May proved to be a strong month for moves and appointments across a number of countries.

SORBUS Partners, a UK private investment office, appointed Laurence Forrester as a partner. Forrester is a finance professional with 17 years of experience working as a portfolio director at Cazenove Capital from 2008 to 2020. 

Saxo Bank, a fintech specialist focused on multi-asset trading and investment, appointed Joanna Moberly as the new head of legal and company secretary at its UK subsidiary, Saxo Markets UK.

Moberly has experience in financial services law. He previously worked for major UK financial institutions including Lloyds Banking Group and Barclays for over 10 years. She joined from Lloyds Banking Group where she was a senior lawyer in the commercial banking team. Moberly, who is based in London, reports to Charles White-Thomson, CEO of Saxo Markets UK. 

Quilter, the UK-listed wealth manager, appointed senior financial sector figure Glyn Barker as chairman, subject to regulatory approval, effective from 7 September 2022. After an executive career with PwC, culminating with his appointment as vice chairman, UK and chief executive for markets: Europe, Middle East, Africa and India, Barker held several senior non-executive positions including chairman of The Berkeley Group and senior independent director of Aviva.

Sanaa Hira, an ESG investment analyst, was named as IQ-EQ new sustainability manager. Hira, who is responsible for supporting the setup and delivery of IQ-EQ’s sustainability strategy, works Mark Harland, the group’s head of sustainability. Prior to joining IQ-EQ, Hira was an ESG investment analyst, responsible for assessing the ESG needs of potential investments. She also spent seven years at an independent asset management company where she worked in information analysis and consulting roles.

River and Mercantile, the equities and infrastructure investment specialist, expanded the role of fund manager James Sym, elevating him to the post of equities head. Sym joined River and Mercantile from Schroders in 2020 to set up its European equities franchise. 

Seddons, a UK law firm, made two promotions to partnership level in its real estate department and has announced an additional lateral partner appointment. The two new partners are Rob Brooks in the Real Estate Finance team and Nick Mann in the Residential Real Estate team. Commercial real estate partner Christian Taylor re-joined Seddons after eight years at JMW LLP.

Momentum Multi-Asset Value Trust plc, a UK investment trust, appointed Jeroen Huysinga as non-executive director, starting in June. Huysinga, is a director of European Opportunities Trust plc, and a trustee of a number of charitable foundations. Prior to this, Huysinga managed funds at JPMorgan Asset Management for 23 years until 2020. He was formerly a managing director in JPMorgan's global equities team and was lead portfolio manager for JPMorgan Global Growth & Income plc for over 10 years. 

Allspring Global Investments, an asset manager with more than $541 billion in assets under management, appointed Nora Jordan, Kay Madati, and Charles Roame to join its board of directors. Jordan is a senior counsel at Davis Polk, a global law firm with an investment management practice, whilst Madati is the chief commercial officer at FIFA, the international governing body for football. 

Ocorian, which provides corporate and fiduciary services, fund administration and capital market services, appointed London-based Ricky Popat as business development director, regulatory, compliance and legal. 

Wealth Club, a UK broker for high net worth individuals and investors, appointed Charlie Huggins as head of equities. Huggins joined from Hargreaves Lansdown where he worked for more than 10 years, including five years as a fund manager overseeing around £500 million ($626 million) of assets. 

Natixis Investment Managers appointed eight executives to join its management committee: Alix Boisaubert, head of global corporate communications, asset and wealth management; lain Bruneau, general secretary, AWM; Fabrice Chemouny, head of Asia-Pacific, Natixis IM; Audrey Koenig, CEO, Natixis Wealth Management; Melanie Robinson, global head of client experience, AWM; Justin Rosen, global chief compliance officer, Natixis IM; Jean-Marc Sabatier, global chief risk officer, Natixis IM; and Nathalie Wallace, global head of sustainable investing, AWM.

Natixis IM also appointed Shinji Inoue, president and representative director for Natixis IM Japan. He is based in Tokyo and reports to Fabrice Chemouny, head of Asia-Pacific. 
 

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Crestbridge appointed Alex Le Quesne as group head of governance services. He has 18 years’ industry experience, the last seven of which have been with Crestbridge where he led and developed the real estate fund services team. 

Foresters Financial appointed Nici Audhlam-Gardiner as UK chief executive, subject to regulatory approval. (The former CEO, Euan Allison, died suddenly last August.) Most recently, Audhlam-Gardiner was chief commercial officer at OneFamily, and CEO of its Lifetime Mortgages business. 

CCLA Investment Management, which operates in the charity space, appointed Ben Funnell as head of investment solutions.

Funnell joined from Man Group (formerly GLG Partners before the acquisition), where he worked as chief equity strategist and then portfolio manager for equity and multi-asset funds. 

Argyll, a premium office provider to financial firms such as wealth managers, appointed Philip Symonds as investment director. Prior to this, he worked at Addington Capital.

Societe Generale appointed Andrew Patey as UK head of cash equity and execution in its global markets division. Prior to this, Patey co-led equity sales for EMEA at HSBC, and headed pan-European equity sales in the UK for UBS, working more than a decade at the latter bank. He has also worked at Goldman Sachs, Bear Stearns and DLJ.

Citigroup appointed Valentin Valderrabano as its new chief operating officer for the Citi Global Wealth business. He took over the helm from Eduardo Martinez Campos. Prior to this, Valderrabano was the consumer business manager for Citibank Korea. 

Working at the US banking group for almost two decades, Valderrabano served in leadership roles across a variety of segments and geographies. He worked in Spain, London, Greece, Singapore, the US and, most recently, Korea. Before joining Citigroup, he worked at The Coca-Cola Company in the US and Mexico. 

