WealthBriefing provides a round-up of all the major people moves and employment trends in the global wealth management sector for the month ...

WealthBriefing provides a round-up of all the major people moves and employment trends in the global wealth management sector for the month of July 2006.

Executive Moves and Trends

Europe
Clive Bannister, the chief executive of HSBC Private Bank, is to be shifted to another division at the beginning of November within the world’s third largest bank. He will become group managing director for the insurance division. He will be replaced by Chris Meares – he is currently chief executive for the UK, Channel Islands and Luxembourg at the private bank.

HSBC Guyerzeller, the Swiss private bank owned by HSBC, has appointed a new chief executive, Heinrich Baumann . Mr Baumann, who was deputy chief executive and chief operating officer at the bank, replaces Ilan Hayim , who is stepping down from the position, according to a statement from the bank due to ill health. Mr Hayim will stay on as non-exective vice chairman of HSBC Guyerzeller and will become non-executive vice chairman of HSBC Private Bank in Switzerland by the end of the year.

ABN Amro has brought in Herman Erbe, chief risk officer for the private clients division, to be acting head of private banking for the UK and Jersey. The move comes after the suspension earlier last month of Mark Henney, the head of the UK business, Craig Franklin, the head of the Jersey business, and the head of human resources for the private bank in the UK. Sources close to ABN in London suggest the bank has launched an internal investigation into the three individuals suspended. But no other details of this have yet to be made public.

Separately, Richard Nunneley and Michael Betesh have left ABN Amro’s private banking business in the UK. Both were hired by ABN Amro Private Banking earlier this year; Mr Nunneley from Cazenove Capital Management as funds director, and Mr Betesh from Dryden Wealth Management as a business development manager.

Angela Knight, chief executive of the Association of Private Client Investment Managers and Stockbrokers, the UK pressure group, is to leave at the end of November to become chief executive of the British Bankers Association from next April, taking over from Ian Mullen . Ms Knight is a former Conservative Member of the UK Parliament and Economic Secretary to the Treasury. She has led APCIMS since 1997.

Citigroup Private Bank Europe has appointed Shilpa Thanki-Green as a managing director and chief financial officer for Europe effective from 15 August. She will report to Marianne Hay, chief executive officer for global wealth management Europe, and to Jeff Kraus, New York-based chief financial officer for Citigroup Private Bank. Ms Thanki-Green joins from Morgan Stanley where she was executive director of international global wealth management, having responsibility for the financial review of Morgan Stanley's wealth management businesses in Europe, Asia and Latin America. She first joined Morgan Stanley in 1998 as head of the management reporting unit in London, having previously worked for both Barclays Capital and PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Frank von Meyenburg, partner and executive board member at Bank Sarasin, has resigned. Mr von Meyenburg is to take up another position, according to Sarasin, although the bank did not disclose where that would be. Mr von Meyenburg joined Bank Sarasin in 1999 as a partner and became member of the executive board in 2000. He held various senior positions at Sarasin, including head of institutional banking, chairman of Sarasin Investment Management in London and chairman of Bank Sarasin-Rabo in Singapore. Before joining Sarasin, Mr von Meyenburg worked for Credit Suisse.

Galeazzo Pecori-Giraldi , the current chairman of Morgan Stanley’s Italian business, will also become chairman of the bank’s Swiss private banking unit. According to an internal memo by Morgan Stanley, Mr Pecori-Giraldi will also “lead a new initiative directed at capturing the substantial wealth management and investment banking growth opportunities in the (Italian) mid-cap corporate sector”. The announcement was accompanied by the appointment of Dante Roscini as the Wall Street bank’s chief executive and country head of its Italian business. The chief executive position is new, while the national post was previously held by Mr Pecori-Giraldi.

Barclays Wealth Management has appointed Brian Cordischi as head of investment management. Mr Cordischi will report to Kevin Lecocq, chief investment officer for Barclays Wealth Management. He will commence his role in the autumn. Mr Cordischi will lead the investment management group.

