WealthBriefing covers all the major people moves in the global wealth management sector and also in this section is a round up of the major ...

WealthBriefing covers all the major people moves in the global wealth management sector and also in this section is a round up of the major trends in hiring within the sector.

The Barclays diapora continues. Just this month, WealthBriefing has reported on the team of three senior private bankers from Barclays Private Clients leaving to join SG Hambros. The private client group has also lost its global head of compliance — although she appears to have been pushed. And Credit Suisse poached another Barclays Private Client banker for a senior position at the beginning of the month.

Is all not well in the House of Barclays? Bob Diamond, the head of Barclays Capital and the person now in charge of wealth management at the bank is making some changes, we are reliably informed. But when can WealthBriefing report some hires?

A similar dusting down of the old guard — if you could call it that at Barclays — appears to be underway at Citigroup Private Bank and Smith Barney’s private client division. Todd Thomson, the man in charge of the new wealth management unit, is making his presence felt. Out with those too much associated with the former chief executive of Citigroup Private Bank, Peter Scaturro, and in with some new faces. But the pace of change here is beginning to quieten down, as most of the big jobs are now in place.

Some not so good news if you are a private client stockbroker at London firm Williams de Broe, which is under investigation by its Dutch partner, ING, for accounting discrepancies. And speculation mounts that Sagitta Asset Management might be about to be acquired by Fleming Family & Partners — some fallout on the job front is inevitable if this goes ahead.

As ever, Asia is the growing hotspot for wealth managers. JP Morgan wants to double its efforts in the region and is hiring at breakneck speed. Credit Suisse, UBS, and Citigroup are following closely behind.

Executive Moves

Europe
SG Hambros has tapped Barclays Private Bank for three private bankers specializing in the non-resident Indian market. Amar Mir , Amer Mahmood and Kadir Alp will join SG Hambros within the next few months. SG Hambros said the appointments are part of an initiative by the bank’s parent, SG Private Banking, to expand private banking and wealth management services to the non-resident Indian markets. The initiative is being developed out of Singapore and is headed by Balakrishnan Kunnambath .

Mr Mir will head the global non-resident Indian team in the UK. He has 20 years’ experience in banking mainly with Barclays, nearly 10 of which have been in private banking. Most recently Mr Mir held the post of Barclays’ director of international private banking and family office, where he set up the first family office for the bank and developed business in the South Asian market. Mr Mahmood has been a director at Barclays Private Bank since 1997 where he was responsible for providing wealth management services to the Indian sub-continent, Dubai and UK markets. Mr Alp was responsible for providing Barclays wealth management services to resident and non-resident Indian clients in South East Asia. The new team will work with Charles Leitch, the senior private banker SG Hambros recruited last year to focus on the non-resident Indian market.

Farid Pasha, one of UBS’s top asset gatherers of Middle East private client money, has resigned. WealthBriefing has learnt that Mr Pasha is to join Goldman Sachs, although this has not been confirmed by the firm. Mr Pasha, who is based in UBS’s office in Monaco, ran a sizable part of the Middle East business for the Zurich-based bank, according to sources close to the bank. Sources also said Mr Pasha is likely to take a team with him to Goldman Sachs.

Chris Chambers, chief executive of London-based alternative investment giant, Man Investments, is to leave at the end of August after three and a half years at the company. It is not yet known where he is going. John Morrison, current head of marketing and client services at Man, will take over as chief executive. Mr Morrison joined Man in 2003 after its acquisition of its Australian joint venture, OM Strategic Investments, of which he was chief executive.

Bank Sarasin has appointed Thomas Vonaesch has as its head of Swiss private clients. He replaces Dominick Galliker who is leaving the bank, a spokeswoman for Sarasin told WealthBriefing, although she did not know where he was going.

Mr Vonaesch joins from the institutional fund management business of Sarasin and has been with the bank for 25 years. He will report to Eric Sarasin and Conrad Schwyzer — joint heads of private banking at Sarasin.