BCB Group, which provides business accounts and trading services for the digital assets sector such as bitcoin and tokens, appointed Natasha Powell as chief compliance officer. Powell, who was formerly a European regulatory policy expert at the Financial Services Authority (the precursor to the Financial Conduct Authority), spent 10 years in senior compliance roles at RBS, Schroders and Barclays Capital. Most recently, Powell led her own independent consultancy specialising in regulatory transformation and innovation, providing regulatory compliance and financial crime prevention management advice to European hedge funds, asset managers and prime brokerage firms.

Janus Henderson Investors appointed Panos Nikopolitidis as head of operations in its London office. He reports to global chief operating officer, J R Lowry. Nikopolitidis replaced Graham Foggin who retired after 20 years at Janus Henderson. Nikopolitidis was previously at Russell Investments where he had been head of Global Investment and Data Operations since 2017. 

Hampden & Co, a UK private bank, appointed Hannah Berridge as head of professional partnerships. Based in London, Berridge reports to chief commercial officer Andrew Bell. Berridge joined from C. Hoare & Co. where she developed and managed partner relationships with legal, accountancy and wealth management firms, as well as serving the banking needs of clients. Prior to that, she worked as a private banker at Coutts.

Kore Labs, a digital governance solution in the UK, appointed two non-executive directors to join its board – Phil Smith and Sally Clark. 

Smith was previously founder and group chief executive of the Embark Group. Prior to that, he was global managing director at both Barclays Wealth and Fortis Investments. Clark is currently an independent board member and non-executive director at Citibank, Metro Bank and FinTech business Acin and has had an extensive executive career with Barclays, Royal Bank of Scotland Group and JP Morgan.

Nuveen appointed Jonas Karlson and Ersen Taskiran as director and vice president of its Nordic business. Karlson and Taskiran joined Nuveen’s Global Client Group team. Karlson and Taskiran, based in Stockholm and Copenhagen respectively, report to Christoffer Hedberg, head of Nordics and Benelux.

Investment firm, Franklin Templeton, appointed Guillaume Dambrine as senior ETF sales specialist in its French office. Dambrine joined the Paris office in April, reporting to Caroline Baron, head of ETF business development EMEA. Most recently, he was a senior consultant with BeBrandon Agency leading campaigns in the food and beverage industry for clients such as Ferrero and Pernod Ricard.
 

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Cazenove Capital, a UK wealth management business and part of the Schroders Group, appointed Wesley Harrison and Rosie Gibbs to expand its wealth planning team in London. Prior to joining the firm, Gibbs, a chartered financial planner, was at Saunderson House for eight years. Harrison joined from Investec where he was responsible for advising some of the firm’s largest clients.

CRUX Asset Management appointed investment analyst Tom Messenger to strengthen its UK equities investment team. From July 2018, he was an investment analyst at Momentum Investment Solutions & Consulting and an equity research analyst at Third Bridge Group Limited prior to that.

Rupert Phelps, lead partner of the family wealth group at Tilney Smith & Williamson, left the firm. Phelps is an advisor on stewardship, strategic governance, family councils and constitutions, succession planning, philanthropy and next generation preparation. 

IQ-EQ, an investor services provider, appointed a dedicated Chinese family office executive, based in Jersey. Briony Sun, IQ-EQ’s new Chinese FO chief executive, joined the firm’s private wealth team in Jersey. Sun promotes the firm’s family office services to Chinese-speaking clients, in particular those originally from Hong Kong and the Chinese mainland. Prior to this role, Sun founded Jersey’s first Chinese school in 2016. 

Quintet Private Bank appointed Chris Allen as group CEO, subject to regulatory approval. Allen, who has 30 years of financial services experience, spent the past 15 years at HSBC where he served in a variety of roles, including CEO of alternative investments, CEO of HSBC private bank UK and head of global private banking Europe, Middle East and Africa. 

He replaced Jakob Stott, who decided to leave the firm following a brief transition. 

Raymond James opened a new branch in Truro, Cornwall, led by branch principal Simon Burnett. Burnett began his career in the City of London in 1999, working on the equities trading floor at Goldman Sachs. He went on to work on the open outcry trading floor in Amsterdam before returning to London as a senior equity dealer at State Street Global Advisers. In his final few years in the City, Burnett worked as a director at the international equities broker ITG before transferring his expertise to the private client arena, joining Charles Stanley and then latterly Walker Crips Investment Management.  

Columbia Threadneedle Investments, a global asset management group, appointed Christopher Mahon as head of dynamic real return. He had been head of multi-asset at Barings Asset Management where he oversaw more than $5 billion of assets under management. Prior to this, he was head of investment strategy at Rand Merchant Bank (now Momentum Asset Management) and a senior analyst at Coronation Fund Managers. He started his career as a consultant at Oliver Wyman Strategy Consulting.

Kingswood Holdings Limited, the wealth and investment management group, appointed Christopher Calvocoressi as technology transformation lead. Prior to this, Calvocoressi was a programme manager focussing on technology transformation at Schroders Personal Wealth. 

Rathbone Greenbank Investments appointed Sophie Lawrence to the newly-created role of Greenbank stewardship and engagement lead.

Lawrence, who was previously senior ethical, sustainable and impact researcher at Greenbank, took responsibility for delivering key engagement projects, maintaining and building relationships with external partner organisations, and shaping Greenbank’s overall engagement strategy, priorities and reporting. She continues to report to Kate Elliot, head of ethical, sustainable and impact (ESI) research at Rathbone Greenbank Investments.