Edward Chadwyck-Healey has resigned from the London wealth management operation of UBS to join Barclays Private Bank. Mr Chadwyck-Healey fronted UBS’s high net worth business, and was very much the engine room of the bank, according to sources.

Further Barclays Wealth Management appointments include Farzan Riza as chief operating officer for its high net worth and affluent business in the UK and in support of Gerrard, the private client manager. He will report to Mark Kibblewhite, managing director of Gerrard. Mr Riza joins from Citigroup Global Investment Management, where he was managing director having joined the firm in 1999.

Also, Barclays-owned Gerrard has beefed up its charities offering in Scotland by appointing Diane Wilde, who joins from Aberdeen Asset Management. Five directors left Gerrard in May to set up an office of Smith & Williamson in Glasgow and the appointment of Ms Wilde is part of a a re-building exercise. Ms Wilde headed up UK equities at Aberdeen and Gerrard hope that she will prevent large-scale charity accounts defecting to Smith & Williamson. Ms Wilde will lead a four-man team reporting to Guy Davies , who has recently been appointed from Barings as head of charities for Barclays Wealth Management.

Gerrard has also appointed Mark Wareing as regional director for Northern England, and Nimrod Schwarzmann, regional director, London. Both will also become members of the Gerrard management committee. Mark Wareing joins from Scottish Widows where he was direct sales director with responsibility for all non-IFA distribution. Nimrod Schwarzmann has 15 years investment banking experience primarily in equity research, most recently at Deutsche Bank where he was head of Pan European equity research and responsible for 32 sector teams across 11 countries.

Marc Hoffmann, managing director and chairman of the management board and executive committee of Dexia Banque Internationale à Luxembourg, has resigned, according to a statement from the Belgian banking group. The statement said the departure was “based on a common agreement of both parties”. Dexia has appointed Frank Wagener, vice chairman, as acting managing director until a new head is found.

Three senior directors at Petercam, the Dutch institutional and private client stockbrokerage firm, including the director of private banking, have left to set up a hedge fund. Michael Kembel , director private banking, Etienne Platte, director equity trading, Marc Langeveld, head of equity sales have all offered their resignation. The three will start their "long-short equity hedge fund" Antaurus, together with senior analyst Arjan Sweere of Kempen & Co. Initially, Antaurus will aim at wealthy private investors.

Bernd Borgmeier , formerly head of asset management at German private bank, Sal Oppenheim, is to leave to join German rival MM Warburg. Mr Borgmeier, who is also chief investment officer at Oppenheim KAG, will leave the bank on 31 October. He will take up his new position of managing partner in charge of asset management and private banking at MM Warburg on 1 January 2007. Thomas Ebertz, director of asset management at Oppenheim KAG is also set to leave at the end of this year.

Julius Baer has appointed Gian Rossi as chief executive for its private banking business in German-speaking Switzerland and Europe, as well as the UK, the Netherlands and Scandinavia. He was most recently regional manager for Credit Suisse Private Banking in Zurich, with responsibility for German clients. Mr Gian will also become chairman of the board of the Zurich-based bank’s German business. He replaces Pierre Klumpp, who is leaving.

Arbuthnot Banking Group, the London-based private banking business, has appointed Paul Sheriff as group finance director. He joins from Prudential, where he was a commercial finance director.

Rathbone Investment Management has appointed Fenella Agar, Tim Bagshaw, Penny Harris and Jo Sword , as investment directors. All four join from Kleinwort Benson Private Bank. The four new directors, who bring collectively over 60 years’ experience, will be responsible for managing private client investment portfolios.

Credit Suisse has appointed Alexis Rodzianko as designated head of private banking at Closed Joint Stock Company Bank Credit Suisse First Boston in Moscow. He will take on his new position with effect from 1 September 2006. Mr Rodzianko will be responsible for building Credit Suisse's onshore private banking presence in Moscow as part of the bank's efforts to expand its operations in this key market. Mr Rodzianko will join Credit Suisse from Deutsche Bank, where he was most recently chief executive and chief country officer of Russia with responsibility for the onshore private wealth management and asset management businesses.

