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 April 2006.

Executive Moves

Europe

Morgan Stanley has made a number of senior appointments to its private wealth management business in Europe, the Middle East and Asia. Michael Durbin, head of international private wealth management, has been moved out of his position, said Morgan Stanley in an internal memo from James Gorman, the global head of Morgan Stanley’s wealth management business.

Mr Durbin was appointed to the position last June after a number of high level departures from the bank during a period of turmoil, including Marianne Hay, the then head of Morgan Stanley’s European private wealth management business. His position will not be replaced, but instead will be split between regional directors. Alexander Classen, is now officially head of Morgan Stanley's European and Middle East private wealth management business after joining from Goldman Sachs last month. Mr Classen will also be responsible for Bank Morgan Stanley in Switzerland, Morgan Stanley Quilter in the UK and Morgan Stanley SV in Spain.

Chris Van Aeken, head of risk management for Morgan Stanley's broader global wealth management group, will become chief operating officer for the firm's private wealth management worldwide. Charles Mak, head of private wealth management in Asia since 2001, will remain in that position.

Eugen Haltiner, a former senior UBS banker, is likely to be announced as the first chairman of FINMA, the future super regulatory body to be set up in 2008 in Switzerland. A Financial Times report said that Mr Haltiner is likely to chair FINMA’s board which will comprise at least another eight members. Although final details of the structure of the new regulatory body will not be known until a new law is passed by the Swiss parliament. Mr Haltiner was recently appointed to the chairmanship of the Federal Banking Commission, which will be part of FINMA, along with the insurance regulator and the money-laundering office.

Peter Ermann has been appointed as the new head of private banking for German bank HypoVereinsbank. Mr Ermann has been at HVB since 1979 and was most recently chairman of the management board at subsidiary Bauspar. Mr Ermann replaces Marlies Mirbeth, who is leaving HVB to take up a position on the management board of German local savings bank Stadtsparkasse Munchen. HVB has seen a number of high level management departures since it was acquired by Italian rival UniCredit last year. These include the recent departure of Jan-Christian Dreesen, who is joining UBS Wealth Management. Mr Dreesen was only appointed to the position of head of retail at HVB this January and succeeded Christine Licci, who also left soon after the takeover by UniCredit.

Rémy Bersier has been appointed chief executive officer of private banking in French speaking Switzerland, France, Belgium and Monaco for Julius Baer. Mr Bersier will have responsibility for Julius Baer’s operations in these areas as well as in Africa. He will succeed Jean-Marie de Charrière who is leaving the Julius Baer to pursue other opportunities. Mr Bersier was previously regional manager and managing director at Credit Suisse Geneva with responsibility for the bank's local private banking operations and clients.

Julius Baer also announced the departure of Roman von Ah, head of asset management for Continental Europe at Julius Baer, has resigned. Mr von Ah will depart at the end of April, according to a statement from the Zurich-based bank. Julius Baer did not say if Mr von Ah would be replaced, but said the management committee of the asset management business for Continental Europe will be chaired by < b>David Solo, the chief executive of the asset management at the bank.

Philip Crawford, the former head of international private banking in the UK for Credit Suisse, has resigned. A spokeswoman for Credit Suisse confirmed the departure, but added no further comment. Sources close to Credit Suisse told WealthBriefing that Mr Crawford had been given a new position, but decided to resign for unspecified reasons.

Syz & Co, one of the fastest growing private banks in Switzerland, has appointed two new partners: Claudio Crivelli and Roberto Almaleh both become partners. The bank said the promotions represent their large contribution to its business. Mr Crivelli has been a prolific asset gather for Syz in his position as head of the bank’s business in Locarno since November 2000. Mr Almaleh heads the bank’s hedge fund advisory group.

Andrea Tardy, head of JP Morgan Private Bank’s wealth advisory division for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, has left to join Union Bancaire Privee. At UBP, Mr Tardy will be working on the alternative investment side based in London for the Geneva-based bank. Mr Tardy had been with JP Morgan for nine years in various senior positions.

Close Brothers, the UK investment bank and wealth manager, confirmed at the end of April the hiring of 14 portfolio managers from Singer & Friedlander to work in its private asset management unit. Close named four who are expected to join in July, they were: Tim Howe and Francis Clarke in London, Chris Flather in Leeds and Richard Stanley in the Isle of Man. The extra 14 hires – one of the biggest ever in UK wealth management – will increase the number of the group’s professional staff to more than 40.

