The start of 2011 proved a busy one for the wealth management employment market with a number of high-profile hires and departures.

United Kingdom

Hanover Search Financial Services, the executive search firm, strengthened its business with three appointments for the UK market.

The new hires are Barnaby Campbell, who will focus on the private banking industry; Edward Woodall, who will work in the financial advisory market; and Adriana Alvarez, who has been appointed as a researcher on the private client investment management and sales team. She will work alongside existing associate partner Andrew Bayliss. The latest hires follow the recent appointment of Stephen Phipps as managing director of the firm.

WH Ireland Group, the UK-listed financial services group, said Paul Compton will take up his role as chief executive as previously announced last September, after getting regulatory clearance from the Financial Services Authority.

Compton previously worked at Toscafund Asset Management, which runs hedge funds and long-only portfolios.  At Toscafund, Paul co-managed the Toscafund Mid Cap Fund which was ranked the second best performing long/short equity hedge fund in Europe in 2009 by EuroHedge, WH Ireland said.

The UK private bank Coutts & Co added a Barclays Wealth director to its UHNW business, with the hire of James Biggart.

Biggart, who joined Barclays in 2001, was also formerly a lawyer at Freshfield, and specialises in investment in fine art.

Gerard Aquilina stepped down from his post as vice chairman at Barclays Wealth, leaving the firm after being part of its leadership team for more than four years.

“After four exciting and stimulating years at Barclays Wealth, I have taken a personal decision to move on and take opportunities in the emerging markets field. I have enjoyed my time at Barclays immensely and I am sure it will continue to thrive as one of the leading global wealth managers,” Aquilina was quoted as saying by a Barclays Wealth spokesperson.

Aquilina joined Barclays Wealth in September 2006 from HSBC Private Bank in New York, where he had been chief executive for the Americas, heading 1,200 staff in more than 20 locations. Prior to that, he worked at Merrill Lynch.

Threadneedle, the UK-based investment house, appointed Mark Burgess, its new chief investment officer, as co-manager with Alex Lyle on three of its funds.

The vehicles in question are the global equity fund, the global equity and bond fund, and the equity and bond fund.

Burgess joined Threadneedle from Legal & General Investment Management earlier this month. While at L&G he was managing director, head of equites.

Boodle Hatfield, the private client law firm, expanded its contentious trusts and estates team with the appointment of solicitor Mark Lindley.

Lindley joined from Penningtons and has experience in advising clients on contentious matters including disputes between trustees and beneficiaries, challenges to the validity of wills, professional negligence and disputed applications in the Court of Protection. 

Credit Suisse appointed Alex Langen, formerly of EFG, as a director and relationship manager at its private banking division.

At EFG, where he was based in London and spent nine years, Langen specialised in serving clients in Southern and Eastern Africa. In his new position at Credit Suisse, he will remain based in London and report to Reed Laughlin, a director in the firm's private banking business.

Nucleus, the IFA-owned and controlled wrap platform, appointed Russell Dowd to the newly-created position of regional business development director.

Dowd joined from Standard Life, where he most recently held the position of national account manager within the sales team. In his new role Dowd will report to Barry Neilson, the business development director at Nucleus.

The UK investment house Thames River bolstered its property team with the appointment of Raymond Lahaut as manager of the Longstone long/short real estate equity fund.

Lahaut replaced Christian Roos, who, according to reports, left to take up a position at De Putron Fund Management in March.

Lahaut, who most recently worked on the sell side at Rabobank, first began managing portfolios of property securities in 1999 with Insinger de Beaufort, before going on to Ohra Asset Management, Swiss Finance & Property and Portland Capital.

UK-based Matrix Group added credit analyst Dipen Patel - latterly of Lloyds Banking Group - to its property division.

Patel, who is a specialist in commercial mortgage lending, was most recently a senior analyst in Lloyds’ business support unit, a role in which he assisted in the management, restructuring and turnaround of commercial property loans worth over £50 million ($80 million). Prior to this he spent three years in the structured finance division of Anglo Irish Bank.

In his new role Patel will report to Rick Gambetta, who manages the firm’s recently launched Matrix Commercial Mortgage Fund.

Newton Investment Management, part of BNY Mellon Asset Management, hired Yuko Takano as a Japanese research analyst.

Takano latterly worked for a fund of funds organisation, prior to which she was a senior equity analyst researching Japanese companies at Joho Capital in New York.  She has also worked for Morgan Stanley in Tokyo.

Takano, to be based in London, will be responsible for providing leadership on Japanese equities, working closely with Newton's 27-strong team of global equity analysts. Her focus will be on producing recommendations for Japanese stocks for inclusion in Newton's global investment portfolios.

Coutts Private Office, the UHNW arm of the private bank Coutts & Co, bolstered its team with the hire of Maeve Colley-Russell from Barclays Wealth as a senior client partner.

In her new, London-based role, Colley-Russell will report to Duncan MacIntyre, the global head of the unit. She is charged with looking after the financial affairs of UHNW clients, and specialises in both UK resident domiciled and non-domiciled clients. Coutts classifies UHNW clients as those whose assets typically exceed £30 million (around $47.4 billion), or who have more than £10 million in investable assets.

At Barclays Wealth, where she spent five years, Colley-Russell held a similar role, serving as a director responsible for UHNW clients. Her prior career also includes positions at Credit Suisse Private Banking and Union Bancaire Privée.

MetLife, the US insurance and financial services firm, appointed Dave Ewens as its new UK sales director, as well as naming new sales directors for the southwest and central regions.

Ewens succeeds Adam Dooley, who was promoted to a new position focused on growing MetLife’s wealth management business in continental Europe and the Middle East, the firm said in a statement. Ewens has been with Metlife since its UK launch in January 2007.

Newly-appointed as sales director for the central region was Chris Tingle, who has worked with MetLife as a sales development manager since 2006, while Andrew Pook, who previously worked as a strategic account manager focusing on national and network clients, was named regional sales director for the southwest.

HSBC Private Bank confirmed the departure of Paul Smith, head of client relationship management and a 20-year veteran at the bank.