Separately, Credit Suisse has hired Sir Roy Gardner, former chief executive of Centrica, a UK-based energy company, and former chairman of Manchester United. Sir Roy will provide strategic counsel to clients and will focus on a variety of sectors including energy and leisure.

Merrill Lynch Global Private Client has appointed four new executives to focus on UK resident domiciled and UK resident non-domiciled high net worth. Jess Larsen joins Merrill from UBS Wealth Management. He previously worked for HSBC Private Bank in continental Europe. Based in London, Mr Larsen will focus on high net worth resident non-domiciled clients based in UK. Guillaume Mayer joins from BNP Paribas' corporate finance department. A French national, his focus will be French high and ultra-HNW individuals, and entrepreneurs based in London. Adam Strachan joins from Merrill Lynch Corporate Broking. Robb Willsdon joins from J M Finn Stockbrokers.

Separately, Merrill Lynch Investment Managers has appointed Eilín O’Carroll to its product development team, where she will oversee the launch and development of new funds, products and services. Ms O’Carroll will be based in London and will report to Paul Freeman, head of product development for MLIM in Europe, Middle East, Africa and Asia Pacific. She joins MLIM following four years with State Street Global Advisors where she was head of European product management responsible for the launch of hedge funds as well as cash and bond funds.

Neuflize OBC, the new private bank formed by the merger of Neuflize and OBC, both subsidiaries of ABN Amro, has named Pierre Fleuriot as its new chairman. He replaces Peter Baltussen , and was previously chairman of ABN’s French division. Mr Fleuriot is joined by Jean-Louis Milin , head of asset management, Joan Pierson , head of the private clients division, Maggiel Scalongne, head of business banking, and Philippe Vayssettes, in charge of customer support.

London-based private investment office Lord North Street has beefed up its team with the appointment of Johnny Moss. Mr Moss was with UBS Wealth Management since 2003. Previously, he worked at JP Morgan and Merrill Lynch Private Bank. Mr Moss served in the British Army with the Welsh Guards and Army Air Corps. He commanded a helicopter regiment in Germany and retired as a Lieutenant Colonel.

Huw van Steenis, head of Morgan Stanley's diversified financials stock research team, is to lead the bank's new London-based asset and wealth management practice from September. The new unit will give strategic and financing advice to a wide range of asset and wealth managers, and investment businesses. Mr van Steenis has led Morgan Stanley's investment research coverage of listed hedge funds and other diversified financial companies for the last four years.

Renaissance Investment Management, a private client and institutional asset management firm based in Moscow, has hired Jack Arnoff and Jury Ostrowsky from Pictet Asset Management in London. Mr Arnoff and Mr Ostrowsky concentrated on building funds with an Eastern Europe/Russian bias, accumulating assets under management of more than $2.6 billion, according to reports. Both fund managers will be based in London and will be responsible for developing new products as well as management at Renaissance.

Close Brothers has hired Alan Skinner as head of business development for its burgeoning wealth management business. He joins from Credit Suisse Private Banking in the UK where he was head of UK business development. Last April Close hired a team of nine from Singer & Friedlander, signalling to the market a major wealth management drive by the UK financial services firm.

Former Tilney Investment Management director and fund manager Philip Okell , is to set up his own fund management firm in December. The new firm will be based in Chester in the UK and will run portfolios for institutions and private clients, as well as mutual funds.

HVB Bank has appointed Jan Troníèek as the new head of its private banking business in the Czech Republic. He replaces Jan Prachar, who is leaving for a rival firm, although WealthBriefing was not able to establish which firm at the time of publication. Mr Troníèek’s appointment was an internal promotion; he was previously deputy head of the private banking business for the German bank in the Czech Republic.

