the recruitment company with
offices in the
UK and Europe, appointed Lyssa Barber to its private wealth
management team to develop its capabilities in regions such as
the
Middle East. Ms Barber previously worked at McKinsey
Mortreuil Clarke, an executive search firm, and Lockwood Gibb &
Associates, another recruiter.
UK-based private bank
Coutts appointed two private bankers to its new team in
Cheltenham in the west of
England as part of the firm’s continued expansion in the
UK regions.
The appointees were Charlotte Ellison and Phil Needham, who
joined from HBOS and NatWest Private Banking respectively. The
Coutts Cheltenham office in
Bayshill Road,
Cheltenham, was opened on 29 October 2008, as part of the third
wave of Coutts' regional expansion programme.
UK financial services provider
Matrix Group put together their in-house funds of hedge funds
team. The new team of six is headed by chief investment officer
Stuart Ratcliff.
In September, Mr Ratcliff joined Matrix from Collingham Capital Management where he was a partner and senior portfolio manager; his team is now in place.
Three senior analytic and investment staff report to him. Bechara Madi, head of macro and chief economist was previously a senior EMEA and European economist at Morgan Stanley before moving to North Asset Management as partner and head of macro and quantitative research.
Justine Lee, head of operational due diligence, spent the last six years as head of operational due diligence, fund of hedge funds, for First State Investments. In addition, there are two research and investment analysts: Christopher Clarke and Angela Brown will support the team, as well as a marketing and sales department of fifteen professionals.
Laven Partners, the
London based investment management consultancy, named Kevin
Quinlan as a director. Mr Quinlan joined from IMS Consulting and
previously worked for the FSA Enforcement Division.
UniCredit-owned Pioneer Investments made two senior additions to
its
UK institutional team: Ian Burton joins as head of
UK consultant relations and Cecilia Wilson as client director.
In this newly-created role, Mr Burton is responsible for further
strengthening the relationships with investment consultants in
the
UK and developing the company’s growing institutional asset
management business.
Cecilia Wilson, who joined as client director, works closely with
the institutional client servicing team to formulate a client
servicing strategy for
UK and
Ireland institutional clients. She is based in
London and reports to Richard Banks, global head of institutional
client services. Before taking up this assignment, she was at
State Street Global Advisors.
Carlton Partners, the
UK merchant bank, was appointed the former managing director of
HSBC Private Bank,
Monaco, as joint managing partner.
Adrian Kyriazi had worked at HSBC for almost 20 years, most
recently in the London-listed bank’s private banking operation
in
Monaco. Prior to that role, he was chief executive of HSBC
Private Bank’s western region in the
US. He was also chairman of Wealth and Tax Advisory Services,
HSBC’s financial planning subsidiary for ultra-high net worth
clients.
The wealth management division of
UK stockbrokers Collins Stewart appointed Lee Bailey as head of
financial planning, signalling the firm’s move to develop this
side of its business.
Mr Bailey joined from US-based Fisher Wealth. As part of his business brief, Mr Bailey looks at the financial planning needs of Collins Stewart’s wealth management clients, Neil Darke, head of wealth management, told WealthBriefing.
Architas, the multi-manager investment company which is part of the AXA Group, further expanded its team with a number of appointments.
Anna O’Donoghue took up the role of senior investment analyst, coming from F&C Asset Management, along with Steve Allen, Evelyn Olusanya and Quentin De Bottini who join as investment analysts.
Mr Allen and Ms Olusanya joined from Morgan Stanley and First Company Financial respectively, while Mr de Bottini previously held positions with Hewitt Associates and Reuters.
In addition, Kieron McLoughlin, who has previously worked for M&G Investments and Skandia, and David Tasker, who was formerly with Selestia Investments, took up sales manager roles.
The chairman of the
UK financial regulator’s panel monitoring how decisions affect
consumers resigned after he failed to persuade the
Financial Services Authority to widen the group’s remit amid
the credit crisis.
David Lipsey stepped down as chairman of the Financial Services Consumer Panel, part of the Financial Services Authority. The FSA said his replacement will be announced in due course.
North America
US investment management group
AllianceBernstein named Peter Kraus as its new chairman and
chief executive, succeeding Lewis Saunders who is retired.