Allspring Global Investments appointed Marco Negri to lead its new Milan office. Negri has over 18 years' experience of working for global asset managers and leading business development and sales strategy in southern Europe. Negri reports to Sylvain Agar, head of international financial institutions. Before this, Negri worked as country head, Italy, at La Financière de l’Echiquier and as head of southern Europe for Legg Mason Global Asset Management, overseeing the company’s sales efforts in France, Italy and Iberia. He has also served in senior roles at UBS Global Asset Management, SGR and Dexia Asset Management.

Clinical reg tech provider Comentis appointed Richard Farr as a non-executive director. With over 30 years’ of experience, Farr also serves on the EmoneyHub Ltd board as a non-executive director and is chair of the Association of Professional Compliance Consultants (APCC) Operational Steering Group, as well as of the APCC Vulnerability Working Group.

Maven Wealth, the Welsh regional office of Independent Wealth Planners, appointed Gareth Tregidon as CEO. Tregidon was previously interim CEO and head of financial planning at the firm. 
 

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Pictet named Edmund Buckley as head of the direct private equity division. He was previously a manager at private equity firm THI Investments. Buckley reports directly to Aktug at Pictet Alternative Adivsers (PAA) and Andreas to Raymond Sagayam at Pictet Asset Management.

Credit Suisse in the UK appointed Marina Solodovnikova as a portfolio manager in its UK lending team. Solodovnikova, who previously worked at Citibank, carried out various credit and portfolio management roles, latterly managing a $10 billion portfolio of corporate and structured real estate within its institutional clients group. She is based in London and reports to Jason Weber, head of credit and lending services for Credit Suisse in the UK.

Hampden & Co hired former Standard Bank International executive Jonathan Peake as chief financial officer. Peake replaced CFO Andy Mulligan, who had held the post since 2011 before retiring.

The Financial Conduct Authority named a former Goldman Sachs, Deutsche Bank and US regulatory figure to a new senior role at the UK organisation. It made other appointments. 

Mel Gunewardena became a senior advisor. He is chief market intelligence officer at the Commodities and Futures Trading Commission based in Washington DC. 
Gunewardena, a former Goldman Sachs MD from the US firm’s currency and commodities division, was also a senior MD at Deutsche Bank and at State Street. He has worked in New York, Washington DC, London, and Hong Kong in global trading, risk management, investment management, policy, supervision, and handling regulatory matters across global commodities and derivatives markets.

Graeme Reynolds, appointed director of competition, is one of the FCA’s deputy chief economists. Simon Walls, appointed as an interim wholesale director, has been head of wholesale markets since 2016. He has been with the FCA/FSA since 2006 in a variety of wholesale roles, including seven years in asset management supervision.

Stonehage Fleming, the multi-family office, appointed Richard Stride, a senior industry figure, as head of the family office business in Jersey. It also named Bruce Sinclair as trustee director in the Jersey family office division. 

Stride has acted as a trusted advisor to wealthy international families and for the past 14 years has assisted with their day-to-day requirements for succession, governance and managing complex wealth. He joined the Stonehage Fleming Group in 2007, where he was head of the family office division in Johannesburg before moving to the Jersey office in 2017. Stride succeeded Ana Ventura who is now serving as a trustee and advisor to several Stonehage Fleming’s high net worth international families.

Sinclair, who has 12 years’ legal experience, joined from Standard Bank. He started at the bank in 2017, serving as head of legal business for the trust and fiduciary services offshore division. 

European asset manager Amundi made three new hires across its ESG and advocacy functions: Alice Sireyjol as deputy head of ESG development, Edouard Dubois as head of voting, and Hélène Champollion-Morel as head of advocacy.

Charles Russell Speechlys named six new partners after its latest round of promotions. Based in London, the new partners include Cara Imbrailo and Mark White in UK real estate. Richard Flenley was promoted to be a partner in UK real estate disputes, focusing on professional negligence disputes. Charlie Ring, a new partner in UK financial services and funds, advises investment and wealth managers, private wealth individuals, and owner-managed businesses.

Alice Martin was promoted to be a partner in Swiss tax trusts and succession. She advises on cross-border succession planning combined with UK tax advice, focusing on clients in the arts, media and digital industries.

JTC, the global professional services provider, made Elize Botha managing director of its South African office. Botha brings more than 25 years’ experience in financial services to the role, most recently as managing director of Old Mutual Unit Trusts where she was responsible for strategic, commercial and operational aspects of the business.

Artorius Wealth, a UK firm based in Manchester, appointed Rosalyn Breedy as an independent non-executive director. Breedy, who has worked in the private client, investment and family offices space for more than 30 years, is also a judge for WealthBriefing’s awards programme.

Breedy, a corporate, funds and financial services lawyer, is head of funds and private wealth at Simons Muirhead Burton. She has a particular interest in financial regulation, and financial policy work alongside ESG, diversity and inclusion. She writes regularly and speaks on these matters.
 

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North America
Raymond James welcomed financial advisors Jay Palmer and Bobby Miller to its independent advisor channel in Fredericksburg, Virginia. The advisors, who operate as Lantern Wealth Management, were previously affiliated with Merrill Lynch where they managed about $120 million in client assets.

Palmer, who is a Certified Financial Planner, previously worked as an advisor at Merrill Lynch from 2018. With over 10 years of industry experience, Miller obtained certifications as both a Chartered Retirement Planning CounselorSM and a Certified Plan Fiduciary Advisor. Previously a senior financial advisor and vice president at Merrill Lynch, he earned his bachelor’s degree in business management from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.

The firm welcomed financial advisor Kevin Cooper to its employee advisor channel. Cooper, who is based in Boca Raton, heads Cooper Family Office Consulting of Raymond James, which specializes in intergenerational wealth management. He was joined by senior registered client service associate Jean Panarello. Cooper, senior vice president, wealth management, has been in the financial services industry for nearly 30 years. He served as a financial advisor with several firms before spending 10 years at Merrill Lynch. In 2005, Cooper transitioned to UBS Financial and Morgan Stanley in 2013.