Christoph Streule, latterly head of HSBC Bank (Suisse) in Geneva, was reportedly appointed to succeed Smith. Streule, who is a member of the bank’s executive committee, has been with HSBC since 2002.

Details of Smith’s next role have yet to emerge. He remains a prominent figure in the private banking scene due to his chairmanship of the private banking advisory panel for the British Bankers’ Association.

Rensburg Sheppards, the UK wealth manager owned by Investec, is to relocate its Farnham office to nearby Guildford during an expansionary phase for the firm.

“The number of clients we have is increasing and so is the amount of work,” Nick Sketch, senior investment director at Rensburg’s Farnham branch, has said.

Sketch has also indicated the firm is open to conversations with external investment teams looking to make a move to a new company, saying: “If you are at a firm that’s been bought by a bank that doesn’t understand the business, you have to either bite the bullet or set up a business yourself, which is risky. The other option is to go to a business where the parent company knows what it is doing.”

Santander Asset Management UK announced the appointment of Tom Caddick as its new head of multi-manager and of Toby Vaughan as multi-manager fund manager, confirming reports which emerged last autumn.

The pair were latterly with LV= Asset Management, where Caddick established the firm’s multi-manager department and Vaughan was principal fund manager for multi-manager and fund selection. Earlier in their careers they worked together at F&C Asset Management.

UK-based Rockspring Property Investment Managers appointed Mischa Davis as fund manager of the Rockspring Hanover Property Unit Trust and Charles Baigler as assistant fund manager of the Rockspring PanEuropean Property Limited Partnership. 

Davis latterly spent nine years at Matrix Property Fund Management, as a fund manager and partner, a role in which he was responsible for investment strategies, analysing and securing bank finance for transactions across Europe, and individual asset business plans for properties. In his new role Davis reports to Neal Shegog, partner and fund director.

Baigler joins from Catalyst Capital, where he spent four years as a director, overseeing acquisitions and the management of assets in Central and Eastern Europe for a closed-ended pan-European fund. He now reports to Flavio Casero, partner and pan-European fund manager.

Scotland-based private bank Adam & Co – sister bank to Coutts & Co – announced a raft of new investment management professionals.

Stuart Dickson, joining from Glasgow-based Ignis, will continue in that city with Adam & Co in the role of investment director.

Ken Wilson is joining the Glasgow team as a senior investment manager.  He has 25 years of experience at Alan Steel Asset Management, Edinburgh Fund Managers, and Turcan Connell. Wilson joins Adam from the advisory firm KGL Independent.

The bank’s Edinburgh investment team appointed Anna Croze, who joins as a senior investment manager. She previously worked for Henderson Global Investors and then later at Old Mutual and Threadneedle.

Oval Group, a UK-based firm which offers private client services among others, hired a team of six consultants from Bank of Scotland Investment Services, the investment arm of HBOS.

Stephen Grimes, Martin Robertson, Peter Nutini and Harry Young all join the firm’s Glasgow operation as senior consultants, while Carol Stanger and Mike Wardlaw join the Aberdeen and Edinburgh offices respectively, in the same position.

JO Hambro Investment Management took over the management of Spencer House Capital’s UCITS fund, and brought in fund manager duo Charles Martyn-Hemphill and Will Kenney from SHCM to continue as managers of the fund, effective February 2011.

The Spencer House Capital Management Fund, a UCITS umbrella investment company listed on the Irish Stock Exchange, will change its name to JOHIM Global Investment Funds.

The UK equities intermediary brokerage firm, Olivetree Securities, appointed former England rugby player Simon Halliday as head of UK distribution.

Halliday, who has 25 years experience in equity broking, was most recently at Nomura International as head of global emerging market sales.

In his new role Halliday reports to chief executive and founder Daryn Kutner. He will be responsible for managing existing UK client relationships and originating new opportunities.

Non-resident Indian banking specialist Deepak Ahuja took over as head of consumer banking at the State Bank of India UK, India's biggest lender in the UK.

Ahuja joins from Barclays Europe, where he was head of NRI banking, to accelerate expansion of the SBI consumer and wealth management proposition in the UK. His UK banking experience extends back to a senior vice president role at Citibank UK and a marketing head position at ICICI Bank.

Investec Trust appointed its global head, Xavier Isaac, as managing director of its Jersey office, relocating him from Switzerland.

Isaac continues as chief executive of the Investec Trust group, having been in post since September 2009. Before this he was managing director of ABN Amro’s trust business for four years.

Issac’s relocation underlines Investec Trust’s belief that its Jersey operation is key to the development of its offering across multiple jurisdictions.
South Africa’s Standard Bank appointed Lionel Woodward to the newly-created role of head of legal at its offshore division.

Based in Jersey, Woodward is charged with maintaining a robust legal control framework for Standard Bank Offshore, and also with acting as the senior contact point for legal advice.

Woodward joins the firm from Mourant Ozannes, the offshore law firm, where he worked in the corporate and finance team. His prior career also includes roles at City of London law firms Berwin Leighton Paisner and Bishop and Sewell.

The London office of Netherlands-headquartered United Trust appointed Marianna Nezhivaya as commercial director focusing on private wealth.

Nezhivaya was most recently a senior private banker with SG Hambros, and previously with Citi Private Bank in London.

In her new role she will be reporting to Alex Smotlak, managing director heading the London Office.

Henderson, the UK-listed investment manager which recently announced a proposal to buy rival Gartmore, hired a new head of UK marketing from Ignis Asset Management.

Allyson Foster, who was head of partnership marketing at Ignis, is set to join Henderson in April. She joined Ignis in May 2009 from New Star. In her new role, she will report to Richard Wilson, the director of marketing and distribution services at Henderson.

ACPI Investments, the London-based asset manager, appointed Simon Clark - formerly of Heartwood Wealth Management - as chief operating officer.

Clark, who was chief financial officer at Heartwood Wealth Management, also previously held several business support roles at RBS Financial Markets, Greenwich NatWest and Credit Suisse First Boston.