Mr Kraus joined AllianceBernstein from Merrill Lynch, where he held the position of head of global strategy, in addition to being a member of the management committee. His previous roles also include head of the investment management division and head of firm-wide strategy at Goldman Sachs.
UBS Wealth Management US appointed Brad Smithy from Merrill Lynch & Co as an executive director and a market area manager.
Mr Smithy will work with John Matthews, the firm's Atlantic
regional manager, and with other senior management based in
Weehawken,
New Jersey.
Mr Smithy joins UBS in January. He worked at Merrill Lynch for
more than 15 years. Mr Smithy was most recently the complex
director for Merrill Lynch in
Palm Beach,
Florida.
Former Lehman Brothers wealth management subsidiary Neuberger Berman's mutual funds named Tom Seip, an independent board member, as non-executive chairman and Robert Conti as chief executive officer. The pair succeeded Peter Sundman, who is leaving the firm.
Mr Seip, a private investor, has been a member of the funds' boards since 2000 and lead independent board member since 2006.
Mr Conti has been an employee of Neuberger Berman since 1980. During that time, he has held a variety of positions in connection with Neuberger Berman's mutual funds business. He most recently served as an executive vice president of the funds and is a managing director of Neuberger Berman.
Johnson Illington Advisors named former Goldman Sachs
executive Daniel Nolan as managing director. He
is responsible, with chairman and chief executive Hugh Johnson,
for developing strategy for the growth of the
New York state wealth and investment management firm.
The hire was part of a succession plan, although Mr Johnson has no immediate intention of retiring.
Mr Nolan joined from NPV Capital, a private equity and real estate investment firm that he formed in July 2007. Prior to that, he was a partner in the Ayco Co, a Saratoga Springs-based subsidiary of Goldman Sachs.
Stanford Financial Group formed an institutional consulting business to serve high net worth individuals and institutions in areas such as foundations, retirement planning, education and healthcare.
The new unit, based in
Baltimore in
Maryland, is called Stanford Institutional Consulting and focuses
on clients with assets between $10 million and more than $1
billion, the company said in a statement.
SIC is led by veteran financial advisor Christopher Aitken, in the role of executive managing director and senior investment consultant, and by Stephen Thacker, managing director and investment consultant.
Other financial professionals on the team include Dawn Pfaff, senior analyst; Timothy Truss, senior analyst; Danyelle Berger, senior analyst; Ayaz Hasan, analyst; Shari Serafin, operations manager; Teri Houp, portfolio administration and Karen Doggett, senior portfolio administrator.
Prior to joining Stanford Institutional Consulting, Mr Aitken was managing director for Citi-Smith Barney Institutional Consulting. Mr Thacker also joined the company from Citi-Smith Barney Institutional Consulting where he worked for the past 16 years.
City National Bank hired Michael Dowling as senior vice
president and manager for its personal trust division. He
oversees all personal trust division activities at City National,
including all account administration for trust clients in
Los Angeles,
San Francisco,
Orange
County,
San Diego and
Las Vegas.
Mr Dowling joined from US Trust, Bank of
America Private Wealth Management in
San Francisco.
Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, the
US private equity giant, created a new asset management arm,
naming William Sonneborn as its head.
The new business division is to called KKR Asset Management, the firm said in a statement. The KKR Fixed Income business unit is part of the new asset management operation. Under the change, Mr Sonneborn succeeded Saturnino Fanlo, who is chief executive of KFI, KKR Financial Holdings and KKR Strategic Capital Management, and David Netjes, chief operating officer of KFI, KFN and SCF, who are both leaving the firm.
Prior to joining KKR, Mr Sonneborn was chief operating officer of The TCW Group, an investment management firm with over $130 billion in assets.
US bank Wells Fargo selected an internal candidate to run its wealth-management group instead of a Wachovia executive as the former bank continues with its takeover of the latter.
Wells Fargo named Jay Welker, the head of its wealth-management group, as the president of the combined group, reported the Winston-Salem Journal, citing a memorandum sent by a senior Wells Fargo executive.
Old Mutual Asset Management hired Sanford Brown as director of alternative investments. Mr Brown reports to Keith McRedmond, director of global investment services. Mr Brown is responsible for client service, business development and marketing of Old Mutual Asset Management's alternative investment capabilities.
Mr Brown joined Old Mutual Asset Management from Deutsche Bank Absolute Return Strategies, where he was vice president and head of hedge fund distribution. Previously, he was regional vice president at GAM, the London-based investment manager.
