WealthBriefing here provides a round-up of all the major people moves and employment trends in the global wealth management sector for the m...

WealthBriefing here provides a round-up of all the major people moves and employment trends in the global wealth management sector for the month of December 2005.

Executive Moves

Europe
Marcel Rohner has been appointed deputy chief executive of UBS. He will continue to have the role of chairman and chief executive of global wealth management & business banking at the Zurich-based bank. The move looks to be a clear indication of the rising influence of Mr Rohner within UBS, but it also shows the growing importance of wealth management within the organisation. At the same time, UBS announced that Rory Tapner, chairman & chief executive of Asia Pacific, will join the group executive board.

JP Morgan Private Bank has appointed Emilio Saracho as its new European, Middle East and Africa head. He replaces Debra Treyz, who is returning to New York in a new role as global head of the bank’s wealth advisory business and fiduciary business, which includes both the private bank at JP Morgan and its private client services, which was inherited with the acquisition of Bank One. Ms Treyz was employed in the European job for three and half years. Mr Saracho was previously the senior country officer for Spain and Portugal, based in Madrid. He will relocate to London in the first quarter of 2006, when the changes will be implemented. Mr Saracho has been with JP Morgan since 1998, and will retain his role as chairman of the firm in Spain and Portugal.

Sally Tennant, chief executive of Schroders Private Bank, resigned in late December. Ms Tennant had been in the position for four years. Paul White will be appointed chief executive of Schroder & Co, and the private banking business will jointly be managed by Mr White and Rupert Robinson. Sources close to Schroders suggest that this is an interim senior management team before a new chief executive is appointed from outside the group.

Northern Trust has appointed Nick Ring to the newly created role of head of wealth management services for the Europe. The formation of wealth management services Europe is a strategic move for Northern Trust and part of its established long-term strategy to develop private wealth business outside of the US. He will report dually to Steve Bell, head of the wealth management group in Chicago and to Steve Potter, head of the international business segment, in London. The wealth management group is a specialist group within the personal financial services group headed by William Morrison. Mr Ring joined Northern Trust in London in 1999 from KPMG Investment Management Consulting. He was most recently chief operating officer at Northern Trust Global Investments, the asset management arm of Northern Trust’s investment management business activities outside the US.

UBS has appointed Andrew Grant as its new chief operating officer for wealth management UK and Jersey. He replaces Mike McLoughlin, who is taking early retirement and emigrating to Tasmania, Australia. Mr Grant was previously in charge of programme management for UBS Wealth Management UK. The appointment took place in September.

Paris-based La Compagnie Financiere Edmond de Rothschild plans to set up an alternative asset management unit and has hired Jacque Bocquestand Joel Pinto to run the new business. They both join from Neuflize Arbitrage, the alternative asset management unit of Banque de Neuflize, a French private bank owned by ABN Amro. Mr Bocquest and Mr Pinto founded Neuflize Arbitrage in 2003 and were chairman and chief executive respectively.

Patrick Burgler has been appointed the new head of private clients for Credit Suisse’s insurance business at Winterthur. He replaces Walter Hones, who will be retiring in June next year. Mr Burgler, 37, was previously Mr Hones' deputy and has been working at Credit Suisse for 18 years.

Claudio de Sanctis, a senior private banker who worked under Manuel San Salvador, head of private banking Europe for Barclays, has left to join UBS in London. At UBS he is expected to work with major high net worth clients in Europe.

UK-based Smith & Williamson Investment Management has acquired an investment management team from Bank of Butterfield. The team, comprising Sophia Calvert, William Fisher, Rupert Fleming, Annabel Somers and Mark Swain, have joined the London office of Smith & Williamson. The team will be enlarged by the arrival of Henrietta Banbury, Mark Boucher, Shane Chichester and Patrick Smiley in the New Year, all from Bank of Butterfield. All are thought to have been original employees of Leopold Joseph, the London-based private bank bought by Bank of Butterfield in 2003.

SG Hambros has appointed Peter Hambro, executive chairman of Peter Hambro Mining, as a non-executive director. The appointment shows the connection at SG Hambros is still strong with the original family members of Hambros Bank, said Warwick Newbury, chief executive of SG Hambros. Mr Hambro began his career at Hambros Bank in 1966. He founded Peter Hambro Mining in 1990.

Separately, SG Hambros has also hired Laurence Evans to be a senior private banker in the bank’s UK onshore wealth management business, targeting clients in London and the West Country. Mr Evans joins from UBS, where he was an associate director involved in new business development.

UK national independent financial advisor and employee benefits consultancy, Punter Southall Financial Management, has appointed Henry Denne as head of private clients. The position is a new one. Mr Denne joins from Chase de Vere Investments where he worked for 15 years, latterly as regional director for London.

Gordon Pell, executive chairman of Royal Bank of Scotland’s retail markets and wealth management businesses, which includes Coutts, has been appointed to the UK Financial Services Authority. Mr Pell will represent the interests of retail financial services on the FSA’s Financial Services Practitioner Panel. Also appointed to the panel was Patrick Snowball, executive director of Aviva Group, the UK’s largest insurers. The panel’s two other appointees, Alan Ainsworth, deputy chairman of Threadneedle Asset Management, and Clara Furse, chief executive of the London Stock Exchange, were reappointed for another three-year term.

Hugh Trenchard has been appointed director general of the European investment fund association, the European Fund and Asset Management Association. The position is a new one. Mr Trenchard is currently a director of Dryden Wealth Management, which was recently taken over by Fortis. Steffen Matthias, who set up the EFAMA in 1990, will continue in his role as secretary general and deputise for Mr Trenchard.

Swissrisk founder Thomas Wolfensberger is set to launch a new financial services company in the New Year; the name of which has yet to be made public. He will continue on the board of Swissrisk and remain as an advisor to the company that he founded in 2000. Peter Marshall , formerly vice president, asset management and funds distribution for Imagnos and Swissrisk will be chief executive officer of the new company.

Americas
Mark Peters, the head of Deutsche’s wealth management unit in the US, resigned in December. Mr Peters had been in the job for less than six months after he joined the German bank from Citigroup Private Bank. He has been replaced by Thomas Bowers, the former chief operating officer of Citigroup Private Bank, who joined Deutsche Bank last month. Mr Bowers will be head of the bank’s private wealth management business in the US, which includes its private bank and Deutsche Alex Brown.

Wachovia has appointed Christian To run its independent brokerage group. He will run the Wachovia Securities Financial Network, a broker/dealer affiliate for independent financial advisors. He joins from Raymond James Financial Services and will also run Wachovia’s correspondent client group, its Latin America Group, which has 200 brokers, and its discount and online brokerage units.

Fiduciary Trust, the New York-based subsidiary of Franklin Templeton, has appointed Gail Cohen as the new head of the firm’s high net worth arm. Ms Cohen replaces James Goodfellow who has been promoted to chairman, after Anne Tatlock, the current chairman and chief executive, retires next year.

Veritable, a multi-family office based in Pennsylvania, has hired David Gordon, an alternative investment specialist. Mr Gordon joins from Glenwood Capital Investments, which is owned by Man Group.