Manx Financial, the Isle of Man-based financial services group and wealth manager, appointed Oliver Hare to its board as a non-executive director.

Hare, who is also a partner of Unicos Partnership in Singapore, is currently vice-chairman of Helvetica Wealth Management Partners in Geneva, which he founded in 2004. Before this he was managing director of Banque Piguet, also in Geneva, prior to which he was with UBS for 15 years.

AXA Wealth International expanded its development team with the appointment of Tony Kisby as international development manager.

Kisby, who has more than 30 years experience in financial services, joins AXA Wealth from Prudential, where he was offshore sales and investment business development manager. He also formerly worked for AXA Sun Life, Scottish Equitable and Zurich Life.

In his new role Kisby will lead the sales teams in North England, Scotland and Northern Ireland. He reports to Richard Leeson, sales and marketing director, who joined the business in September 2010.

Cazenove Capital bolstered its board with the addition of asset management veteran Rupert Tyer as a non-executive director.

Tyer recently retired from Cantillon Capital Management, the London- and New York-based equities boutique of which he was a founding partner. Before this he was managing director of Lazard Unit Trust Managers, charged with business development, distribution and marketing strategy for its UK- and Dublin-based operations.

Signia Wealth, the UK-based multi-family office, appointed Carnegie Smyth as director of wealth structuring. Smyth succeeds Martin Wilson, to whom he reports in Wilson’s new role as head of wealth structuring.

Smyth joins from the accountancy giant Deloitte, where he worked in its entrepreneurial business division.

Threadneedle bolstered its developed government and currency team with the appointment of Matthew Cobon as a fixed income fund manager.

Cobon joins Threadneedle from Aberdeen Asset Management, where he was global head of currency fund management. Before that he worked for Citibank as a foreign exchange sales executive.

The UK private bank Arbuthnot Latham appointed Kevin Kennedy - latterly of Butterfield Private Bank - as head of risk management.

Kennedy spent four years with Butterfield as head of property finance and a member of the credit committee, a role in which he was accountable for the bank’s asset book and the development and implementation of its lending strategy.

In his new role, which entails oversight of Arbuthnot’s credit team and asset book, Kennedy will report to chief executive Dean Proctor.

Mourant Ozannes, the offshore law firm, bolstered its Cayman Islands investment funds team with the hire of Adam Bathgate as an associate.

Bathgate was latterly based in Munich with Clifford Chance, the firm with which he first qualified as a lawyer in 2006.

Polygon Investment Partners, a UK-based private investment firm, appointed Jorge Villion as chief executive and partner.

Villion joins from London-based hedge fund MKM Longboat, where he was chief executive. He also previously held senior positions at JP Morgan, Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein and Credit Suisse.

Approximately 40 staff in Polygon’s 85-strong team will report to Villion.

Allianz Global Investments, the asset management arm of German insurer Allianz, announced the departure of its chief executive, Joachim Faber, effective 31 December 2011. 

Faber will be replaced by Jay Ralph, who will take responsibility for the asset management business as well as assuming the role of chief operating officer of the unit.

Meanwhile, Marna Whittington will step down from her position as COO on 31 March to focus on her role as CEO of Allianz Global Investors Capital and on the development of the Allianz GI business in the US.

Saunderson House, the London-based private client financial advisory firm, appointed Lawrence Mason – latterly of Lloyds Private Bank – as an associate director and investment advisor.

Mason, who was a wealth manager at Lloyds, will take up his new role on 24 January.

Selby Jennings, the financial services recruiter, launched a new business dedicated to executive search in the wake of an internal study that found recruitment among banks, hedge funds and other organisations in the sector could be up by over 300 per cent in 2011 compared to 2008.

The research found that while the desire to retain headhunters rather than engage contingent recruiters collapsed during the financial crisis, demand for their services experienced a massive upsurge in 2010, a trend that looks set to continue in 2011.

Towry, the UK-based wealth advisory firm, appointed Ozgun Turk as an investment management specialist within its London office - a newly-created position.

Turk was previously a consultant conducting due diligence on private equity and hedge fund strategies. She also formerly worked in senior positions at Stanhope Capital and Forsyth Partners.

In her new role Turk will report to chief investment officer Dr Robert Dawkins.

Neil Hitchens joined the wealth management department of Zenith Bank UK as a senior relationship manager, based in London, reporting to Ratna Kakkar, head of wealth management.

Most of Hitchens’ career was spent at GAM working directly for the founding chairman; before this he worked for State Street Bank in both London and Boston. More recently he was involved in hedge fund development and administration.

Saffery Champness, the UK-based accountancy firm, appointed Julian Hedley as a new partner in its media and entertainment group. He is now the ninth partner in the group and will report to managing partner Jonathan Fox.

Hedley joins from rival UK firm RSM Tenon where he was head of RSM Tenon Media for over 20 years, and also the firm’s London office manager for the past 10 years.

Russell Jones & Walker, a Manchester-based law firm, expanded its private client team with the appointment of Richard Phillips and Ciara Hannawin.

Both Phillips and Hannawin latterly worked at Bury-based firm Clough & Willis Solicitors.

Phillips joins as an associate heading up the firm’s trust and estates division, which will include wills, inheritance tax, planning and corporate succession planning. Hannawin, meanwhile, joins as a solicitor focusing on wills and estate administration. 
Threadneedle, the UK-based asset manager, bolstered its emerging markets fund management team with the addition of Irina Miklavchich from Goldman Sachs.

While at Goldmans, Miklavchich was an executive director within the principal strategies group. In her new role she will run several funds as part of the firm’s Asia ex-Japan and global emerging markets equities team, which now numbers seven.

The team is managed by head of Asia and global emerging markets equities Vanessa Donegan, who was herself appointed to this newly-created role just last September.

The offshore law firm Ogier launched a new investment services offering within its private client team and hired Nick Wakefield to head it up.

Wakefield, who previously served as a fund manager at Orchard for three years and for seven at Ashburton, is joined by one other staff member in the newly-formed advisory offering. The team is set to grow as the strategy develops, a spokesperson for the firm told WealthBriefing.