Vontobel has appointed Cedric Anker to head its Geneva private-banking business. Mr Anker joins from Credit Suisse, where he was head of onshore private banking for the Geneva region. Mr Anker replaces Peter Christen, who Vontobel said was leaving after six years in the position to “take up a new challenge.”

Zurich-based Bank Leu has said that Alex Hinder, the bank’s chief investment officer and executive board member, has left to take up a “professional challenge elsewhere”, but gave no further details. Bank Leu said in a statement that his successor would be announced at a later date. Dr Hinder had been CIO at Bank Leu since November 1999 and a member of the executive board since January 2001.

Goldman Sachs has appointed Ian Cain to the head of its UK strategic wealth advisory team. Mr Cain joins from law firm Boodle Hatfield, where he was a partner in the private client team. Analysts say the departure will be a blow to Boodle Hatfield’s private client team, although it is likely to result in stronger links between the law firm and Goldman Sachs.

Citigroup Private Bank has appointed Rina Bijur and Prashant Ajitsaria to its UK banking team. Both Ms Bijur and Mr Ajitsaria join from Barclays Private Bank where they were senior managers in the non-resident India team. Both will report to Peter Charrington, global market manager for the private bank in the UK and Greece. Citigroup said in a statement that the hires were part of a strategy for major investment in developing the bank’s UK private banking business “particularly towards serving the onshore client”. These hires follow the recent appointment of David Poole from Merrill Lynch as head of business development for Citigroup Private Bank in Europe.

Barclays Wealth Management has appointed Kevin Lecocq as chief investment officer and head of its new product office. Mr Lecocq will report to Thomas Kalaris, chief executive of Barclays Wealth Management, and will be responsible for developing and enhancing the bank's new product range, with particular focus on portfolio construction, investment research and investment management. Mr Lecocq previously worked for HSBC where he was European head of institutional sales with responsibility for a team of 200 professionals. He has also held senior roles at North Bay Investment Management, Gen Re Securities and Deutsche Bank.

Separately, Barclays Wealth Management has also appointed Richard Thomas as global head of compliance. Mr Thomas was previously head of international compliance for the private wealth management business at Goldman Sachs in London. Mr Thomas had also served in senior roles at Hambros Bank, now SG Hambros, and Continental Bank.

Fulcrum Asset Management, a hedge fund and wealth management business set up by the former chief economist of Goldman Sachs, Gavyn Davies, has appointed two more ex-Goldman Sachs senior managers to its ranks. Hassim Dhoda and David Kaplan join six other former Goldman Sachs colleagues running the Semper Marco hedge fund. Mr Kaplan left Goldman Sachs last June where he was a partner and joined Fulcrum in March. Mr Dhoda left Goldman Sachs in 2004 and has since been working with Tudor Capital, a US hedge fund.

Ansbacher & Co, the London-based fund manager, confirmed the appointment of Mike Hollings as chief investment officer. He replaces Tim Price who leaves Ansbacher to take up a new position with Union Bancaire Privée. Mr Hollings, who has a legal background, joined Ansbacher's investment team in April 2005 from Amstel Securities.

The Irish private client joint venture between Dublin-based Key Capital and Deutsche Bank has appointed Conor Walsh as its new head. Mr Walsh was previously a senior manager with Bank of Ireland Private Banking. Other appointments are expected to be announced soon. As part of the joint venture, which was announced earlier this year, Key Capital will offer Deutsche Bank Private Wealth Management products to clients in Ireland, and the business will be co-branded by Key Capital and Deutsche Bank.

New Star International has appointed of Nina Hook-Zurlino as head of European marketing. The role is a new one and has been created to support New Star’s international expansion and the registration of its funds overseas. Ms Hook-Zurlino’s brief is to develop New Star’s marketing strategy among private banks, insurers and fund of fund managers in continental Europe. She will be based in London and will work alongside Mark Hilliam, international managing director, and the company’s sales teams in Spain, Benelux, the Nordic region, France and Switzerland. Ms Hook-Zurlino Nina joins New Star from Sagitta Asset Management where she was marketing director.

Ashburton, the Jersey-based investment management division of FirstRand International Asset Management, has appointed Philip Childs to the head of its business development strategy in the UK market. The position is a new one. Mr Childs was head of retail fund management at F&C Management between 1987 and 2002 and, more recently, was sales director at iimia. He has almost 30 years’ experience in the financial services industry in London. Ashburton has its headquarters in Jersey and distribution offices in South Africa.

