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.

June was a busy month for top management hiring and firing within wealth management. Citigroup was particularly active appointing a new chief executive for its global private banking business and for its European business as well. The US bank was also actively recruiting for its European business, although other banks were actively recruiting from Citigroup’s ex-private bankers in Japan.

Julius Baer appointed a new chief executive and a new head of private banking, and Credit Suisse made the final changes to its senior executive positions. Meanwhile, UBS chopped and changed around its senior management in a major strategic review.

Morgan Stanley’s wealth management business on both sides of the Atlantic continued to haemorage jobs in June, although things began to stabilize with the departure of Philip Purcell, the bank’s chief executive.

UBS and Société Générale have hired around 35 former Citigroup private bankers in Japan since the closure of the US financial firm’s local wealth management operations last year. SG is believed to have hired 14 former Citigroup client relationship managers or personal advisers while UBS is understood to have hired more than 20.

And in India SG Private Bank has hired a team of private bankers from ABN Amro Private Banking. Reports say that SG Private Bank has recruited 10 private bankers from ABN Amro in Mumbai and has doubled their salaries.

All firms continue to say they are actively looking—although how successful they are at achieving their hiring ambitions remains to be seen.

But it has not been all strawberries and cream for hiring in the wealth management sector. The Bank of New York—Inter Maritime Bank, based in Geneva, is making redundancies — and lots of them, according to insiders. The bank was recently bought by Bank Hapoalim, which has been in a process of restructuring the bank. Is this the first signs of a shake-out in the small to medium-sized wealth management market in Switzerland?

Executive Moves

International
Former South Africa education minister, Kader Asmal, has been named president designate of the Financial Action Task Force, the anti-money laundering organisation, as from next month. Mr Asmal is an African National Congress member of parliament, and the new appointment is not full time. He will remain chairman of the South African National Assembly defence portfolio committee.

Europe
UBS makes major changes to its senior wealth management positions. The Zurich-based bank is integrating its wealth management businesses under the leadership of Marcel Rohner .

The bank also announced the launch of a new alternative investment management business, Dillon Read Capital Management, headed up by John Costas , previously head of the investment bank. UBS’s US, Swiss and international wealth management businesses, as well as its Swiss corporate and retail banking unit will be brought together in one business group titled global wealth management & business banking under chairman and chief executive of Marcel Rohner.

Robert Silver , currently President and chief operating officer of UBS Wealth Management USA business, will oversee the integration of the wealth management units.

Mark Sutton , currently chief executive UBS Wealth Management USA will be appointed to the new position of chairman and chief executive, Americas, responsible in the region for accelerating the development of UBS’s client base and integrating the work of UBS’s businesses. He will report directly to Peter Wuffli , chief executive of UBS.

Marten Hoekstra , currently head of market strategy and development, Wealth Management & Business Banking will be appointed head of Wealth Management USA. < b>Tom Naratil , currently director of banking and transactional solutions, Wealth Management USA will be appointed head of narket strategy and development. And Jamie Price , currently director of investment and marketing solutions, Wealth Management USA will be appointed head of products and services, USA.

Credit Suisse’s move to integrate its retail and investment banking operations into a single entity moved a step closer with the announcement last Friday of the creation of a new executive board. The most important move was the appointment of David Blumer as head of the bank’s newly integrated asset management operations. Mr Blumer was previously responsible for sales and trading in the Credit Suisse private, retail and Swiss commercial banking operation. He will be one of three key division heads, along with Walter Berchtold , chief executive of private banking, and Brady Dougan, in charge of corporate and investment banking, responsible for ensuring future cooperation.

Credit Suisse has also appointed Charles Egerton-Warburton as head of its onshore private banking business in the UK. He will report to Jeremy Marshall, chief executive of Credit Suisse UK. Mr Egerton-Warburton joins from Credit Suisse First Boston, where he was a senior member of the regional management and oversight group, the bank’s corporate governance grouping. He replaces Philip Crawford, who held the position as a temporary measure after the departure of Mark Hassett, who left the bank last year to join SG Hambros, before leaving there.

Citigroup Private Bank in London has appointed Marianne Hay as chief executive of Citigroup’s global wealth management business in Europe. Ms Hay joins from Morgan Stanley Private Wealth Management where she was head of the European operations. The bank has also recruited James Holder and Jeremy Knowland to join its UK onshore team. They join from Barclays Private Bank, where Mr Knowland was head of discretionary investments and Mr Holder was a relationship manager; he was also voted Barclays Young Banker of the Year in 2004.

The two will join in September and will concentrate on the UK onshore market and new client acquisition, according to an internal memo from Peter Charrington, Citigroup Private Bank's UK managing director. The two hires are the second group to be poached by Barclays this year by Citigroup Private Bank. In March Citigroup hired Giles Crowe, Jonathan Leechand Nicholas Parker from Barclays to focus on developing the UK onshore and offshore ultra-high net worth market.