US executive search firm
Slayton Search Partners appointed Ellen Heller as its
managing director in the firm’s financial practice in asset and
wealth management, based in
Boston.
Ms Heller joined Slayton from Whitney Group, where she was the leader of its North American asset management practice.
US Trust, Bank of America Private Wealth Management confirmed its new head to replace the outgoing president, as the firm’s parent continues with its $50 billion takeover of Merrill Lynch.
A Bank of America spokesman said that Keith Banks, president of Bank of America’s Global Wealth & Investment Management division, was to assume day-to-day leadership of US Trust, effective immediately, taking over from Frances Aldrich Sevilla-Sacasa, US Trust president, who has left the firm.
Ms Sevilla-Sacasa left to “pursue other opportunities,” a spokesman for the company said, but he did not elaborate on her plans.
After the Bank of America takeover of Merrill Lynch went through on 30 December, Mr Banks became head of Global Private Client, Institutional and Investment management.
Reporting to Mr Banks are the following US Trust leadership team members, including: Mick Ankrom, credit and banking executive, Doug DiVirgilio, Southeast division executive, Chris Hyzy, investment strategies executive, which now includes wealth structuring and specialty asset management, Ann Limberg, Northeast division executive, which includes the combined Metro-Atlantic and New England divisions, Tim Maloney, Central division executive, Thong Nguyen, Fiduciary Solutions executive, and Tracey Warson, West division executive.
After the BoA/Merrill transaction was completed and Mr Banks became head of global private client, institutional and investment management, the following individuals now report to Mr Banks: Steve Bodurtha, head of Institutional Retirement & Philanthropy, Mike Jones, who continues to serve as president of Columbia Management, David Bailin, head of alternative investments asset management, and Dick Silverman, business development executive.
Bob McCann, vice chairman and president of Merrill Lynch Global
Wealth Management, is the new head of Merrill Lynch Global Wealth
Advisors, working alongside Mr Banks. As a result of the
combination of these two
US firms, the enlarged company has almost 20,000 financial
advisors worldwide.
UBS Wealth Management US added 132 financial advisors who managed $14 billion in client assets as the firm continues to beef up its recruiting efforts amid brokerage industry turmoil.
Kathleen Murphy, chief executive of ING US Wealth Management, joins Boston-based Fidelity Investments in a role that she will start in January 2009.
ING also announced new chief executives for three of the four
parts of the realigned
US business. Bill Lowe who was previously president of Wealth
Management Wholesale Distribution, will be chief executive of US
Annuities, whilst Catherine Smith, who was chief executive of
ING's
US insurance unit will become chief executive of Retirement
Services. Butch Britton, who was previously president, US Life
Insurance, will be chief executive of US Insurance.
International professional services firm
Maitland hired Magda Embury as partner, and Bernadette Carey
and Angelina Whiteman as associates in its
Cayman Islands office. The team there is headed by Sara Collins.
Ms Embury most recently headed the property and banking
department at law firm Solomon Harris in Cayman and joins
Maitland as head of its finance and local business group in
the
Cayman Islands.
Ms Carey joined from Henry Davis York in
Australia, where she was a senior associate specialising in
commercial litigation matters, focusing on insolvency and
restructuring.
Ms Whiteman joined from McMillan LLP in
Toronto, which she joined after a stint with Maples and Calder in
Cayman.
Lloyds TSB International Private Banking saw the loss of
around twenty private bankers who were based in
Miami servicing the Latin American market.
CorrectNet, a
US information delivery and client reporting service for
investment management firms, announced several senior
appointments. Important among them were Aron Miodownik, who was
named executive chairman and Bill Cline, a new addition to the
board.
Two senior industry executives joined the management team.
CorrectNet added Peter Lennon as senior vice president of project
management. Lennon joined from Lehman Brothers where he was the
VP Project Manager across several business groups. Previously, he
was with Bank of
New York (Pershing) and TD Waterhouse.
CorrectNet also announced the appointment of Bridget Piraino as director of marketing and alliances. Ms Piraino has led marketing strategies for global organizations in the financial services technology industry including AssetControl, SeeBeyond, TIBCO and Sybase.
Gerald Corrigan, a former president of the Federal
Reserve Bank of
New York,was tapped by
Goldman Sachs as chairman of its newly created bank holding
company.