Smith & Williamson, the financial services provider, has hired two tax specialists at director level. Sue Holmes returns to Smith & Williamson from Deloitte. Ms Holmes will be based primarily in Bristol at Solomon Hare, which is a member of the Smith & Williamson group, and also spend time in Smith & Williamson’s office in the City of London. Martin Courtney joins Smith & Williamson from PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Christows, the private client stockbroker owned by the Evolution Group, has appointed Richard Sharman as an associate director in its Bath office, in south-west Britain. Mr Sharman joins from Cazenove Capital Management where he spent five years as a private client fund manager. He will be responsible for managing investments on behalf of private clients, pension funds, trusts and charities.

The Americas

Bank of America’s top wealth management business, Family Wealth Advisors, has appointed Thomas Boehlke as national sales director where he will be responsible for managing teams servicing the bank’s wealthiest clients. The appointment is an internal promotion. Mr Boehlke was previously national service executive for Family Wealth Advisors since the launch of the group in April 2005 and was previously the chief administrative officer for The Private Bank of Bank of America. He replaces John McGuinness , who was appointed senior wealth advisor at Family Wealth Advisors in New York.

Separately, The Private Bank of Bank of America has appointed Ann Cameron as market executive for Northern California, responsible for the San Francisco, North Bay, Palo Alto, San Jose, Walnut Creek and Sacramento areas. She was previously with Northern Trust, where she was a managing director of the group's personal financial services division. Ms Cameron will be based in San Francisco and report to the private bank west region's president Michael Conn.

Fred Crozier , head of Deutsche Bank Alex. Brown, is stepping down after four years in the job. An internal memo said Mr Crozier is leaving to “pursue external opportunities”, but gave no further details. He will be replaced by John Dudzik , former head of branch management at Deutsche Bank Alex. Brown. Mr Dudzik will report to Tom Bowers , head of the wealth-management unit in the US.

Merrill Lynch has appointed Frank Porcelli to head BlackRock’s private client group. Merrill acquired a 49.8 per cent stake in BlackRock earlier this year in a deal valued at more than $8 million. Mr Porcelli is currently the chief operating officer of Merrill Lynch Investment Managers. MLIM and BlackRock manage more than $285 billion in retail client assets. Anne Ackerly , who ran the private client business at BlackRock since 2000, will become operating chief of the private client business, Merrill said.

Citigroup Wealth Management has launched a new ultra-high net worth unit called Global Private Partners and plans to target those with a minimum of $100 million to invest. The bank has hired Scott Baker as head of business development and Mary Pang as chief operating officer for the new group. Mr Baker joins from Morgan Stanley, where he was co-head of the alternative investment group and deputy head of the private wealth management Northeast region. Ms Pang was chief of staff to Todd Thomson , the global head of Citigroup Wealth Management. Citigroup also have moved a number of individuals from its various wealth management units into GPP, including Ted Berenblum , head of UHNW Investments, and Jose Sanchez , managing director for Private Capital Partners.

Donald Herrema has been appointed head of Morgan Stanley's private wealth management unit in the Americas and president of Morgan Stanley Trust Company. Mr Herrema will oversee all aspects of sales management, business development and client relationship activities for both US and Latin America private wealth management, said James Gorman , Morgan Stanley's global wealth management division president, in an internal memo. Mr Herrema was chairman, president and chief executive at Canadian wealth manager Loring Ward International. He was also previously chief executive of Atlantic Trust, a private wealth management unit of AMVESCAP.

Separately, Morgan Stanley Private Wealth Management has hired Holly Ruxin , a financial advisor from Bank of America. According to reports in the US press, Ms Ruxin managed around $400 million in client assets and brought in around $2.3 million in gross revenue during her last 12 months at Bank of America. Ms Ruxin has moved to Morgan Stanley with team members Steven Wong , a trading analyst, and Lauri Rousseau, a senior client associate. Before joining Bank of America, Ms Ruxin worked for Goldman Sachs in New York.

Morgan Stanley has also tapped Wachovia Securities for the post of chief financial officer of its global wealth management group by appointing Jeffrey Gelfand . Prior to his stint as CFO at Wachovia, Mr Gelfand was CFO for five years at Merrill Lynch’s retail brokerage unit, which Morgan Stanley's new retail chief, James Gorman, previously headed.