Marcel Schmid has been appointed the new head of the Zurich private bank, Hyposwiss, which is owned by the St Galler Kantonalbank. Mr Schmid replaces Urs Bolzern, who left in late June over disagreements over strategy, according to a statement from Hyposwiss. Mr Schmid joins from UBS, where he was a senior manager within the wealth management division based in Zurich. He will also have responsibility for all St Galler’s private banking business.

Credit Suisse UK has appointed Eleonore Dachicourt as head of its hedge fund advisory group for private clients. The position is a new one. Prior to joining Credit Suisse, Ms Dachicourt was a senior hedge fund manager at Barclays Private Bank for three years. Ms Dachicourt will report to Craig Lewis, director and head of investment solutions for Credit Suisse in the UK. Credit Suisse said in a statement that Ms Dachicourt will be responsible for the selection of both single and multi-manager hedge funds, identifying and advising on emerging trends, monitoring funds and designing hedge fund proposals for high net worth clients that meet their individual risk and return requirements.

JP Morgan Fleming Asset Management has appointed Roland Vogel as its new country head. He replaces Gianni Valsecchi, who left the firm at the beginning of the year. Mr Vogel was previously chief executive of BZ Bank, a small regional Swiss bank. He will report to Peter Schwicht, head of European institutional business, and will be based in Zurich.

Mark Rice, the former head of sales and distribution for Citigroup Private Bank in Europe, is to head the new private banking office in London of Israeli United Mizrahi Bank. The new bank will target both Israeli and international clients. United Mizrahi Bank has an active private banking business in Switzerland and plans to open an office in New York.

Butterfield Private Bank has beefed up its national business development network by recruiting a head of intermediary sales and two new regional business development managers. Gary Boxall joins as the head of intermediary sales and will be based in the London office. He joins from Simple2.Co.UK, the financial services arm of Scottish and Southern Energy, where he was the head of IFA services for two years. The two new business development managers are David Hardy, who will be based in the North-East of England, and Elizabeth Cross who will be based in London.

Philippa Scott, global head of compliance at Barclays Private Clients, has left. It is not clear whether Ms Scott left on her own accord, or was asked to leave by Barclays. But one source, who did not want to be identified, told WealthBriefing: “She was probably another victim of the Bob Diamond regime.” Mr Diamond, the American investment banker and head of Barclays Capital, was given the responsibility of running the private client business of the bank last year.

Separately, Barclays yesterday announced the appointment of Deanna Oppenheimer as the bank’s new UK chief operating officer. Ms Oppenheimer joins from Washington Mutual. And Barclays Private Clients has appointed Glynn Davies to be its new business development director in the north west of the UK, based in Manchester, according to reports in the local press. Mr Davies joins from Barclays Private Clients in London, where he worked on the Eastern Europe and Middle East desks.

Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein, the investment banking division of Dresdner Bank, has appointed Alberto Garcia Elias as managing director and head of its newly created retail solutions group. The group will specialise in providing structured products for private banks and other wealth managers, a fast-growing area. Mr Elias joins from JP Morgan in London where he was a managing director in its credit and rates division. He will report to Tarek Mahmoud, global head of sales & marketing and co-head of capital markets, and Matteo Mazzocchi, head of global derivatives.

Investec Bank (Channel Islands) has appointed Chris Blowers as its head of structured property lending. This is a new position designed to bolster a booming area of the bank’s business and will be based in Guernsey. Mr Blowers joins from Allied Irish Bank where for the last ten years he headed the bank’s flagship office in the City of London as corporate business director. He started his career with Williams & Glyn's Bank in London.

Separately, Investec Private Bank in London has appointed Adam Querido to its growth finance team, responsible for deal origination and execution. The position is a new one. Mr Querido joins from the Royal Bank of Scotland. Earlier last month, Investec Asset Management in London hired Mark Wynne-Jones from UBS Wealth Management where he was a director of wealth management research. Mr Wynne-Jones joined the UK Contrarian team, which is headed by Alastair Mundy.