Investment Solutions, the multi-manager provider, appointed Rufus Warner as chief executive of the firm.

Warner was latterly at Earth Capital Partners, a company specialising in investment in sustainable development. He will retain an involvement as chairman of the investment committee.

In his prior career, he also worked at Close Investments, Société Générale Asset Management, Morgan Grenfell Asset Management and Fidelity.

MaxCap Partners, the UK-based multi-family office, appointed Michel Piette and Ittan Ali as investment managers.

Piette and Ali will co-manage the investment team at MaxCap, an organisation which was set up about four years ago by the family that owned the breakfast cereal brand Weetabix. Piette will primarily focus on hedge funds and commodities while Ali will take greater responsibility for equities.

Piette is a specialist in commodities and hedge funds. He co-founded Moonraker Fund Management in 2008, and prior to this he was a hedge fund analyst for the TRF Fitzwilliam Funds at BDO Stoy Hayward Investment Management for four years. He also spent two years at Towers Perrin, as an associate in charge of alternative investments within asset consulting.

Previously, Ali was at Majedie Investments for six years as a senior investment manager and analyst for the Global Equity Fund. He also spent time at TRW Investment Management as a senior fund manager, and most recently at Utilico as a senior equity analyst.

Smith & Williamson strengthened its tax team with the appointment of Jerry Barnes to the post of director of private client tax at the firm’s Bristol office.

Barnes most recently headed up the Bristol office of Saffrey Champness, where he worked for 28 years and was made partner in 1990.

Stephen Raby Associates, a London-based executive search firm, significantly expanded its wealth management team with three new appointments – part of an ongoing expansion the firm says is prompted by increasing demand.

In the first of the hires, Sylvie Yanez-Vazquez, who was formerly based in Geneva working for a private wealth management search firm, was appointed as a consultant to focus mainly on client-facing investment specialists. Additionally, she will cover relationship managers for the Swiss resident and resident non-domiciled, and Latin American ultra high net worth markets.

Secondly, Ralph Lucas joined as an execution consultant and will concentrate primarily on the UK resident domiciled, Central European and emerging European ultra high net worth segments.

Lastly, Archie Sebag-Montefiore, a recent graduate, assumed the role of researcher and will be assisting in the execution of search mandates in Switzerland and London.

UK-based Syndicate Asset Management appointed Jeremy Rance to its operational management team as group chief operating officer, promoting him from director of planning at its wealth management subsidiary.

Rance became director of planning at Ashcourt Rowan in June of last year, having previously held various strategy and leadership roles at Barclays, KPMG and AMP.

Brompton Asset Management, the London-based firm launched by John Duffield, the founder of New Star, saw the departure of its head of private clients.

Simon Akroyd, who was appointed to head up private clients at the firm’s launch early last year, was replaced by Gillian Lakin, who was latterly the unit’s chief investment officer. She will continue to hold these responsibilities. Akroyd's departure is believed to have been amicable and the result of a reorganisation at the firm; details of his next role have yet to emerge.

Charles Macfarlane, the erstwhile business development director at Cheviot Asset Management, resurfaced as a partner and head of business development at Hassium Asset Management, the global multi-family office.

Macfarlane joined Cheviot in 2007; earlier in his career he spent a decade with Fleming Private Asset Management as head of business development.

Yellow Capital Wealth Management, the recently-launched London-based boutique, appointed Anthony McGarel-Groves as a director, head of portfolio services and a member of its investment committee.

In his prior career McGarel-Groves was a founding partner of Mark Capital and head of North American equities at Investec Guinness Flight Global Asset Management, the successor firm to Hambros Fund Management and Guinness Flight Asset Management. Also among his former roles is that of head of American portfolio investments for the Kuwait Investment Office.

Swiss & Global Asset Management, the manager of Julius Baer's funds, named Keith Rumbelow as its new head of UK sales while simultaneously boosting the London-based UK distribution team with the addition of Hugo Wheeler.

Rumbelow joins from Marlborough Fund Managers, where he managed the London office; he previously worked for Neptune and HSBC Asset Management. Wheeler, who will report to Rumbelow in his new role, joins from Highland Capital Partners, where he was an intermediary sales manager.

Quilter, a unit of Morgan Stanley Smith Barney, made a trio of regional appointments as part of plans to strengthen its UK presence this year.

Investment managers Colin Wickens and Matthew Gilman – latterly of Brewin Dolphin – joined the firm’s Liverpool office. Serving clients in north Wales and the northwest of England, the pair will report to Richard Thorn, head of the northern office.

Meanwhile, Michael Moss joined the Salisbury team as regional sales manager to cover the southern region and build links with IFAs looking to outsource aspects of their investment management – a growing trend related to the increased regulatory costs associated with the UK regulator’s Retail Distribution Review reforms.

HSBC Private Bank bolstered its Egyptian team with the addition of Fatima El Ouarti as a director in London.

El Ouarti joins from Goldman Sachs, where she was a relationship manager focusing on the Egyptian market.

In her new role El Ouarti will report to Fouad Batshon, head of Egypt within the bank’s MENA team.

London-based JO Hambro Capital Management appointed European equity fund managers Trygve Toraasen and Carlos Moreno as senior manager and fund manager respectively in the run-up to the launch of the JOHCM All Europe Dynamic Growth Fund.

Toraasen and Moreno join from Thames River Capital, where they managed the European Dynamic Growth Fund. Before that, both were employed by Fidelity Investments, where they worked together for five years.

Martin Heale, head of private wealth management for Kleinwort Benson in London, left the UK firm after five years at the business.

A luminary of the UK financial services industry, Geoffrey Howe, who is chairman of Jardine Lloyd Thompson Group and also holds the same post at Nationwide Building Society, was appointed independent non-executive director at Close Brothers Group.

Howe’s former career includes positions as a non-executive director at Investec and JP Morgan Overseas Investment Trust, and as a director of Robert Fleming Holdings and managing partner at Clifford Chance. 