David Pitman, a former Merrill Lynch private client manager and son of one of the UK’s most well-known financiers Sir Brian Pitman, the former chairman of Lloyds TSB, has joined the London Stock Exchange in the newly created position of director of marketing. Last year Mr Pitman resigned from his most recent position as chief executive of the wealth management business at Close Brothers. He was in that position for less than two years and is believed to have been forced out after a management restructuring. Previous to the Close position, Mr Pitman worked for Merrill Lynch’s private client team in London, before a major restructuring of the Wall Street firm led to his departure.

Withers, the private client specialist law firm, has promoted six lawyers to its partnership, taking its global total to 95. The London office gains are Sarah Cormack, Filippo Noseda and Erik Wallace in private client, and Graeme Kleiner and Pierre Valentin in litigation. In the US, Chris Uzpen becomes a partner in the income tax team. Ms Cormack will advise her clients on all matters relating to tax, trusts and estate planning, with both an onshore and offshore focus.

Filippo Noseda advises individuals and families on the structuring of their fiscal affairs, with a particular emphasis on Switzerland and continental Europe. Mr Valentin’s appointment reflects the rising popularity of alternative investments such as art and hedge funds amongst domestic and international clients, Withers said. He specialises in commercial transactions and disputes involving art. Mr Kleiner advises on commercial and trust and probate litigation, with both an onshore and offshore emphasis.

London-based law firm Boodle Hatfield has beefed up its private client and tax team by appointing Sofie Hoffmanas a litigation partner. Ms Hoffman joins Boodle Hatfield’s contentious trusts and probate team from the legal services department of Lloyd's of London. She was previously in Allen & Overy's specialist trust, asset-tracing and fraud claims group.Boodle Hatfield now has eight partners in its private client and tax department.

The Jersey Financial Services Commission has appointed David Banks as the new head of its securities division. Mr Banks, who is an English solicitor and a Jersey advocate with 20 year's experience, has been working as a consultant to the commission on investment funds-related issues for the last six months. He will take up his new role on 18 September 2006.

John Harris, director of international finance for the States of Jersey, has been appointed to the Board of Jersey Finance. As a second representative of the States of Jersey, he will join the Board with a view to strengthening the links between the finance industry and the States.

The Americas
Bank of New York is continuing its refocus on private banking and asset management, with a senior management re-shuffle. The changes see the bank’s chief financial officer, Bruce Van Saun, moving over to a newly created role overseeing the bank's market-related businesses, including private banking and asset management. Mr Van Saun has been CFO since joining the bank in 1997. He will continue as a vice chairman.

The new CFO will be Thomas Gibbons, who is currently the bank's chief risk officer. His responsibilities will continue to include risk management. Donald Monks, who runs the bank's global operations and technology organisation, will also become chief administrative officer, a newly created position.

Fred Crozier , the former head of Deutsche Bank Alex Brown in the US, has been given a job at Morgan Stanley. His new position: district manager for Morgan Stanley's global wealth management group for the Baltimore/Washington D.C. district. Mr Crozier will join on 1 August and will report to Rick Skae , Northeast division director, according to a statement from Morgan Stanley. He will be responsible for overseeing Morgan Stanley's 11 branch offices in Maryland and Washington. Mr Crozier's departure from Deutsche was annouced last April after a four year stint at the private client group of the German bank.

Leslie Baines, the former head of HSBC Private Banking business in the US, is behind a major new private banking launch in the US. Ms Baines along with a group of investors including US football legend Joe Montana have formed Modern Bank that plans to target high net worth clients by “invitation only”. The bank has recruited 30 employees and more than $200 million in assets under management, according to press reports. Other names behind the bank include its chairman Bippy Siegal , chief executive of venture firm Raycliff Capital and holder of a 39 per cent stake. The bank's chief executive is Anthony Burke, former chief operating officer of New York Community Bancorp.

Wachovia Securities has hired three high net worth brokers from Piper Jaffray in Canada. The three veteran brokers, Steve Gotter, Scott Smith and Michael Johnson made the move last Friday. They are the latest defections from Piper's brokerage unit, which will soon be acquired by UBS. The trio are on Piper's list of its Top 100 brokers based on commissions and fees generated over the past year and on assets under management.