Mark Hassett, the former head of UK private clients at Credit Suisse and senior manager at Coutts, has joined Abacus Financial Services Group, the Channel Islands-based asset manager. He has been appointed client services director and will focus on investment advice to the ultra-high net worth market. Mr Hassett will be based in London. He had been looking for a job since March when he left a senior position at SG Hambros.

London-based private client and fund management firm, London & Capital, have appointed Rabbani Wahhab as senior fixed income portfolio manager. The position is a new one. Mr Wahhab joins from Aberdeen Asset Management and has over 20 years experience in the bond markets. He will report directly to Ashok Shah, chief investment officer, and work closely with Sanjay Joshi, head of fixed income.

Mark Hodges is to replace Sanjeev Shah as manager of the Fidelity UK Aggressive Fund. Mr Hodges previously ran institutional mandates for the group. Mr Shah is moving on to run the offshore Fidelity European Aggressive Fund. Its current manager, David Baverez, is leaving Fidelity.

A former senior head of Petercam, the Belgian-Dutch investment and private bank, Edwin Klaver, has launched his own asset management consultancy, aimed at high net worth individuals and institutions. Klaver Partners will focus on “selecting and marketing a limited number of investment funds, based on a personal relationship with the founders/owners”. Mr Klaver is currently working with Singapore-based Quant Asset Management and Petercam Capital, the fund of funds business of Petercam.

Law firm Baker & McKenzie has hired Jana Dimitrova and Matthew Ledvina for its private banking practice in Zurich; both will be associates. These hires are part of a strategic initiative to expand the firm’s focus on Central and Eastern Europe, China, Russia, India, and a number of other key centres, the law firm said in a statement. Ms Dimitrova joins from Chadbourne & Parke where she worked primarily in partnership and international tax issues. A graduate of Harvard Law School, Ms Dimitrova is bilingual in English and Bulgarian with a working knowledge of Italian, French, Russian and conversational Japanese. Mr Ledvina is a graduate of New York University School of Law and Vanderbilt University School of Law. He is fluent in French and Spanish.

Separately, the Swiss practice of Baker & McKenzie has lost Kenny Foo, who has joined Withers' new office in Geneva.

Marc Guillaume, a Jersey Advocate, has joined the trust team of the Channel Island’s law firm Ogier. An advocate at the Royal Court for seven years, Mr Guillaume, in recent years, has been concentrating on trust law issued with a particular emphasis on employee benefit and pensions work, and more generally on the practical application of trusts in a commercial context.

London-based investment management consulting firm, Citisoft, has restructured its wealth management offering by appointing Neil Craddock as head of the division. Mr Craddock has over 16 years' experience in the investment management industry, having been involved in long term strategic projects with wealth managers including Schroders Private Bank and Fleming Family & Partners. Prior to joining Citisoft in 2000, he was business analyst and project manager at Foreign & Colonial Management, Coutts and Newton Investment Management.

The Americas
James Gorman, the former head of Merrill Lynch’s private client business, has been hired by Morgan Stanley to head its brokerage business. "James Gorman's depth of experience and expertise are unmatched in the industry, making him uniquely qualified to lead the transformation of Morgan's retail brokerage business," John Mack, the new chief executive of Morgan Stanley said in a statement announcing Mr Gorman’s appointment. Mr Gorman will assume his new role in February, and will also join Morgan Stanley's management committee. He will report to acting president Zoe Cruz.Ray Harris will remain acting president and chief operating officer of the brokerage business until February.

Deutsche Bank has appointed Mark Peters from Citigroup’s private bank to run its US wealth management unit. Mr Peters will be head of US wealth management and also will run the US private client services group. He will report to Pierre de Weck, global head of private wealth management at Deutsche Bank. Mr Peters was US head of Citigroup Private Bank's high net worth group, which caters to clients with net worths of $25 million or more.