Switzerland

Lobnek Wealth Management, the Geneva-based asset manager, appointed Farhad Tavakoli as senior relationship manager and Edward Gaere as head of quantitative research.

Tavakoli was most recently with Hinduja Group as the head of its private office in Geneva, with responsibility for the management of the group’s investment portfolio and group treasury. Gaere was latterly with Swissquote/ACM as head of its proprietary trading strategies.

The French asset manager Carmignac Gestion reinforced its sales team with the appointment of Marco Fiorini as head of professional clients in Switzerland. Fiorini joined from Clariden Leu Asset Management, where he was managing director for professional clients. He has also worked for Julius Baer Investment Funds Services as executive vice president.

UBS appointed Elisabeth Schön to spearhead a wealth management transformation programme aimed at upping the revenues it earns for clients.

Schön is regional head for the bank’s wealth management operations in the UK and Nordic countries. In her new capacity as programme manager she will report to Andy Amschwand, head of the bank’s investment products and services department.

StormHarbour, the global markets and financial advisory firm, made three new hires in a bid to further strengthen its client-facing business: Hugues Dauphin, Vincent Briffaud and Alberto Ferro-Villani were appointed as director of client solutions, associate of client solutions and director of capital markets and origination, respectively.

Dauphin was previously executive director and head of structured credit distribution at Calyon in Geneva, while Briffaud was latterly at BNP Paribas in London as an associate in the fixed income division’s structured credit solutions team. Ferro-Villani was most recently managing director of Hepta Capital Partners, an alternative investment group.

The Swiss Private Bankers Association strengthened its executive team with the appointment of Nello Castelli as assistant secretary general to the organisation.

Castelli was latterly representative of French-speaking Switzerland for the SPBA’s national executive board, responsible for public affairs and communication for the French and Italian-speaking regions of Switzerland.

Europe

Josef Ackermann, chief executive of Deutsche Bank, announced that he does not intend to renew his mandate beyond 2013 when he reaches the age of 65. New of his successor has yet to emerge.

JP Morgan appointed John Pietri - a veteran of Société Générale Corporate & Investment Banking - as an executive director and senior banker for its private banking team in France.

Pietri spent 13 years with SocGen CIB, where he was most recently a director in the M&A team in Paris. Before joining SocGen he was a manager at Bossard Consultants for five years. In his new role he reports to Jean-Baptiste Douin, head of JP Morgan Private Bank in France.

Edmond de Rothschild Investment Managers appointed Laurent Minvielle as head of funds of hedge funds - a role in which he reports to Olivier Neau, chief investment officer and vice chairman of the firm's executive committee.

The firm also reinforced its funds of hedge funds team by appointing Christina Wilgress to co-ordinate hedge fund selection and monitoring and to take charge of risk and portfolio performance analysis. Wilgress reports to Minvielle. Minvielle and Wilgress previously managed the Turquoise fund of hedge funds launched by Société Générale in 2002.

Troika Dialog hired Irina Shaportova as its new head of wealth management, private clients division. Shaportova was latterly at UralSib Asset Management as senior vice president for international products structuring and product line development for wealthy clients.

In her new role, based in Moscow, she reports to managing director and head of private banking at the firm, Catherine Thibaut.

The UK’s RockSpring Property Investment Managers opened a new office in Amsterdam to focus on asset management and sourcing acquisitions in the Netherlands, appointing Laurien Van Wieringen to head up the operation.

Van Wieringen has been with the firm since 2007, prior to which she worked for the Dutch property investment management company IBUS.

Baring Asset Management appointed a new head of Europe and MENA and a new head of Germany.

Oliver Morath, latterly managing director of Baring Asset Management, Germany was named head of Europe and MENA, based in Frankfurt. Morath reports to George Harvey, head of sales, client service and business development.

Meanwhile, Howard Luder was appointed to Morath’s previous role, head of sales for Barings in Germany. He is now based in Frankfurt and reports to Morath. Luder joins from RBC Dexia, where he was director of business development, asset servicing, Germany. There he was responsible for advising German institutional clients and asset managers on how to launch or restructure investor strategies and all elements of asset servicing.

Aberdeen Asset Management appointed Alban Arribas as its head of fund management in France.

Arribas was latterly head of unlisted investments at Acofi, where he spent ten years. In his new role, Arribas will be responsible for French property fund structuring. He will also develop OPCI products for French and foreign institutional investors.

Russell Investments strengthened its team in Paris with the appointment of Olivier Carenini as manager of development, responsible for distribution and partnerships, in a role that will include the development of private wealth.

Carenini joined from Rothschild Cie & Gestion, where he was a manager responsible for distribution. Prior to this role Carenini was at Axa Investment Managers as head of distribution for commercial clients.

Bordier & Cie France strengthened its financial markets base with the appointment of Jean-Yves Gérardin as corporate secretary. Gérardin was most recently at Autorité des Marchés Financiers (the AMF), working in the investment service providers division and also while the regulatory body was known as COB. He has also worked at BNP Paribas

Rothschild & Cie Gestion made four appointments in Paris, electing Denis Faller and Philippe Chaumel as managing partners and naming Daniel Fighiera and Sébastian Barbe as directors.

Faller was promoted from director responsible for multi-manager funds, a position to which he was nominated in 2000, having joined the bank in 1994. He has also worked at Banque de Gestion Privée SIB.

Chaumel was also previously a director at the bank, a position he moved into in 2005 and in which he was responsible for asset allocation and portfolio management. He joined the firm in 2003, responsible for managing European funds.

Fighiera joined the bank in 2004 as a manager responsible for medium-value funds. He has also worked at CAAM-CLAM and Crédit Lyonnais Asset Management.

Barbe joined in 1999 as a manager in the tax team. He previously worked at Indocam Asset Management.

Citi Private Bank appointed James Holder to head its global family office business in the EMEA region - a newly-created position following the opening of the GFO business in the third quarter of last year.

Holder remains based in London, and reports to Luigi Pigorini, chief executive of Citi Private Bank EMEA, and Catherine Weir, head of the GFO group. As head of the family office business for EMEA, Holder will also become a member of the private bank’s leadership team for the region.