Two former executives from Fidelity Investments resigned to join Boston-based Putnam Investments. The moves continued an effort by president and chief executive of Putnam, Robert Reynolds, himself a former Fidelity executive, to strengthen Putnam’s senior management team.
Clare Richer and Andra Bolotin joined the firm as senior managing director and chief financial officer, and managing director and controller, respectively, Putnam said in a statement. Ms Richer held a series of positions at Fidelity, including chief financial officer, from 2005 to 2007. Most recently, she served as executive vice president of Fidelity management and research.
Switzerland
Deutsche Bank denied a report in German weekly Die Zeit
quoting unidentified sources to the effect that its chief
executive Josef Ackermann – who is Swiss - would consider moving
back to
Switzerland to become chairman of UBS if asked in writing with
the backing of the Swiss government, according to
Reuters.
"Mr Ackermann is not considering giving up the post of chief executive of Deutsche Bank," the spokesman said, pointing out that Ackermann's contract runs to 2010.
Zurich-based Vontobel Holding announced the departure of three members of its board of directors, while also naming three candidates who will be proposed for election next year.
Hans Caspar von der Crone and Heinrich Wegmann resigned, while Heinz Roth will not stand for re-election for personal reasons, the Swiss firm said.
Vontobel will propose three new members for election to the board at its general shareholder meeting on 28 April 2009: Ann-Kristin Achleitner, research director at the Technical University Munich, Frank Schnewlin, former chief executive of the Bâloise Group, and Philipp Cottier, former chief executive of Harcourt Investment Consulting.
Bank of
China (Suisse) Fund Management, which was recently set up by the
state-owned Chinese bank, recruited a team from Bedrock
Alternative Asset Management in
Geneva. BoC recruited Geneva-based investment manager
Bedrock partners Daniel Penseyres, Grégore Haenni and
Nicholas Salomon. The trio started their work at Bank of China on
1 December.
Mr Penseyres heads the fund selection and alternative investments division. At Bedrock, he was managing partner and co-portfolio manager of two funds of hedge funds and a large book of advisory mandates for ultra high net worth individuals.
In 2001, Mr Penseyres joined Darier Hentsch before its merger
with Lombard Odier. Prior to that, he set up the alternative
investments marketing, sales and advisory platform for Union
Bancaire Privée in
Geneva.
Mr Haenni heads the research and portfolio management within the fund selection and alternative investments division of BOC (Suisse) Fund Management. At Bedrock, he was a managing partner, as well as head of research and portfolio management. He was a portfolio manager of two fund of hedge funds, as well as tailor-made portfolios designed for UHNW individuals and based on proprietary multi-dimensional models that he developed over the last 15 years.
Prior to Bedrock, Mr Haenni was a senior qualitative and quantitative analyst at Pictet & Cie's hedge fund department. He was also the manager of the Asian multi-strategy fund of hedge funds and managed tailor-made portfolios of hedge funds.
Mr Salomon acts as operations manager of the fund selection and
Alternative Investments division of BOC (Suisse) Fund Management.
Prior to joining Bedrock Alternative Asset Management in
Geneva as operation analyst in 2007, Mr Salomon was the
operations manager at Cedar Partners, a single and funds of hedge
funds firm in
Geneva. He held a similar position with AIB/Mourant in Jersey,
Bank of New York in
Dublin and Société Générale in
Paris.
Swiss private bank Julius Baer opened a branch in
St Moritz, set up under a manager hired from UBS, as previously
announced in June this year. The office, in Via Serlas, is
managed by Heinz Inhelder, who previously was head of UBS Wealth
Management in the fashionable Alpine resort.
Mr Inhelder was joined by three relationship managers from the
region: Adriano Trivella, Marco Kleger and Fredy della Torre. The
team offers specially tailored private banking services to Swiss
and international clients in
St. Moritz.
The Swiss-listed bank has opened a number of offices, such as an
investment advisory office in
Jakarta, to be called Julius Baer Advisors Indonesia, and an
office in
Cairo.
Alex Widmer, the chief executive of Swiss private bank Julius Baer, sadly died unexpectedly at the age of 52, the bank said.
T Rowe Price appointed Josef Bossi as a senior business
development executive focused on
Switzerland and
Liechtenstein. Based in
Zurich, he focuses on developing and managing client relations.