Raymond James welcomed former Merrill Lynch financial advisors Steve Harman, Mark DeGon and Jake Phillips to its employee advisor channel in Spokane, Washington. At Merrill Lynch, the advisors managed approximately $409 million in client assets. Together, they operate as Panorama Wealth Management of Raymond James and work alongside client service associates Jennifer Jones and Kaitlyn Harman.

Raymond James appointed advisor Dave Sprenkle to join its independent advisor channel in York, Pennsylvania. Operating as Sprenkle Wealth Management, Sprenkle was joined by senior client service manager Theresa Lehigh. They were previously affiliated with Janney Montgomery Scott and managed over $140 million in client assets.

The firm welcomed financial advisor Rob Hrnicek to its independent advisor channel. Hrnicek joined the Plano, Texas team of advisors at Parkway Wealth Management Group. Previously, Hrnicek was affiliated with Wells Fargo where he managed approximately $125 million in client assets. With more than two decades’ financial sector experience, he started his career at Merrill Lynch in 2001. 

The chief economist of Raymond James, Scott J Brown, PhD, left the firm after having told the firm late last year that he intended to retire. Dr Brown, who joined the firm in 1993, has advised clients with his analysis and thought leadership on economic affairs for more than 28 years. The Florida-based group appointed Eugenio Alemán, PhD, as Dr Brown’s successor. He joined from the US Department of Energy’s Energy Information Administration where he was also chief economist. Prior to the EIA, Dr Alemán was with Wells Fargo for 16 years, first as a director and senior economist for Wells Fargo Securities, where he covered the US domestic consumer profile, contributed to the analysis of the global economy, and researched the commodities, energy and metals' markets. 

PNC Financial Services, the US lender that provides offerings including private banking, said its chief customer officer and retail banking head was retiring. Karen Larrimer stood down after 27 years of working at the bank. Larrimer, who is remaining as the bank's chief customer officer through 2022, has led retail banking since July 2016, after being appointed as chief customer officer in 2014.. Alex Overstrom, PNC's head of small business and deputy head of retail banking, assumed responsibility for leading PNC's retail banking line of business.

Deutsche Bank appointed Elom Kpordze and Bhavin Thakore as managing director and director, respectively, within the international private bank for the Americas. They are based in San Francisco and report to Chris Ainsworth, head of West Coast, international private bank, Americas.

Kpordze was formerly a member of the global banking team at Citigroup, where he also led business development on the West Coast for Citi Private Bank’s employee stock ownership plan lending initiative. Thakore joined from Citi Private Bank where he was a senior vice president and worked with high net worth individuals. He focused on converting a pipeline of prospects into target market clients. Previously, he managed a CitiGold office, as well as offices for US Bank and Wells Fargo Bank.

BNY Mellon Wealth Management made four hires in its New York Tri-State region. It appointed Wing Wilson as regional fiduciary manager, Leighton Cameron as senior wealth manager, Marcy Morgan as principal, private banking and Scott Rickman as client strategist. Wilson, Cameron and Morgan are based in New York City, and Rickman is based in Greenwich, Connecticut. They all report to John Ippolito, regional president, New York Tri-State.

Synovus Bank, based in Columbus, Georgia, named Katherine Dunlevie as president and chief executive of The Family Office at Synovus. Dunlevie has spent her entire financial services career with Synovus, joining the bank as a management associate in 2002. In 2004, she moved to The Family Office, previously known as Synovus Family Asset Management, and served as an advisor until she was named managing director in 2014. In February this year, Synovus changed Dunlevie’s title to president and CEO.

Richard Skae, vice chairman of Morgan Stanley’s Wealth Management Group, died at the age of 65. Skae joined Morgan Stanley in 2006 and had been the vice chair since 2017, following a revamp of the firm’s wealth management structure. Before that, he headed the Eastern division for wealth management, overseeing the advisors in one of two large divisions.

Heritage Trust, a subsidiary of Argent Financial Group, appointed Brooke Henderson as vice president, relationship manager. Henderson is responsible for assisting clients in a variety of areas, including trusts, probate and estate planning and administration. She reports to Michael Romero, president. Henderson previously served as an associate attorney at Berman & Rabin, P.A., where she focused on consumer debt collection.

Rockefeller Capital Management added the Puget Sound Group to its business, building its presence in the Pacific Northwest. The team of five includes: Nick Paget, managing director, and private wealth advisor; Nicole Schafer, senior vice president, PWA; Forrest St. John Kim, VP and PWA; Karen Henderson, AVP and team operations manager; and Tor Fanning, AVP and financial planning analyst. 

Robertson Stephens Wealth Management appointed D Ellen Shuman as a director. Shuman has nearly 40 years of industry experience. Shuman, who is a partner emerita and co-founder of Edgehill Endowment Partners, an outsourced chief investment office, was previously chief investment officer of Carnegie Corporation of New York and director of investments at the Yale University Investments Office. 

Fiduciary Trust International, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Franklin Templeton, appointed M Lisa Parry Howard as trust counsel based in its Delaware office.

Howard has more than 20 years of financial services and wealth management experience, focusing on trust account administration, fiduciary legal matters, risk assessment, trust account and corporate governance, and account compliance. She joined from the Wilmington Trust arm of M&T Bank, where she served as a trust administration contract attorney, fiduciary administrator, and risk and corporate governance analyst. Earlier in her career, Howard was a trust compliance advisor for fiduciary and Delaware-directed accounts at PNC Bank and Vanguard Private Trust Co. She also served as trust counsel and compliance manager at Christiana Trust Co of Delaware.