GAM strengthened its German team with the appointment of Christopher Hönig to its intermediaries business. Hönig joined from Leiter Key Accounts and has also worked at Credit Suisse Private Banking, Julius Baer Investment Funds Services and SAM Sustainable Asset Management.

Russia’s Troika Dialog named Catherine Thibaut, one of its managing directors, as the new head of its private clients division following the appointment of Igor Sagiryan as head of investment banking.

Thibaut joined the firm in October of last year as head of private banking within the private clients division, based in Moscow. Before this she had been based in Geneva as RBS Coutts’ executive vice president for private banking across Eastern and Central Europe.

Amundi, the French asset manager, appointed Romain Boscher as global head of equities; he will also sit on the executive committee.

Boscher was latterly deputy chief executive at the French firm Groupama Asset Management, where he was in charge of investment management.

Liechtensteinische Landesbank announced that Elfried Hasler will step down from its group executive management and the board of management on 20 June for personal reasons.

Urs Müller, an internal appointee, will be the new member of the group executive management and the board of management. He will start this new assignment on 1 April 2011.

As a result of these changes, responsibilities will be partially reassigned from that date. Müller, previously head of the institutional client business unit in the parent bank, will take over as head of domestic and institutional markets. Roland Matt, previously responsible for domestic and institutional markets, will take over as head of the international market from Hasler.

Müller's successor has not yet been announced.

LLB also said it has proposed to elect senior law firm executive Dr Felix Ehrat as a new member of the bank’s board of directors, and also proposed that shareholders re-elect Ingrid Hassler-Gerner and Konrad Schnyder to the board.

Because of board membership term limits, Siegbert Lampert will leave the board of directors after nine years of service.

Dr Ehrat is senior partner and executive chairman of the law firm Bär & Karrer (Zurich, Geneva, Lugano, Zug), where he has served in various functions since 1987.

Hassler-Gerner and Schnyder have been members of the board of directors since 2005 and 2008 respectively.

France’s Groupama Asset Management, appointed Antoine de Salins as its new chief investment officer and director, replacing Romain Boscher, effective from 7 February.

De Salins previously worked at the French government pension fund, fonds de réserve pour les retraites, which he had joined in 2003.

He has also worked for the French Treasury and the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment organisation.

Boscher has already moved to the asset manager Amundi, taking up a newly-created position which entails responsiblity for global equities.

Edmond de Rothschild Asset Management announced it is reorganising its fund management teams, appointing Philippe Uzan as director of funds.

The reorganisation will include the formation of seven management teams and one research team.

Before joining Edmond de Rothschild Asset Management in 2007, Uzan was research and development director at Natixis Asset Management. He has also worked at Société Générale and AGF Asset Management.

Dr Adam Bolek is to join the management team of Mediobanca Germany as managing director, a role in which he will work in Frankfurt alongside Frank Schönherr, country head of Mediobanca Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

Dr Bolek worked for the last 12 years for Rothschild, focusing on M&A work. Previously, he worked for Barings in Frankfurt and London.

Alongside Dr Bolek, Steffen Geisler (vice president) and Jens Krane (associate) will also join Mediobanca from Rothschild.

Credit Suisse strengthened its French private banking team with the appointment of Yves Saint-Requier as a senior advisor and board member to Credit Suisse Banque Privée (France).

Saint-Requier was latterly director, a member of the executive board and administrator at Neuflize-Vie, before which he held the role of director of private clients at Banque Neuflize OBC.

Citi Private Bank in London added to its Russian and Eastern European teams with a recruit from Merrill Lynch Wealth Management in Monaco.

Andrey Boykov joined the Russia & CIS team as a private banker, reporting to Selim Elgen, team head for Central and Eastern Europe. In his previous job in Monaco, Boykov was an international financial advisor covering Russia, CIS and Central Europe.

Source, the exchange-traded fund provider, made five senior hires to strengthen its European ETF market capabilities.

James Finch joined as executive director to focus on fixed income distribution; Georgina Courtenay-Evans joined as a director to cover UK and Irish institutional clients; Patrick Witteveen was named director specialising in sales of commodity exchange-traded products; Pierre Olivier Cohen joined as director responsible for covering institutional clients, private banks, and retail distributors in France, Luxembourg, Belgium and Monaco; and Kenneth Barner-Rasmussen was appointed director to focus on Nordic clients.

Heiko Schlag, who previously worked in senior positions for 19 years at HypoVereinsbank, was appointed head of private banking at Bank Julius Bär Europe and appointed a member of its management board.

Credit Suisse appointed François Essertel as the new head of its private bank in France and president of the board of directors for Credit Suisse France. He replaces Hervé de Montlivault, who will now be in charge of services and advisory for French private clients across the world.

Essertel was latterly a director of the private client unit and a board member at Credit Suisse Private Bank France, a post he assumed in 2008. Prior to this he held several roles, including director of private clients, at ABN Amro's subsidiary Banque Neuflize OBC.

The French asset manager Carmignac Gestion hired Alan Gao as an analyst for the Asian market as it moves to strengthen its emerging equities team.

Gao joined the firm from the alternatives firm CQS, where he covered all the Asian equity and bond markets. Earlier, he focused on emerging credit risk, Chinese regulations and the leading economic sectors for HSBC in Hong Kong and mainland China.

Carmignac Gestion’s previous Asia analyst, David Park, will now concentrate solely on India, South Korea and the markets of south-east Asia.

The firm also announced changes to its European equities team: Jordan Cvetanovski will no longer co-manage the Carmignac Emerging Discovery fund and will instead manage the Euro-Entrepreneurs fund. He will also co-manage the Carmignac Grande Europe fund alongside Samir Essafri, who has been responsible for the vehicle since joining the firm in November.

Middle East

HSBC Private Bank appointed Mark Stadler as the global market head for MENA, Global Private Banking, based in Dubai. Stadler was latterly co-head of the Financial Institutions Group in the global banking team, having joined the HSBC banking group in 2004. He reports to Alexandre Zeller, regional chief executive, EMEA, global private banking, and locally to Mohammad Al-Tuwaijri, regional head of global banking and markets and private banking.