Mr Bossi joined from State Street Global Advisors where he had been a managing director for the past four years, before which he was head of marketing and sales.
Andrew Marks, head of business development for the EMEA southern region, said the hire was a visible and long-term commitment to the Swiss market.
Europe
SG Private Banking appointed Xavier Denis as economist and strategist. He is an addition to the investment team headed by Hervé Plista, SGPB’s global chief investment officer.
Mr Denis helps determine the economic scenario used to define the firm’s investment strategy, working with SG Asset Management’s strategy and economic research department headed by Michala Marcussen. As spokesman for the private bank’s investment committee, he is responsible for communicating this strategy inside SGPB as well as to clients.
Dexia Asset Management began reorganising its management team at the end of the year. Hugo Lasat and Naïm Abou- Jaoudé were appointed president and vice president respectively of Dexia Asset Management’s executive committee.
As chairman, Mr Lasat replaced Mr Abou- Jaoudé, who was previously head of the commitee. Mr Abou- Jaoudé has also been head of alternative management at Dexia Asset Management for two years, a role he maintains.
Mr Lasat was president of the executive committee on one previous occasion, from September 2001 to December 2005. In January 2006 he took over as head of private client services, retail and private banking and asset management services.
Mourant strengthened its recently-opened
Dublin office with the appointment of Vivien Revenboer as a
director. Ms Revenboer joined the professional services firm from
JPMorgan Bank in
Ireland, where she provided core treasury administrative services
and value-added services to clients on an agency or outsourced
basis. She was responsible for managing the front office, back
office, business support and client service delivery functional
groups and she was also a member of the senior management team
and risk committee.
SG Private Banking, the wealth management arm of Société
Générale Group, appointed a team of three senior private bankers
dedicated to ultra high net worth clients in
Greece.
The team will is led by Miltos Karlos, who has the role of deputy general manager. Together with Nadia Iglezi as commercial director and Séverine Drevet as senior private banker, Mr Karlos will be responsible for building, developing and maintaining client relationships with UHNW individuals in Greece.
The team reports to François Farjallah, managing director and
chief executive of SG Private Banking in
Greece and a member of the executive board of SG Private Banking
in the
Middle East.
Mr Karlos, Ms Iglezi and Ms Drevet joined SG Private Banking from BNP Paribas Private Bank, where they held similar positions.
Mr Karlos was most recently deputy chief executive of BNP Paribas
Private Bank in
Athens, having previously held the roles of deputy chief
operating officer of BNP Greece and head of private banking.
Having occupied a number of positions
within the firm's private banking division, Ms
Iglezi’s was most recently deputy private banking manager at BNP
Paribas Private Bank
Greece.
Ms Drevet’s latest role was senior relationship manager at BNP
Paribas Private Bank in
Athens, having previously been a branch manager of the Greek
private banking division of the bank.
Middle East
UAE’s National Bank of Abu Dhabi appointed Zeki Muderrisoglu as an associate fund manager to further strengthen its asset management arm.
Prior to joining NBAD’s asset management group, Mr
Muderrisoglu was a technical analysis instructor at the
Smartline Investment Training Institute in
Cyprus.
Swiss private bank
Julius Baer appointed Jean-Marc Suter as head of its
Abu Dhabi representative office, effective from 1 January 2009.
Mr Suter joined Julius Baer from
UBS, where he was the senior representative at its
Abu Dhabi office. Previously he was chief representative for
Credit Suisse in
Abu Dhabi and
Dubai. He also held senior positions in wealth management with a
focus on the Middle East at Credit Agricole Indosuez and served
as a vice president in the Middle East department of Credit
Suisse in
Geneva.
Asia Pacific
Barings Asset Management confirmed that its head of Japanese
equities, Joji Maki, is to depart the firm by mid-2009 as a
result of the team’s relocation to
London. Mr Maki will remain with the group in
Tokyo until the move is complete.
The head of the wealth management unit of Edelweiss Securities resigned his post. Subsequent to the departure of Anurag Mehrotra, the unit is thought to be being led by Naresh Kothari, a director at Edelweiss Securities. Mr Mehrotra is reported to have said that he has yet to take a decision on his next role.
Jason Brand, president of Merrill Lynch’s Asia-Pacific
operations, is leaving the firm, two people familiar with the
matter said. Mr Brand, who’s based in
Tokyo, is in charge of investment banking and private banking in
Asia including
Japan.