UBS Wealth Management USA has appointed Stewart Brenner as its chief operating officer, according to US newswire reports. The position is a new one. Mr Brenner was most recently a founding partner and manager of the East Coast operations for a multifamily office advisory firm, S&Y Asset Management. He has also worked in senior roles at Merrill Lynch and Goldman Sachs. He will report to Anthony DeChellis , managing director and head of private wealth management in the US.

Mellon Private Wealth Management has appointed Nancy Pellegrino as regional president of Washington, where she will be responsible for leading the group’s sales and portfolio management efforts across the Pacific Northwest of the US. The appointment is an internal promotion. Ms Pellegrino replaces John Cortis, who will serve as regional president for Mellon Private Wealth's northern California region. Ms Pellegrino is based in Seattle and reports to executive director David Holst . Prior to her new role, Ms Pellegrino was Mellon Private Wealth's senior sales director for six years.

Minneapolis-based RBC Dain Rauscher has hired two former UBS wealth managers in its newly formed Jericho, New York branch in an attempt expand its reach into Long Island. William Flanagan and Gordon Lamb had spend more than three years at UBS, producing over $1 million in annual commissions and fees with around $150 million in client assets. Prior to joining UBS, Mr Flanagan worked at Smith Barney and Mr Lamb was with Citigroup. The Jericho branch of RBC Dain Rauscher now consists of seven brokers and is managed by James Vandewalle , who was tapped from Legg Mason Wood Walker.

Bear Stearns has appointed Jamie Fagan and Harvey Boschart to the brokerage’s private client business in Boston. Both will be managing directors. Prior to joining Bear Stearns, both worked in the private client business of Lehman Brothers for the past five years. In 2005, Mr Fagan was named among Worth Magazine's Top 100 Wealth Advisors.

Goldman Sachs has targeted growth in Palm Beach, Florida, one of the wealthiest areas in the US, according to reports in the local press. The New York-based bank said it plans to open a permanent office in Palm Beach by the autumn and to target wealth management growth. Goldman Sachs currently has a staff of five investment professionals working in temporary offices in Palm Beach, a spokeswoman from the bank told the local press. Two of these were recent hires from Bessemer Trust, Jim Myers and Mike Okun . The three others - David Kirschner, Jeff Roberts, and Brad Twinsburg - were all from Goldman Sachs.

Lloyds TSB International Private Banking has lost a team of relationship managers from its Miami operations. A spokeswoman for Lloyds confirmed that there had been departures from its Miami office but was not able to confirm numbers or who they were.

Asia-Pacific

Atul Kapur , a Goldman Sachs managing director in the London office, is joining Future Group as chief investment officer. Future Group, a financial services firm, was set up by the former joint head of Goldman Sachs private wealth management division for Europe, Sameer Sain , and the ex-chief executive of Coca Cola in India, Sanjiv Gupta . The group is backed by the Indian retail group, Pantaloon. Further hires are expected to be announced soon.

Pictet plans to push further into Asia and has hired Amy Cho to run the bank’s institutional marketing for its asset management arm. The Geneva-based private bank has also transferred its global head of fixed income to Singapore. Ms Cho was previously head of North Asia business development at First State Investments in Hong Kong. She will be responsible for marketing Pictet funds to regional investors, including private banks, and other distributors. Pictet has also decided to relocate its global fixed-income head, Rajiv de Mello , from Geneva to Singapore to establish a fixed income business for Asia.

SG Private Banking (Asia Pacific) has beefed up its activities in Asia with the appointment of Nasir Kausar as executive vice president. Mr Kausar joins from Citigroup where he was in charge of the Malaysia desk at Citigroup Private Bank. He will report to Nikita Rossinsky , managing director for Southeast Asia and will be based in Singapore, the regional hub of SG Private Banking (Asia Pacific). He is tasked with establishing a team of experienced private bankers that will further complement the current Southeast Asia platform at SG Private Banking.

Neil Jeans , a senior manager at UBS’s global anti-money laundering team in London, has taken up a new position as head of group anti-money laundering at the National Australia Bank. Mr Jeans will be relocating in May to Melbourne, Australia, to take up his new position. Previously, Mr Jeans reported to John Cussack, the head of UBS’s global anti-money laundering team in London. Mr Jeans started his career in the Metropolitan Police Force in London, before joining the Financial Services Authority and moving then onto ABN Amro.