International

Citi Private Bank appointed three to its Middle East and North Africa team internationally. Hadi Boulos joined as senior banker managing director, to focus on Saudi Arabia and to be based in Geneva. He joined from Barclays Wealth in Geneva, where he was also a senior private banker focusing on Saudi Arabia. Boulos reports to Muwaffak Bibi, head of MENA at Citi Private Bank.

Bachir Barakat and Bassel Hamzeh, who both have a decade of experience in Kuwait, joined the MENA team as private bankers, senior vice president and director, respectively. Barakat joined from the National Bank of Kuwait, where he spent eight years as a private banker. For his new role, Barakat will initially relocate to Dubai, before moving to London early 2012 to join the larger MENA team. Hamzeh joined from HSBC Private Bank, Kuwait, where he had been since November 2006. For his new role Hamzeh will relocate to Geneva by the end of the year. Barakat and Hamzeh report to Thierry Martin, managing director for MENA.

Fairbairn Private Bank appointed Andrew Robins and Alex Jeffries to its Jersey private banking team. Robins was latterly an investment consultant to trustees and private clients at RBC Investment Solutions. Jeffries also joined from RBC, where he worked as a wealth manager assistant supporting a team of investment consultants in relationship management.

Evercore Partners appointed senior distribution professionals in the US and Asia:  Christopher Brand and William Lee, respectively. Brand was previously the managing director at Ecotrust Forest Management and prior to that served as MD at Dahlam Rose & Co for the West Coast branch. Lee joined from Asia Explorer Capital, which he founded to raise assets for Asia-based hedge funds.

Société Générale Private Banking established a new executive committee consisting of: Daniel Truchi, global chief executive of Société Générale Private Banking; Yves Thieffry, global deputy CEO, who supervises the activities of the private bank in Switzerland, Luxembourg, Monaco and the Middle East; Patrick Folléa, CEO of SocGen’s French private banking unit, whose role also includes the supervision of activities in Belgium; Eric Barnett, CEO of Société Générale Private Banking Hambros, supervising the activities of private banking in the UK, US and Canada; Bruno Lèbre, global head of investment solutions, who supervises activities at the firm’s Asian units in Singapore, Hong Kong, mainland China and Japan.

 Asia Pacific

Deutsche Bank Private Wealth Management appointed Tony Tang as managing director and head of North Asia client solutions in Hong Kong and Eleonore Dachicourt as director and head of hedge fund sales for Asia based in Singapore.

Tang joined from Citigroup Global Markets in Hong Kong, where he led the bank's securitisation trading efforts in the region. Dachicourt latterly anaylsed hedge fund levels in client portfolios at Deutsche, before which she worked in the alternatives unit of Credit Suisse Asset Management in London. Both report directly to Bobby Abraham, head of non-flow structuring for Asia, and indirectly to Anurag Mahesh, head of global investment solutions Asia Pacific.

Swiss-Asia Financial Services appointed Pying-Huan Wang as head of infastructure investments and managing director of its Hong Kong sister firm Swiss-Asia Asset Management. Wang was the head of investment management at Deutsche Bank's private equity group in Zurich prior to joining Swiss-Asia.

Barclays Wealth announced six director-level hires for its Asia Pacific private banking business.

Barbara Yenson was appointed as a director, covering the HNW and UHNW in Hong Kong. She was latterly executive vice president at RBS Coutts in Hong Kong. She reports to Joanna Chu, the managing director and head of North Asia.

Preditha Dewi and Cicilia Audrey Rei joined as directors for the Indonesia office. Dewi most recently worked for Bank Commonwealth in Indonesia, while Rei previously served at Credit Suisse. Both report to Errie Maksum, managing director and market head of Indonesia.

For Singapore and Malaysia, the company named Dicky Ang, latterly a director at HSBC Private Bank, to oversee the UHNW and HNW client segment. Ang reports to Soh Chye Guan, the managing director and market head of Singapore and Malaysia.

For the Southeast Asia active advisory team, the private bank added Ian Tay as director. Tay joined from JP Morgan Private Bank, where he was an investment specialist.

Finally Benjamin Yeo was named director and head of research for economics and strategy in Asia. He reports to Aaron Gurwitz, the New York-based managing director and CIO and regionally to Bryan Henning, the managing director and head of global research and investments for Asia.

Royal Bank of Scotland hired Madan Menon as country executive for Singapore. Menon adds to his existing responsibilities as head of global banking and markets for India and head of global banking for South East Asia. He reports to John McCormick, the Asia Pacific chairman for RBS, and Matthew Kirkby, the global head of corporate finance and head of global banking for Asia Pacific.

Bank Julius Baer appointed David Lim as chief executive of Bank Julius Baer Singapore. Lim replaced Dr Thomas R Meier, who remained based in Singapore as member of the executive board to lead the business. The role was added to Lim's former role as head of private banking for South East Asia, which he continues.

Aviva Investors hired Kevin Talbot as CIO for Asia Pacific fixed income. He joined from ANZ Private Bank in Singapore. Manish Singhai was named as CIO for Asia Pacific equities. Singhai set up in his own hedge fund, Arjava Capital, in 2008 and has 17 years of asset management experience.

Standard Chartered Bank hired Wasim Akhtar Saifi as new global head of Islamic banking for its consumer banking business. Based in Singapore, he reports to Shayne Nelson, chairman of Standard Chartered Saadiq, and Afaq Khan, chief executive of Standard Chartered Saadiq, the bank’s Islamic banking arm.

Also Alexis Calla and Steve Brice joined the Singapore team as head of advisory and investment strategy and chief investment strategist for consumer banking, respectively. Calla has 16 years of global asset management while Brice was latterly head of financial markets for Southern Africa.

Standard Chartered Private Bank appointed Ryan Gwee as head of private banking, China. He is based in Shanghai and reports to Rajesh Malkani, head of East Region.