Citigroup appointed Valentin Valderrabano as its new chief operating officer for the Citi Global Wealth business. He took the helm from Eduardo Martinez Campos. Prior to this, Valderrabano was the consumer business manager for Citibank Korea. 

Working at the US banking group for almost two decades, Valderrabano served in leadership roles across a variety of segments and geographies. He has worked in Spain, London, Greece, Singapore, the US and, most recently, Korea. Before joining Citigroup, he worked at The Coca-Cola Company in the US and Mexico.

Cresset Partners in the US appointed private credit and growth equity figure Tammy Funasaki as its managing director for business development. In her new role, Funasaki, who is based in Los Angeles, is responsible for expanding Cresset Partners’ presence on the West coast. Previously, Funasaki served as head of investor relations at Breakwater Management, a private credit and growth equity firm. Prior to Breakwater, Funasaki was a director for a single-family office, as well as an advisor in Goldman Sachs Private Wealth Management division. 

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Wealth Management Solutions appointed Melissa Bergeron as client service manager. Bergeron, who has more than 20 years of experience in the financial services industry, joined partners Richard Riva and Martin Lombrano.

NewEdge Wealth, which focuses on advising ultra-high net worth individuals, family offices and institutions, appointed Cameron Dawson as its first chief investment officer. A regular commentator in the broadcast media on financial affairs, Dawson frequently appears on Bloomberg, CNBC, and Fox Business, among many others. Prior to joining NewEdge Wealth, she was the chief market strategist at Fieldpoint Private Securities and a senior equity analyst at Bank of America.

The Colony Group promoted seven new principals: Indrika Arnold, senior wealth advisor; Ian Cole, SWA; Matthew C Gordon, SWA; Jeanie M Kirkiles, deputy chief of staff; Sheryl A Rothman, SWA; Paul Shapero, director, family office services; and Connor Sullivan, SWA.

SVB Private appointed Jon Kropf as head of advisor business development, a newly-formed role in which he directs SVB Private's national advisor recruiting strategy and execution. Kropf most recently served as senior vice president at First Republic where he led advisor hiring nationally for private wealth management. Prior to First Republic, he was national practice leader for ACA Group's diversified financial business segment and led the West coast asset management regulatory practice at PwC. Kropf has also worked at PIMCO and the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

BancTrust, the investment bank, launched BancTrust Securities USA, its US broker-dealer affiliate. Based in New York, BancTrust Securities USA will represent BancTrust with US institutional investors and major US institutional investors. 

The initial New York-based team comprises Jack Thomas, managing director of fixed income trading; Erik Berg, MD debt capital markets; Rafael Elias, MD LatAm corporate credit strategy; Dan Bowers, executive director fixed income sales; and Maurice Batista, ED fixed income sales.

Thomas was previously head of emerging market trading – New York at Intesa Sanpaolo IMI Securities. His experience includes working at UBS Investment Bank, Santander, Societe Generale, and ING Financial Markets. Berg has more than 25 years of experience in international capital markets. He has served in senior capital markets roles in New York at Deutsche Bank, ING, ABN AMRO, Standard Bank of South Africa, Commerzbank, and Natixis. His experience includes responsibility for debt origination across Latin America including new bond issues, debt restructurings, debt buybacks and public and private sector debt exchanges. 

Elias was previously a director of research for Latin America at StoneX and formerly at Tellimer Markets. His experience spans over 25 years of being responsible for macro and corporate strategy at Cantor Fitzgerald, Credit Agricole, Knight Libertas, UBS, Deutsche Bank, ING, and Credit Suisse. 

Bowers is an investment professional with 20 plus years of experience in emerging markets. Before joining BancTrust USA, he served in senior EM sales roles with Unicredit and Societe Generale. Previously Bowers worked in trading at Moore Capital, Depfa Investment Bank and Galileo Asset Management. 

Batista has over 20 years of experience in financial services, with a focus on global EM. Prior to joining BancTrust USA, he worked in EM institutional sales at Torino Capital and Stifel Financial. Previously, at Renaissance Capital Securities he headed FICC sales in New York, focusing on Russia, CIS and Africa.

Newfront, a brokerage firm, added former Bank of America figure Rich Schainker to its retirement services team. He brought more than three decades of experience to the role.

At Bank of America, Schainker served as director of employee benefits for nearly three years. Previously, he was senior regional vice president – retirement plans at Invesco for 19 years. He has also served in leadership roles at John Hancock, Principal Financial Group, and T Rowe Price. Based in San Francisco, Schainker serves clients across the US.

Allspring Global Investments appointed Melissa Murphy as head of public relations. Murphy, who directs Allspring’s PR globally, reports to Debbi Tippett, head of corporate communications. Prior to this, Murphy worked at SunStar Strategic, and spent more than two decades leading PR strategies for asset manager firms.

Fidelity National Financial appointed Brian Maughan as executive vice president, chief innovation officer. In his expanded role, Maughan analyzes trends and market disruptions, searches for emerging market and technology opportunities, and directs investments into new and existing initiatives. 

Rockefeller Capital Management appointed Cheryl Young, a Bay Area-based figure, and her seven-member Young & Associates team to join Rockefeller Global Family Office. Young, working in the sector for 23 years, joined the firm’s Pacific Northwest Division, headed by division director Brian Riley. The team is based in Los Gatos, California. 

Rockefeller Capital Management also appointed Kristen Sario as director of the Southeast division. In this role, Sario oversees six offices and focuses on the continued growth in the Charlotte, Florida and Nashville markets. She is based in Atlanta, Georgia.