Bank of America, the third-largest
US lender, said yesterday it plans to cut as many as 35,000
positions over the next three years because of the Merrill
acquisition and a weakening economy.
French bank
BNP Paribas named Serge Forti as its new Asia-Pacific chief
executive and said it will increase headcount at its
Singapore wealth management operation by 67 per cent by the end
of next year.
The appointment of Mr Forti follows the move of former Asia-Pacific head Michel Longhini to lead the bank’s Wealth Management International business line.
Mr Forti said that despite global economic uncertainty, BNP Paribas will push ahead with large-scale hiring plans for its Singaporean wealth management unit, increasing headcount from 300 to 500 employees by the end of 2009.
Of the new appointees, Mr Forti said that about 30 will be senior relationship managers, each of whom will bring with them at least $200 million in assets.
EMP Global, a Washington-based private equity house that specialises in emerging markets, has named Chung Min Pang and Samir Soota as managing directors of its Asian operation.
EMP recently announced it was to join the BMB Group, after the alternative assets manager acquired a majority share of the company.
Chung Min Pang will be responsible for the Greater China region
and will be a member of EMP Daiwa’s Investment Committee. He will
also support BMB’s activities in
China. He was previously the
China country head for both Bank of America and Salomon Brothers,
and most recently headed Aureus Capital in
China. Samir Soota will be based in
Singapore to oversee the South and South East Asian markets. Mr
Soota joined EMP from Principia Management Group, a specialty
investment services firm which he co-founded with a private
equity firm.
Citi named managing director Christopher Gammons as its head
of private equity banking in
Asia. Mr Gammons replaces Christopher Laskowski, who moves to
Chicago.
Mr Laskowski remains a Citigroup private equity banker, handling deals for mid-western based buyout firms and hedge funds.
Australian financial group
Macquarie appointed Bryan Shepherd to its
Wellington private wealth advisory team. This hire further
expanded the company’s
New Zealand operation and follows the appointment of wealth
manager James Malden last month.
Mr Shepherd specialises in providing investment and strategy advice to wealthy private investors.
Joining Macquarie from the Bank of New Zealand where he was a
private banker, Mr Shepherd also spent 12 years with Guardian
Trust in
Wellington in roles including trust manager and trust and
financial services consultant.
The chief executive of BT Financial Group, Rob Coombe, announced executive appointments to the combined wealth management team formed by the St George Bank and Westpac Banking Group merger, according to media reports.
Geoff Lloyd, the chief executive of Asgard, will become the general manager of advice and private banking.
Gai McGrath became the general manager of customer service, while John Shuttleworth, Tony Forward, Mark Smith, David Lees, John Frechtling and Shenaz Khan are the general managers of superannuation and investment solutions, technology, insurance, wealth transformation, finance and risk, and people, respectively.
BT also announced appointments to its advice and private banking business, including Mark Spiers, head of BT Advice, Jan Swinhoe, head of Westpac private banking, and David Hewitt, head of St George private clients.
Bettina Pidcock was appointed head of marketing, brand and communication in the super and investments business. The heads of practice management, business performance and channel marketing, and the head of dealer groups and licensee select have not yet been announced.
International
India’s ICICI Bank was appointed Chanda Kochhar as chief
executive officer, making her one of
India's most prominent businesswomen.
Ms Kochhar is currently joint managing director and chief
financial officer. She will replace KV Kamath at
India’s second-largest bank on 1 May 2009, the bank said in a
statement. Mr Kamath will take over from
N Vaghul as non-executive chairman.
City veteran Bob Wigley, the current Europe, Middle East and
Africa chairman of
Merrill Lynch, is to step down, after a brief handover
period. Wealthbriefing viewed an internal memo, in which
Merrill Lynch chief executive John Thain told staff Mr Wigley was
leaving the firm to focus on the next stage of his career.
Mr Wigley joined Merrill Lynch in 1996 to help spearhead the
development of Merrill Lynch's European investment banking
business, advising on many of the firm's largest European
transactions. He became co-head of corporate broking in 2000,
co-head of
UK investment banking in 2001, global co-head of telecom and
media investment banking in 2002 and chairman of EMEA corporate
banking from 2003 before taking up his current position as EMEA
chairman in December 2004.