UBS hired Rami Hayek as head of client coverage for the Asia Pacific region. Hayek joined from Credit Suisse in Hong Kong, where he served as head of distribution for asset management in Asia Pacific. He reports directly to Alex Wilmot-Sitwell and Chi-Won Yoon, the heads of the Asia Pacific operations.

Fox Partnership named Joy ME Lim as managing director and Singapore country head. Lim has been with the firm since August of last year, when she assumed country management responsibilities. She was most recently executive director at Russell Reynolds in Shanghai for two years, having previously been a private banker in Asia.

The State Bank of India hired Deepak Ahuja as head of consumer banking. He joined from Barclays Europe, where he was head of NRI banking. He has also worked in the UK as a senior vice president at Citibank UK and for ICICI Bank.

Morgan Stanley named Vinay Ahuja as market director for the Southern region of its private wealth management unit in India. Ahuja joined the company from Deutsche Bank, where he spent the last six years in a sales function. His new role is based in Chennai.

Wyn James joined JP Morgan Private Bank in Singapore as executive director. James has over 18 years of private banking experience, latterly as director of private client services at RBC in London.

Citi Private Bank hired Richard Straus as head of the newly-established global family office and North Asia institutional unit and Steven Lo as global market manager for Hong Kong. Both Straus and Lo are based in Hong Kong and report to Aamir Rahim, the Asia Pacific chief executive for Citi Private Bank.

BNY Mellon appointed Eleni Wang as head of client management for the Asia Pacific region. Wang is based in Hong Kong and has over 20 years of financial services experience latterly as a managing partner at the Hong Kong-based hedge fund Adept Capital Partners. She has also served in senior roles at Deutsche Bank and Bankers Trust Asia. She reports to Christopher Sturdy, the firm's chairman for Asia Pacific.

Manulife Financial appointed Chris Bendl as senior vice president and head of regional wealth management for Asia. Bendl was most recently the chief executive of an Indonesian life insurance firm. He reports to Robert Cook, the senior executive vice president and general manager for Asia.

Manulife Asset Management appointed Ronald Chan as senior managing director and head of equities for its Asia business. Chan was most recently the deputy chief investment officer at Pacific Eagle Asset Management.

ANZ Banking Group hired former Royal Bank of Scotland executive Charles Li to lead its China operations. Li was previously the country executive and head of global banking for RBS in China.

North America

A team of wealth management advisors left Bank of America’s Merrill Lynch unit in St Louis to join JP Morgan. The advisors are: Rajnich Bjuya, Aaron Foster and Gino Caira, who had been with Merrill Lynch’s Chesterfield office; Jill Lohr, who had been with Merrill’s Ladue office, and Martin Ruether of Merrill’s Clayton office.

BMO Harris Private Banking hired Janine Guenther as vice president and managing director for British Columbia. She replaced Diana Reid who was named national managing director and head of the bank's new private wealth group launched last year to target ultra high net worth investors.

Nicholas Adams, the former deputy state treasurer for Delaware, joined Wilmington Trust’s Corporate Client Services client development team. Wilmington also hired Timothy Carroll for its Wealth Advisory Services business to focus on clients in Sussex County in Delaware and on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. Previously Carroll was a senior wealth planner at PNC Bank.

Citi Private Bank made three hires, two from US Trust Bank of America Private Wealth Management.

In New York City Philip Fahey joined as director and private banker from US Trust where he was a vice president and private client manager. Fowler Hatley joined as director and investment counselor in Dallas from AVM/III Associates. On the West Coast Lee Garsson signed on in San Francisco as a director and wealth planner from US Trust.

First Republic Bank signed on Philip Korn in Palo Alto, California as relationship manager and managing director. Prior to joining First Republic, Korn was responsible for venture capital relationships at TriNet.

Goldman Sachs elevated Jan Hatzius and Dominic Wilson to run its global economics arm. The men took over from Jim O’Neill, now chairman of the firm’s asset management business and credited with coining the widely-used acronym “BRIC”.

Kristi Combs joined family office Greycourt as a director in its Portland, Oregon office. Most recently, she spent five years with CTC Consulting as a partner and director of marketing.

Morgan Stanley made a series of major changes to its senior executives, including in the wealth segment of the US business.

Brokerage joint venture president Charlie Johnston will retire at year's end, to be succeeded by asset-management head Greg Fleming. Fleming joined Morgan Stanley in February last year to head its asset management arm. Fleming will continue to lead that business—Morgan Stanley Investment Management—and serve as president of global wealth management.

US Trust hired 10 wealth management execs in January. Frank Levin joined as a private client advisor, based in New York City, from Bank of New York Mellon.

In McLean, Virginia three joined from Wells Fargo. Dwayne Brown came on board as private client manager and John Devine and Karin Gifuni as private client advisors.

Joel Yudenfreund was hired from Citi Private Bank as a private client consultant based in Boca Raton, Florida and Lisa Adelstein as private client advisor in Chicago also from Citi Private Bank.

In Fort Worth, Texas Jay Bartley and Elizabeth Elgie came on board as client advisors from Comerica. In Houston Michael Rogala joined as a private client advisor from LPL Financial. 

Jason Garcia signed on as a private client advisor based in Dallas from Northern Trust in Chicago.

Steve Bogner joined HighTower from Morgan Stanley Smith Barney in the practice led by Richard Saperstein in New York. The move marked HighTower’s first tuck-in transaction - expanding its business by merging a new advisor's practice into one of the firm’s advisor teams.

Chicago-based PrivateBancorp named William Norris chief investment officer and head of trust and investments for the Private Wealth group of its The PrivateBank subsidiary. Norris, a 30-year industry veteran, joined from JP Morgan's Private Bank and private wealth management services fiduciary group, where he was managing director and the chief fiduciary investment officer.

CTPartners signed Cornelia Kiley as partner in its Financial Services Practice based in New York. She came on board from Russell Reynolds Associates where she was a senior member of the firm’s Asset and Wealth Management Practice.

Baird hired Chris Brewster to lead the firm’s wealth management offices in Columbus, Ohio. He joined from Morgan Stanley Smith Barney.