Most recently at Morgan Stanley, Young is a graduate of New Mexico State University where she earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology. Members of her team include: Boaz Chan, Jennifer Seacrist, Wey Lim, and Nicholas Peterson, all vice presidents and client relationship directors, vice president and business practice manager Sarah Mijts, financial planning analyst Jenny Young, and senior client associate Cassidy Liu.

Fulcrum Asset Management appointed Chris DeMeo as head of solutions, North America. He joined from abrdn, where he was head of Americas within its client solutions group. DeMeo previously worked for investment solutions business Nu Paradigm (which he co-founded), Willis Towers Watson, Russell Investments and Merrill Lynch.

Bank of America appointed senior figure Jennifer Galvagna as head of trust solutions. Galvagna oversees the delivery, growth and innovation of trust solutions for Private Bank and Merrill clients. She reports to Jeff Busconi, head of products, services and platforms at the Private Bank, and is based in Boston. She joined the Private Bank in 2002.

Guernsey Finance, the promotional agency for the island’s financial services industry, appointed a dedicated representative for the US – Jonathan Gamble, formerly of Asset Risk Consultants, where he worked for two decades. Gamble holds the Fellow and Chartered Wealth manager designations from the Chartered Institute for Securities & Investment and is a qualified member of the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP). Amongst other roles, he is a STEP Guernsey committee member, a trustee of the Elizabeth College Foundation and has held several listed and non-listed non-executive positions.
 

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Asia-Pacific
Value Partners appointed Samuel Sun as managing director, chief risk officer. He is based in the Hong Kong headquarters. Sun, who has more than 25 years’ risk management experience, reports to the group’s president, June Wong. Sun replaced David Wong, who stepped down to retire in late March this year. Prior to this, Sun was chief risk officer, Asia, for Manulife Investment Management. Before joining Manulife, he was the head of risk management (Asia) at Allianz Global Investors. 

HSBC appointed Mathieu Forcioli as the global and Asia-Pacific head of alternatives, under the bank's investments and wealth solutions division for its wealth and personal banking business. Forcioli, who is based in Hong Kong, joined from Antarctica Asset Management in Hong Kong where he was the head of Antarctica Private, responsible for the private markets offering globally. Before this, Forcioli set up and grew the Asia operations of Moonfare. Forcioli reports to Jan-Marc Fergg, global head of ESG and managed solutions, IWS and Stefan Lecher, regional head of IWS, Asia-Pacific.

M&G Real Estate, part of the private assets and alternatives business at UK-based M&G, appointed Seiko Ikeda as head of Japan. Based in Tokyo, Ikeda reports to Jing Dong Lai, chief executive and chief investment officer for Asia. Ikeda joined M&G in 2016 as part of the acquisitions team based in Singapore where she was responsible for leading several strategic investments on behalf of the M&G’s Asia-Pacific core strategy. 

Bank of Singapore appointed former BlackRock senior figure Robert Reid as its global head of alternative investments and managed solutions. He took over from Fidelis Oruche. Reid, who is based in Hong Kong, reports to Lim Leong Guan, global head of products, and has a local reporting line to Teresa Lee, head of Greater China, Hong Kong branch. With 30 years of legal, consulting and financial services experience in the Asia-Pacific region, Reid was most recently the country head of Hong Kong and Taiwan at BlackRock, having joined the firm eight years ago as the head of strategy and chief operating officer for the iShares business in Asia.

Janus Henderson Investors appointed Alex Ng in the newly-formed role of head of intermediate sales for Asia ex Japan, starting in July. Ng will report to Andrew Hendry, head of distribution, Asia ex Japan. Ng is responsible for leading and managing the intermediary sales function across Southeast Asia and Greater China, with a focus on partnering with global banking clients.

Before this, Ng worked at Federated Hermes, where he was head of wholesale distribution, Asia, responsible for the firm's wholesale channel within Asia ex Japan. Prior to that, he was director at abrdn (previously Aberdeen Standard Investments), where he was responsible for product distribution to banks, and single family and multi-family offices. 

Saxo Markets, part of Copenhagen-based Saxo Bank, has recruited Charu Chanana as market strategist, based in Singapore. Chanana’s focus is on macro themes, forex, commodities and equities across Southeast Asia, Japan, India and the US. She has more than 10 years’ experience in the financial markets, having served most recently as the lead Asia economist at Continuum Economics.

She was joined by Jessica Amir, based in Sydney, and Redmond Wong, who operates from Hong Kong. Amir is responsible for providing real-time market updates and data analysis, working alongside Saxo’s expert global sales trading team. She has more than 14 years’ experience in financial markets. Wong has more than 30 years of experience in the industry.

Franklin Templeton appointed Patrick Vizzone as managing director and head of agri-food for its Asia-Pacific alternatives group, where he leads private equity and venture capital investments in the sustainable agri-food sector globally. Based in Hong Kong, Vizzone reports to Jing Su Vivatrat, president and chief operating officer of Franklin Templeton’s Asia-Pacific alternatives group.

Previously, Vizzone served as international head of food, beverage and agri-business and head of Hong Kong coverage at ANZ Banking Group. Prior to that, he was Asian head of institutional banking and head of food and agri-business at National Australia Bank. He has served in senior leadership roles at Rabobank and GE Capital Asia-Pacific.

Liechtenstein-based VP Bank appointed several senior Asia executives, including the head of its Singapore branch. It named Johnny Heng as head of the Singapore branch. He reports to Asia CEO Pamela Hsu Phua. Heng, whose appointment is subject to regulatory approval, has worked for more than 25 years in the financial services industry. He has international investment and management experience spanning London, New York and Singapore. Prior to joining VP Bank, Heng worked for Equities First Holdings, Nomura Singapore, Coutts & Co, and Credit Suisse Private Bank.