Chip Raymond has been appointed head of Citigroup Private Bank’s strategic wealth advisory team, which comprises philanthropic planning, led by Melanie Schnoll-Begun, and the family wealth advisory group, led by Glenn Kurlander. Mr Raymond was previously head of the Citigroup Foundation.

Citigroup Private Bank also announced the appointment of Bob Seaberg to work within its wealth planning unit and to be in charge of building the bank’s new planning centres. Mr Seaberg was previously head of the bank’s philanthropic services and wealth planning teams for Citigroup’s global private clients group. The move follows the departure of Peter White, the head of the family advisory practice at Citigroup Private Bank, and Claire Costello, the head of philanthropic services.

Separately, Citigroup has appointed Raymond Nolte as chief executive of its hedge funds of funds group as from 1 September. He will be responsible for the Hedge Forum product, the group's single manager platform. Mr Nolte will be based in New York and will report to David Vogel, chief executive of Citigroup's global funds of funds group. Mr Nolte joins from Deutsche Bank where he was a managing director and vice chairman of the Deutsche Bank absolute return strategies fund of funds and the single manager hedge fund business.

The Bank of America’s private banking division has appointed John Brennan as president of the central US region. Mr Brennan will oversee 32 private bank offices and fifteen states: Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New Mexico, Ohio, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas and Wisconsin. He will report to Jane Magpiong, president of the private bank. Mr Brennan replaces Tim Maloney, who was tapped last March to run Banc of America Investments. Also, Christopher Williams has been named private bank market executive for Chicago and the upper midwest, including the private bank offices in Hinsdale and Winnetka, Illinois. A fourth office will open in Lake Forest this autumn. Both positions are internal promotions within Bank of America.

Bob Serhus, the head of Julius Baer’s US fund of hedge fund operations, has resigned. Mr Serhus, who is also chief investment officer of Baer’s alternative investment business in the US, has been on undisclosed leave of absence since March and plans to resign as soon as severance terms can be agreed. Mr Serhus joined Julius Baer in May 2001 from fund-of-funds Alpha Investment Management, now part of Safra Bank. Before that, he created SCS Global, a small multi-strategy fund-of-funds in New York.

Mark Rogozinski, chief operating officer at Lydian Wealth Management — one of America’s top multi-family offices — is leaving to join Homrich & Berg, an Atlanta-based investment advisory and financial planning firm, in the same position. Andrew Berg, chief executive of H&B, said in a statement that Mr Rogozinki’s appointment represents a new position for the firm.

The US Private Client Services division of Deutsche Bank Securities, Deutsche Bank Alex. Brown, has appointed James Marsh as a managing director and client advisor. He will report to G. Haig Ariyan, managing director and branch office manager and will work in the New York City Office. Mr Marsh was previously a managing director in private client sales at Jefferies & Co. and before that served as director in private client sales/middle markets at Credit Suisse First Boston for seventeen years.

Duncan Hennes, ex-manager of George Soros's flagship $8 billion Quantum Endowment Fund, is launching a fixed-income hedge fund focused on Group of Seven markets. Since leaving Quantum, Mr Hennes has been a partner at high-octane US consulting firm, Promontory Group, which includes Eugene Ludwig, former comptroller of the currency among its partners, and the new fund is being launched with their help. In contrast to his days at Quantum, Mr Hennes is planning to keep the Promontory fund small, with a target $250 million to raise by the year's end.

ThinkWealth Management, a multi-family office of San Francisco investment bank, ThinkEquity Partners, has hired three wealth managers from UBS to open a new office in New York City. Pascal Besman, Alexander MacCormick and Holly Pippitt, all from UBS, were hired to facilitate the East Coast expansion. The three-member team, while at UBS, created a niche advising very wealthy executives, corporations and portfolio managers within the health care and biotech sectors.