Smith Barney has poached Nancy Anderson from Merrill Lynch Trust to run the newly opened wealth-planning centre in its north central region of the US. Ms Anderson spent seven years at the Merrill Lynch unit as a private wealth strategist. She will oversee a team of five wealth-planning experts who will develop financial strategies for clients with at least $5 million in assets to invest, or $10 million in net worth. The new centre will cover clients in North and South Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Nebraska, and Kansas. The region has around 18 branches and more than 500 brokers.

Deutsche Bank Alex Brown has hired three financial advisors from Credit Suisse in New York. Gus Demopolous, Michael Jarmolowich, and Michael Fontaine have joined Deutsche in June, or are about to. The report said the trio produced more than $2 million in commissions and fees over the past year. Mr Demopoulos joined as managing director while his two other colleagues were named directors. The trio reports to Haig Ariyan, managing director and New York regional executive.

Northern Trust, the US money manager, has appointed Robert Baillie as president and chief executive officer of its Canadian operation, and also chairman and chief executive of NT Global Advisors, based in Toronto. He joins from RBC Dexia Investor Services, where he was head of sales and client services. He takes over from Jeffery Conover , the venerated Canadian private client manager, who will resurface at Northern Trust's offices in Chicago. He will report to Stephen Potter, head of Northern Trust's international business segment.

UBS Wealth Management in the US has appointed Christopher Moneto manage its Garden City, Long Island, New York branch, overseeing 75 financial advisors. He replaces Robert Clark , who now runs the UBS Wealth Management branch in Washington, D.C. Previously, Mr Mone oversaw UBS branches in Huntington and South Hampton, which have around 19 financial advisors. In his new role, Mr Mone will report to Jason Chandler, managing director and region manager for the New York Metro area. Prior to joining UBS over three years ago, Mr Mone spent more than 10 years at Prudential Securities, now part of Wachovia.

Morgan Stanley has appointed John Powers to its global wealth management group as manager for its offices in Rochester, New York. Mr Powers will report to John Egan , Great Lakes district manager, and will be responsible for overseeing approximately 70 Financial Advisors in three branch offices. He joins Morgan Stanley after spending six years with UBS, most recently as branch manager of the in Billings, Montana.

Boston Private Financial Holdings has appointed Christopher Pope president of Boston Private Value Investors, the investment management arm of the US private bank. Mr Pope joins from State Street Global Advisors, where he was a senior principal and director of US institutional sales, client service and consultant relations. Sherwood Small will remain chairman and chief executive of Boston Private Value Investors.

US Wealth Advisors, a new broker/dealer division of US Wealth Management, has appointed Dennis McCarron chief executive officer and president. The new firm will allow US Wealth Management's clients access to a technology platform with a more comprehensive range of products and services from December. Mr McCarron was vice president of sales and marketing for US Wealth Management, and prior to that held the position of executive vice president of sales at a technology company servicing institutional portfolio managers.

Nancy Jacob , founder and chief executive of Windermere Investment Associates, has left. Windermere Investment Associates was acquired by the multi-family office Lydian Wealth Management in 2004. Ms Jacob would not be replaced, according to sources close to Lydian.

First Republic Bank, the NYSE-listed wealth manager, has appointed Sandra Pan as its senior managing director. Ms Pan, who brings some 25 year's experience in financial services to the role, will work for First Republic Wealth Advisors serving high net worth individuals and families, providing investment strategy and trust services.
Prior to joining First Republic, Ms Pan worked for US Trust for nine years. Previously, she was with Wells Fargo Bank and Chase Manhattan Bank in private client services and private banking.

California-based Heritage Bank of Commerce has appointed Dustin Warford as vice president, private banking. Mr Warford began his banking career as a private banker with Comerica Bank in San Jose. Heritage Bank of Commerce is part of the Heritage Commerce Corp. It was established in 1994 and is headquartered in San Jose with offices in Los Gatos, Fremont, Danville, Morgan Hill, Gilroy, Mountain View, and Los Altos.