Veronica Ong joined as regional lead, marketing and communications Asia, reporting to chief of staff Asia, Heline Lam. Ong is a marketing and communications professional with more than two decades of experience. Previously head of marketing, Southeast Asia for Credit Suisse, she has worked for organisations such as Coutts & Co and the Monetary Authority of Singapore. 

Kenneth Chan joined as the head of intermediaries for Hong Kong. With over 30 years of financial services experience, he reports to Marx. Prior to joining the Hong Kong office, Chan worked for EFG Bank, UBS, Pictet & Cie (Europe), Standard Charted Private Bank and DBS Hong Kong. 

Alice Chan, who joined as a relationship manager, reports to Kenneth Chan. She came from EFG Bank AG and previously worked for UBS in Hong Kong, Standard Chartered, DBS Bank and ICBC.

Karen Ho joined as an RM, effective 27 June. With close to 20 years of banking experience, formerly from EFG Bank, she reports to Kenneth Chan. Prior to joining EFG Bank AG, Ho held various banking positions at UBS AG, HSBC, Citibank, and AIA.

Natixis Investment Managers appointed eight executives to join its management committee.

The appointed figures were Alix Boisaubert, head of global corporate communications, asset and wealth management; lain Bruneau, general secretary, AWM; Fabrice Chemouny, head of Asia-Pacific, Natixis IM; Audrey Koenig, CEO, Natixis Wealth Management; Melanie Robinson, global head of client experience, AWM; Justin Rosen, global chief compliance officer, Natixis IM; Jean-Marc Sabatier, global chief risk officer, Natixis IM; and Nathalie Wallace, global head of sustainable investing, AWM.

Natixis IM also appointed Shinji Inoue, president and representative director for Natixis IM Japan. He is based in Tokyo and reports to Fabrice Chemouny, head of Asia-Pacific. Inoue is taking over from Kinji Kato, who has been president and representative director for Natixis IM Japan since 2014. 

Inoue has 30-years of experience in the asset management and financial industry. He joined Nippon Life Insurance Company in 1989 and has been consistently engaged in asset management at the International Investment Department and Nissay Asset Management Co. He has worked at Natixis Asset Management, Japan Co Ltd (Natixis IM Japan) since 2008 as the head of investment management.

Eight Wealth International, a principal partner practice of wealth management group St James’s Place, appointed former senior Schroders, UBS and Credit Suisse figure Simon Lints as a strategic advisor based in Singapore. Lints has worked in the wealth sector for more than three decades, working in Asia, Europe and the Middle East. Prior to joining EWI, Lints served in senior roles in wealth management and private banking at Credit Suisse and UBS. Most recently, he was the chief executive of Schroders Wealth Management Singapore where he looked after the Southeast Asia portfolio. 

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Value Partners Group, an Asian asset manager, appointed Otto Choi as senior director of its institutional business. Choi is based in the firm’s Hong Kong office and reports to the group’s president June Wong. Choi, who has extensive experience in the asset management industry, was most recently head of China institutional business at Allianz Global Investors. He joined AGI in 2011 and has spent more than 10 years with the company. 

Silverhorn, the investment firm, appointed an experienced industry figure Bert Kwan as its new private equity head, based in its Hong Kong headquarters. Prior to joining Silverhorn, Kwan led more than $3.5 billion of transactions in Asia and led entry into new Asian private equity markets for several organisations.

JP Morgan Asset Management made new hires to its sales and client services resources. On the wholesale distribution side, Mark Carlile was appointed head of wholesale, Australia and New Zealand, a newly-created position based in Melbourne. He reports to Andrew Creber, Australia and New Zealand chief executive. Carlile has been with the firm for eight years, previously as head of strategic relationships, which is now expanded to include his current role. He has worked in the financial services sector for more than 30 years.

It also appointed two new client advisors to join Carlile’s team, supporting the wholesale business expansion. Justin Sultana, who is based in Sydney, joined from First Sentier Investors to focus on distribution in Northern states. Based in Melbourne, Stephanie Harrison joined from Vanguard Investments to focus on distribution in Southern states.

On the institutional distribution side, Josh Peel was appointed a client advisor. Based in Sydney and reporting to Andrew Creber, Peel is responsible for deepening relationships with institutional clients and prospects. 

Matthias Schacke was named UBS country head for India. Schacke, who reports to Edmund Koh, Asia-Pacific president and Stefan Seiler, group head of human resources, is continuing in his role as head of talent and recruiting in human resources. Since joining the Swiss bank in 2000, Schacke has worked in a range of senior leadership roles across HR.

Laureola Advisors, a life settlements fund manager, opened an office in Sydney and appointed Nathan Wares to its lead distribution efforts. The firm, which is based in the British Virgin Islands with offices in several locations such as Canada, the UK and US, made a “soft” launch of its Australian business about two years ago. Wares has more than 25 years’ experience in funds management, investment banking, financial markets and private banking. In the past 20 years he has served in senior roles both in a leadership and sales capacity at Citigroup Asset Management as vice president of sales, ANZ Investment Bank as director of equity capital markets, and a director of Westpac and St George Private Banks managing people and UHNW client portfolios.

Standard Chartered Bank’s global head of managed investments Chandrima Das left the lender. Das, who had gone back to the UK-listed bank in April 2021 to head up its discretionary portfolio management business  embarked on a banking career at Standard Chartered in 1999. Prior to her latest role at the bank, she was head of GrabInvest at Singapore-based Grab, the ride-hailing, technology and payments firm. From 2016 to 2020 she was CEO at Bento, a robo-advisor which she founded and which Grab eventually bought. Das also worked at Bank of Singapore, as MD, head of managed investment sales and advisory, from 2011 to 2015, according to her public profile on LinkedIn.

