Chris Cottrell, head of clients at Global Asset Management, is moving to Sagitta Asset Management in London to take over as chief executive,...

Chris Cottrell, head of clients at Global Asset Management, is moving to Sagitta Asset Management in London to take over as chief executive, sources told Private Client Management. Cottrell will join at the beginning of next year, replacing Bob Michaelson , who is retiring, a Sagitta spokesman confirmed. Sagitta manages more than £1.5bn of mostly high net-worth money. Michaelson and Wafic Said set the firm up in 1995. Said is better known as the man behind the Said Business School at Oxford University.

David Rowe , the former head of Schroders' UK private client business, has joined UBS as an executive director, with a brief to develop the bank's UK business. Rowe joined UBS earlier this month, sources said. He was one of the main victims of a Schroders' putsch led by Sally Tennant, the other co-chief executive of the private bank, and Michael Dobson, the investment manager's new supremo, against senior management in the private bank last April. Along with Rowe, this saw the departure of co-chief executive Mike Bussey, the head of Schroders' international business Rupert Caldecott, four relationship managers and 12 support staff. Bussey ended up joining Rothschild to head its private banking initiative in the UK. Caldecott joined Cazenove, subsequently poaching a pan-European equity team from his ex-employer. Rowe is looking to recruit additional staff for the UK team, sources said.

Credit Suisse Private Banking has hired Dave Richards to head up its UK onshore/offshore private client department. Richards replaces Jonathan Norbury and Caroline Burkart , who left the bank earlier this year after Credit Suisse decided to merge its UK and international relationship management teams under one head of private clients. Richards comes from Citigroup Private Bank.

Michael Philipp, former head of Deutsche Asset Management, has joined the board of boutique wealth manager Duet Asset Management along with Dave Stewart , founder of rock group, The Eurythmics. The two will take non-executive roles at Duet as part of a merger with Artist Bank, a spin-off from their firm Artist Network. Artist Network provides promotion and production advice to entertainers; its banking arm was set up to provide wealth management services to its clients. Duet, which was founded by Henry Gabay and Alain Schibl in May, focuses on providing wealth management services to professional sports players. Duet has 13 full-time staff in Luxembourg and London. As well as Duet Asset Management, the group consists of Duet Trust & Fiduciary Services, Duet Capital, Duet Sport and Duet Family Office.

JP Morgan Private Bank has appointed Simon Wise as the new head of its investment advisory group for clients in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Wise replaces Lea Blinoff, who left the firm in February for personal reasons. He joins from Citigroup, where he was managing director of foreign exchange and global leveraged sales on the investment banking side. Wise will be based in London and will report to Phil DiIorio, head of the investment advisers' group at JP Morgan Private Bank, and to Debra Treyz, head of the bank's business in EMEA.

SEI Investments has named Francis Jackson as director of business development for private banking and asset management in Europe. Jackson was previously with Citibank Global Securities Services, where he was global head of the investor solutions group. SEI manages funds and provides consultancy for the wealth management industry worldwide.

Richard Harman, who recently left Sheffield Haworth, is setting up a wealth management search business at Wheat, the recently established City headhunter.

Switzerland
Matthias Fritsch, the head of Goldman Sachs' Swiss operations, has decided to quit and will be replaced by his deputy Alexander Classen, according to a report in the Geneva newspaper Le Temps. The newspaper said Fritsch had opposed aspects of a planned restructure of the firm's Swiss private banking activities. Fritsch had apparently attributed the weakness in the bank's private banking revenues to an increase in the required minimum for new clients, from $5m to $10m. Goldman Sachs had around SFr15bn of assets under management in Switzerland at the end of last year. Based in Zurich, Goldman Sachs employs about 160 people, including 12 in a private banking office in Geneva. The Geneva office was opened last year in the hope that it would offset fluctuations in the firm's investment banking business.

Banque Cantonale Vaudoise recently hired two Credit Suisse veterans, Alexandre Zeller and Oliver Steimer, to be president and chairman, respectively. Oswald Gruebel, head of the financial services unit, ousted them during a recent clear out. Both men will have their hands full dealing with a deeply indebted bank, which has had to be bailed out twice by the local government.

The rest of Europe
Internaxx, the offshore broker set up by TD Waterhouse and Banque Générale du Luxembourg in 2001, has appointed Alec Morley as its new chief executive. He replaces Angus Rigby, who is returning to Toronto to become marketing director at TD Waterhouse. Morley was previously chief operating officer for TD Asset Management in the UK. A spokesman for Internaxx, which is based in Luxembourg, said the firm continues to attract customers despite the difficult market conditions.

US
US Trust has sacked chief executive Jeffrey Maurer and hired a new boss in an effort to reinvigorate the wealth manager's business. Alan Weber, the former chief financial officer of Aetna, is to replace Maurer. Weber will also become president of US Trust, replacing Maribeth Rahe, who has resigned. Industry sources say Weber was brought in to bolster the business as Charles Schwab, US Trust's parent company, places increasing emphasis on wealth management. Weber will report to David Pottruck, president and co-chief executive of Charles Schwab. Maurer will continue as chairman of US Trust for "a transitional period," the firm said, and will become chairman of Schwab's affluent client strategy and policy committee. He will also remain on Schwab's executive committee. US Trust has been struggling this year, recently reporting a fall of nine per cent in overall clients' assets during the second quarter.

Deutsche Bank Securities has hired two senior brokers and a team of five juniors from Lehman Brothers, as part of a major push to reposition itself as a high net-worth boutique, according to a source in New York. The Lehman team includes Scott Zelnick and his partner, as well as five junior brokers and support staff.

Jean-Marie Messier, the former chairman of debt-ridden media conglomerate Vivendi, is setting up a hedge fund in New York. The fund, to be run by Messier Partners, will be financed by private investors, he told Variety magazine. Messier was known in France as J6M (Jean-Marie Messier, moi-meme, maitre du monde). At the time of his departure from Vivendi, Messier largely blamed the collapse of the company's share price on hedge funds. Messier is not new to the world of finance; before running Vivendi he managed investment funds at Lazard Freres.

The Middle East
Merrill Lynch has appointed a number of market leaders to its Middle East operations, to try to consolidate its activities in the region. Soha Nashaat has been named market leader for Kuwait, where she will help develop Merrill's international private client group's Middle East business, with a primary focus on aligning the firm's wealth management segments. She will continue to lead Merrill's Middle East private client business centre in London. Anwar Abusbaitan has been appointed market leader for Jordan, Oman and Qatar, in addition to his current function as market manager for Bahrain. Abusbaitan joined Merrill in 1991 as relationship manager before becoming resident manager of the Freemont office in California. In 1998, he joined the Bahrain office as sales and marketing director.

Mones Bazzy has been appointed market leader for the United Arab Emirates to oversee wealth management operations in Dubai, Bahrain and Beirut. This is in addition to his existing market leader roles for Lebanon and Syria. Bazzy joined Merrill in 1979 and worked as a financial consultant in Lebanon and France. He joined the Middle East management team in 1998.