Michael Morley, managing director of Merrill Lynch's private wealth services for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, is leaving to join Barclays Private Clients. Morley will manage the bank's international private client business, which includes overseeing Barclays' Swiss operations. Morley will report to Mike Pedersen, the bank's recently appointed head of private banking.

Morley is the second senior Merrill private banking employee that Barclays has poached in the space of six months. Anthony Cooke-Yarborough was hired to head Barclays' UK private banking business; he was previously deputy head of Merrill's UK private client business.

Morley told Private Client Management he was leaving Merrill on amicable terms, although there has been some speculation about the security of his former position. He was a leading architect of Merrill's UK regional push, which has since been almost completely scrapped.

As head of the international business side of Barclays Private Clients, Morley will have his work cut out for him. The bank recently pulled out of its North American operations and its offshore business in Switzerland is suffering. Barclays Bank (Switzerland) recently reported an 80 per cent fall in 2001 pre-tax profits.

Simon Paul, Andrew Hodson , Kirsty Moore and Paul Avant have joined HSBC Republic as senior directors. The four were formerly at Schroder & Co, before losing their jobs in the recent cull, which saw the departure of Mike Bussey, the former joint chief executive officer. While at Schroders, the four were responsible for setting up the new group targeting entrepreneurs. Simon Paul and Andrew Hodson will be joint heads of the team, which will be based at HSBC’s Republic’s offices in Hill Street, Mayfair.

Close Private Asset Management, the private client arm of Close Brothers Group, the independent UK investment bank, has appointed Adam Griffin as its new director of private clients. Griffin has worked for Invesco and Capel Cure Myers. CPAM manages just under £400m in private client assets.

James Fleming, former managing director of SG Hambros, is to join Coutts. Fleming is understood to be replacing Jeremy Rothschild, head of international private banking. Coutts declined to comment on the move. Fleming is likely to have been poached by Robert Taylor, the joint head of private banking, according to insiders, who himself worked at SG Hambros before joining Coutts.

Edoardo Spezzotti has been appointed head of the international private investment banking group for Europe, the Middle East and Africa for Merrill Lynch International. He focuses on developing relationships with family-owned entities in these markets. Spezzotti has worked in investment banking for Merrill Lynch since 1997. He is based in London and reports to Kelly Martin, president of IPC.

Switzerland
Credit Suisse has made further changes to its private banking operations in Switzerland. Joachim Straehle, head of the private bank's trust group, has been moved to head up the private bank's "market group I". Veit de Maddalena, head of Credit Suisse's Monaco operations will replace Straehle as the new head of the bank's trust business. His successor in Monaco will be announced at a later date. Babak Dastmaltschi, has been appointed to run the new ultra high net-worth individual segment of Credit Suisse. Previously, Dastmaltschi was responsible for the Credit Suisse Trust's family office business. Credit Suisse has beefed up the unit.

Martin Enz, responsible for special product groups, will become head of the new advisory unit, which will focus mainly on the UHNWI segment. The family office will be integrated into the new advisory unit and is expected to be given renewed emphasis under the new structure. Didier von Daeniken, responsible for the bank's international wealth management team in Zurich and Singapore, will be the new branch head of Credit Suisse Singapore. The former Singapore branch manager, Pierre-Franois Baer, will be taking up a new position within the bank, although this is yet to be made public.

Asia-Pacific
Merrill Lynch has made a number of key appointments in recent weeks as part of a group-wide reorganisation. Among them is Ausaf Abbas, who has been appointed head of the international private investment banking group in the Asia Pacific region. Abbas has been with Merrill since 1985, most recently working for Merrill's international private client group in Japan. He will be based in Singapore and will report to Kelly Martin, president of IPC.