Goldman Sachs named a new co-head of China, E G Morse, who works alongside Wei Cai, the co-head of the China investment banking arm of the US firm and global vice chairman of the IBD, as well as Sean Fan, co-head of China IBD.

Wei also became the head of China’s global markets at Goldman Sachs – a newly-formed role. Morse had been head of Goldman Sachs Singapore and boss of the Asia-Pacific (excluding Japan) fixed income, currencies and commodities sales business. He has been at Goldman Sachs since 2008. He moved to Singapore to take up the new post. Wei joined Goldman Sachs as a partner in 2018. Fan joined Goldman Sachs in 2004 as an associate and rejoined the firm in 2007 as an executive director. He was named managing director in 2011 and partner in 2018.

PIMCO appointed Samuel Watkins as executive vice president, head of business, Australia and New Zealand. He works with Rob Mead, head of PIMCO Australia and co-head of APAC Portfolio Management to lead the growth strategy in Australia. He also partners with Eric Frerer, head of institutional account management and Brendon Rodda, head of distribution, global wealth management. Watkins has local oversight of business management functions, reporting to Alec Kersman, head of Asia-Pacific who is based in Hong Kong.

Prior to joining PIMCO, Watkins worked at Goldman Sachs from 2014 to 2022, where he was managing director and head of equity finance product, Asia-Pacific, responsible for marketing, distribution, development and structuring equity finance products for the region. Previously, he worked at Deutsche Bank AG, Credit Suisse AG and Macquarie Bank in Australia holding various positions in their equities and derivatives businesses.

First Sentier Investors appointed Marcus Ong as director, institutional business in the Singapore distribution team. Ong, who reports to Christy Goh, head of distribution for Southeast Asia, is responsible for cultivating institutional client relationships across sovereign wealth, central banks, insurance companies, endowments and government entities in the region. Ong spent the last six years at Franklin Templeton, most recently as co-head, institutional business, Southeast Asia.

UBS appointed former HSBC Private Banking senior figure Michelle Lau as head of wealth planning for Southeast Asia; she took up the post during the third quarter of 2022. Lau replaced Raymond Gwee, who retired. With a number of senior roles under her belt, Lau was appointed to head the ultra-high net worth desk at HSBC Singapore before joining IPG Howden as the chief executive for Southeast Asia, overseeing its Southeast Asia and Middle East operations. She has worked at HSBC Private Banking for more than two decades.

Sylvan Group, a private equity and buyout firm backed by members of the Rockefeller and Hyundai dynasties, appointed Valerie Rockefeller as vice chairman for its advisory board.

At the same time, Kin Wong joined Sylvan as managing director carrying out deal origination, structuring, execution and portfolio management across Asia. Ms Rockefeller, a well-known philanthropist and Sylvan’s environmental, social and governance impact partner, helps the firm identify and assess potential investments based on their positive impact on society.

Saxo Capital Markets HK Limited, part of Saxo Bank, appointed financial industry figure Sean Ma as head of Saxo Institutional with a remit to increase the institutional offering across the Greater China region. Prior to joining Saxo, Ma was with top financial institutions in the securities and futures industry and fintech-related sectors. Ma, who has more than a decade’s experience of working senior management roles, was a founding member two Hong Kong licensed firms. His time is divided between working in Hong Kong and mainland China.

abrdn, formerly Standard Life Aberdeen, appointed Raf Choudhury as investment director on the Asia-Pacific multi-asset investment solutions (MAIS) team. He reports to Irene Goh, head of MAIS – Asia Pacific, and will be a member of abrdn’s Asia-Pacific and Global MAIS teams. Choudhury was formerly at State Street Global Advisors where he served in a range of portfolio manager roles over a 17-year period in both the UK and Australia. Most recently he was State Street’s head of Investment Strategy & Research – Australia.

RBC Wealth Management announced that its head of wealth management for Southeast Asia, Michael Reed, was retiring after 22 years in various roles across the firm. Reed, who has worked in the US, the UK, Hong Kong and Singapore, left the Canadian firm in the middle of June. With Reed’s departure, Nick Chan, head private banking, North Asia, took on a broader remit to lead RBC Wealth Management’s sales and relationship teams across Hong Kong and Singapore. Chan joined RBC Wealth Management in December 2021.

Marcel Ivison was named in the newly-created role as IQ-EQ’s head of debt, capital markets and corporates, for Asia-Pacific. Ivision has more than 25 years’ experience leading structured project finance, debt and M&A for international commercial and investment banks. He has served as an advisor to various government and leading private sector companies across a range of areas, including renewables, infrastructure, transportation and energy.

Golden Gate Ventures, the Singapore-based venture capital funds, made a number of appointments to its team. Dea Sujardi, former head of Indonesia, took the role of senior advisor in Indonesia. 

After two years with the firm, Andri Wardhani, senior associate, moved on to a new opportunity.

Building on her tenure at Golden Gate Ventures, Kelly Ang, expanded her role under an investor relations track, with the anticipated influx of investor capital flowing into the region. Freddy Shen, an associate, moved to a corporate venture capital role after three years with the firm to focus on later-stage investment.

UBS appointed Michelle Shi as head chief investment officer for global investment management’s alternative solutions business in Asia-Pacific. Shi is based in Hong Kong and reports functionally to Johannes Roth in Zurich, as well as locally to Monica Chatterjee and Adrian Zuercher. Shi joined from GE Asset Management, State Street Global Advisors, where she spent a decade as head of Asia private equity. Prior to GE Asset Management, Shi was at ADM Capital for seven years, where she led the funds investments in various regional markets.