Asia-Pacific
Ralph Parks , JP Morgan’s most senior manager in Asia, is to give up his management role, which included responsibility for private banking and asset management, to focus on clients and to develop strategic opportunities for the bank in the region, including potential joint ventures. Mr Parks will retain his position as chairman for JP Morgan in Asia Pacific, a job he has held for five years. Day-to-day management work will be assumed by Gaby Abdelnour , who has been appointed chief executive officer of the Asia Pacific region. Mr Abdelnour is currently head of investment banking coverage for corporate clients in Western Europe and also oversees the firm’s investment banking activities in Central and Eastern Europe, the Middle East and North Africa.

SG Private Banking (Asia Pacific) has obtained a new banking licence from the Hong Kong Monetary Authority to transfer its private banking activities from Société Générale, Hong Kong Branch to Société Générale Bank & Trust, Hong Kong Branch. SG Private Banking (Asia Pacific) will continue to be headed by Daniel Truchi as its chief executive officer for the Asia-Pacific region. Alex Fung has been appointed chief executive officer and Cindy Wong chief operating officer of SGBT Hong Kong Branch. SG Private Banking was established in Hong Kong in 1997 and remains the major booking centre for North Asia.

Julius Baer has appointed Daniel Chiam as market head in the bank’s Singapore office. Mr Chiam joins from Overseas Chinese Banking Corporation, where he was head of private banking. He will report to Heinz Puth, head of marketing South-east Asia for Julius Baer. Other recent additions to the Swiss bank’s burgeoning Asian business include Wilfried Kofmehl, who was hired as regional head for South-east Asia; Andrea Benenati as regional head of North Asia, V. Anantha Nageswaran as head of research Asia and the Middle East and David Lim as head of investment finance.

ABN Amro private client business in Asia has lost its head of North Asia business, Philippe Legrand , according to sources close to the bank. Mr Legrand has left with a team of seven to join BNP Paribas in Hong Kong. The team are: Sanam Ramchandani, Albert Lo, Iris Lee, KY Ho, Ricardo Choi, Shruti Sengupta and On Wai Lau . Mr Lau was head of international estate planning at ABN Amro’s private client business in Asia.

Hyder Ahmad, Goldman Sachs co-head of securities for Asia, has resigned to launch a hedge fund. Mr Ahmad had been with Goldmans for 11 years and will leave the bank at the end of July. The Hong Kong-based hedge fund will seek to raise around $1 billion from Asia-based investors.

Middle East
Merrill Lynch Global Private Clients’ international trust and wealth structuring group has appointed Patrick Hope-Falkner from American Express Private Bank as a regional trust professional for the Middle East market. Mr Hope-Falkner is a UK qualified lawyer with more than 30 years experience in the private client business in trust, tax and financial planning. He joins from American Express Private Bank where he worked for 10 years as a senior director and regional fiduciary specialist, providing technical expertise to the private bankers and clients in the Middle East region.

Julius Baer has appointed Fareed Asadi as head of its newly created client advisory group. Mr Asadi joins from Credit Suisse and will be based in Dubai; he will report to Alex Widmer, chief executive of private banking. CAG will focus on acquiring and servicing ultra-high net worth clients. According to the Zurich-based bank, the unit will be involved in leveraging and enhancing the existing Julius Baer platform, adding third-party products and acting as the client's advisor and liaison with other units in the bank and third parties.

Ansbacher, the UK private bank, has appointed David Forde as a private banker to its Dubai-based Middle East division. Mr Forde, who has worked in private banking in the Middle East for the past 12 years, joins from HSBC. Ansbacher has also strengthened it Dubai office by appointing Bruno Martorano, previously head of wealth management at Mashreqbank, as senior executive officer. Mr Martorano will report to Eric Lorentz, senior regional director for the Middle East, whose appointment was announced in May.