Washington Trust has appointed Galan Daukas to head its wealth management division. The position is a new one. Mr Daukas, who will be based in Providence, Rhode Island, will be responsible for developing strategy for the bank's trust and investment business, Phoenix Investment Management, and The Weston Financial Group, which the bank acquired earlier this year. Mr Daukas joins from The Managers Funds, a Connecticut-based wealth manager, where he was chief operating officer.

Mellon Financial has appointed Vicary Graham as regional president of its private wealth management group in Massachusetts. In this role, she will be responsible for leading Mellon's private wealth management practice in Massachusetts, as well as in New Hampshire, Vermont, Maine, and northern Connecticut. Most recently she was managing director of private wealth management sales for Mellon in New England, while also overseeing private banking operations in the Northeast.

Wachovia Wealth Management of the US has appointed W. Robert Newell, as president of its trust division. He takes over from Robert Kniejski who is retiring. Mr Newell has served in several posts with the bank over the last 25 years, most recently as wealth management director for the Carolinas. In his new role he will oversee a period of growth that, by the end of the year, is expected to add 46 new trust administrators. The division has added 85 sales professionals and client service associates over the past 18 months.

City National Bank, a Los Angeles-based private bank, has appointed Richard Byrd as director of its wealth management services. Mr Byrd will be responsible for City National Asset Management and City National Securities, the company's broker-dealer subsidiary, as well as for the bank's personal and business trust services. He will lead a team of 200 in Southern California, the San Francisco Bay Area and New York City, which manages or administers $25.8 billion in client investment and trust assets. Mr Byrd joins from Wells Fargo Bank, where he was regional managing director of the bank's private client services division.

Kansas-based UMB Financial Corporation has appointed DeAnna Basler as its new executive vice president of private client services. She will also serve as president and chief executive of UMB Scout Brokerage Services, with the merging of the two divisions. She will report to Joe Gazzoli, executive vice president of UMB Asset Management. Ms Basler joins from JP Morgan Asset Management in New York, where she was managing director and had national account management responsibility for the firm’s broker/dealer division.

Ann Snelling has been appointed senior vice president and manager of the trust asset management division of South Carolina Bank and Trust's wealth management group. Ms Snelling previously worked at Bank of America and First Union/Wachovia where she gained experience in trust administration, probate and estate, tax and wealth transfer planning.

Avenue Financial Corporation of Canada has appointed Robert Thompson-So managing director, sales and distribution. In this role he will act as an independent sales representative to market and promote the Avenue Global Asset Management series share products. Mr Thompson-So has 15 years experience working with high net worth investors and their investment advisors during which he has consulted and assisted in the management of over $150 million in investment assets.

International law firm Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson have appointed Brad Richter as a partner in the New York trusts and estates department. He joins from Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel, where he was special counsel in the individual clients group. Mr Richter specialises in all aspects of private client representation, including tax and estate planning, complex structuring work, administration of large estates and trusts, succession and business planning and tax-efficient transfers of wealth. He also deals with the formation and operation of charitable foundations.

Global offshore law firm Walkers has appointed Heidi de Vries as managing partner and Stephen Adams as senior partner in the firm's British Virgin Islands office. The firm is widely used by investment managers, financial organizations, prime brokers and international law firms. Ms de Vries, has moved from the firm's headquarters in the Cayman Islands to head the three-year-old office in the BVI. Before joining Walkers' BVI office, Mr Adams served as the managing director of an international trust company where he advised on all aspects of corporate, commercial and trust law. He also has corporate and commercial law and international tax experience from his work at Miller Thomson and Baker & McKenzie.

Middle East

Citigroup Private Bank has appointed Elissar Farah Antonios chief officer in Abu Dhabi. She joins from ABN Amro Private Bank and previously she was with Credit Agricole Indosuez Private Bank. “Elissar’s new appointment is in response to the strong growth momentum in the private wealth market in the Middle East region, and in particular, the United Arab Emirates,” said Mark Morgan, chief officer of CPB’s Middle East Offices.