The Swiss Private Bankers Association has appointed Pierre Darier as its new chairman for a term of three years. Mr Darier is a senior partner at Lombard Odier Darier Hentsch & Cie. Konrad Hummler, a partner at Wegelin & Co., has been elected vice chairman. Mr Darier replaces Niklaus Baumann, a senior partner at Baumann & Cie. Mr Baumann remains on the committee of the SPBA, which also consists of Christian Rahn, Pierre Poncet, and Nicolas Pictet.

Julius Baer’s Walter Knabenhans is to step down as chief executive and appointed the ex-Credit Suisse head of private banking Alex Widmer as his replacement. The Zurich-based bank has also appointed Thomas Meier as the new head of private banking for the group. He was previously at Deutsche Bank. The ousting of Mr Knabenhans, who will stay on until the end of the year, shows the influence of the Baer family is still very much in control, say analysts. The new head, Mr Widmer, was himself pushed out of a senior role at Credit Suisse last year as a result of Oswald Gruebel’s — the bank’s chief executive — restructuring efforts.

Barclays Global Investors has announced the appointment of Rohit Bhagat as global chief operating officer. Mr Bhagat will have oversight responsibility for the technology, operations, finance, strategic planning, human resources, legal, compliance and risk functions for the global firm. He replaces Rich Ricci, who became chief operating officer of Barclays Capital, and Barclays Private Clients earlier this year. Mr Bhagat will report to BGI's global co-chief executvies, Blake Grossman and Andrew Skirton, and will be based in San Francisco. He will also be a member of BGI's executive committee. Mr Bhagat joins BGI from The Boston Consulting Group where he ran the west coast financial services practice based in San Francisco.

Mirabaud & Cie, the Geneva private bank, has appointed Biagio Zoccolillo as the new head of it Zurich operations. Mr Zoccolillo replaces Bruno Merki , who is retiring from the position, although he will continue to look after private clients for the bank in Geneva, according to a statement from Mirabaud. Mr Zoccolillo has been with Mirabaud since 2001 and was most recently head of the bank’s independent asset managers department in Switzerland. Before joining Mirabaud, he had his own business in Italy and held a number of senior positions at major international banks in Zurich, London and Geneva. He will take up his new job at the beginning of July.

Mirabaud has also opening an office in Monaco to target international wealthy clients and appointed Yves Mirabaud to head the new office; an additional eight staff have been hired, including four senior relationship managers.

Morgan Stanley’s wealth management business in London has lost nine staff in the last two months. So far the US bank has lost relationship managers Tarek Mooro, Fedrick Plyhr, and Eran Ben-Zour in May. Their departures follow Andrea Brignone and Carlo Michienzi from the bank’s Italian wealth management business. Also in May, the bank lost from its fixed-income department of its private wealth management unit Riccardo Farisi, who joined Merrill Lynch in Milan. And Davide Basile has also departed from Morgan’s fixed-income department.

The bank also recently lost Matteo Pusineri, who ran fixed-income investments for the private wealth management group, and Randol Curtis, who oversaw the convertible securities desk. Mr Pusineri and Mr Curtis left to join Andrea Brignoneand Carlo Michienzi, to start a new venture.

Northern Trust has appointed William Misata as a relationship manager within its global fund services team. Based in London, he will report directly to Toby Glaysher , a global fund services manager. Mr Misata will be responsible for a number of Northern Trust's major fund manager relationships. He will also oversee the integration of the client service team from Barings Asset Management, following its acquisition by Northern Trust in March. He joins from BISYS fund services where he was a senior relationship manager.

Northern Trust in London has also appointed Ian Headon as product management specialist with responsibility for hedge fund, property fund and private equity fund administration. The position is a new one. He joins from AIBBNY Fund Management, where he was head of alternative investment services. He will report to Mark Schoen, head of European product development at Northern Trust.

Charles Stanley, a London-based private client stockbroker, has appointed John Chappell and Hugo Akerman as directors in its private client division. They were previously at Dryden Wealth Management, where Mr Chappell was deputy managing director and Mr Akerman was head of private clients.

Gerrard, the UK private client stockbroker now owned by Barclays, has lost a team of six stockbrokers recently from its Glasgow office, according to reports in the Scottish media. The departures include the managing director of the regional office, Philip Monks. Stephen Quaile, a former head of the Scottish operation and directors Colin Lawson, Rowan Braithwaite, Tom Mitchell and Douglas Scott have also all left the Glasgow operation since the start of May. They have yet to make their intentions public about where they plan to go, although speculation is mounting that the five plan to set up a new office for JM Finn, a London-based brokerage, in Glasgow.

Nicholas Robert-Nicoud , marketing and client services manager at multi-manager MM Asset Management in London, is to join HSBC Asset Management by mid-August as a relationship manager. Mr Robert-Nicoud will help HSBC Asset Management develop its multi-manager platform.

US legal and financial services group, Katten Muchin Rosenman Financial Services Group, has opened a London office in conjunction with Martin Cornish , the former principal of MW Cornish Solicitors, who will head the new office. The firm will specialise in hedge fund, money manager and other financial services business. The new firm will be called Katten Muchin Rosenman Cornish. Mr Cornish is a pioneer in the international hedge fund business and has over 20 years representing securities, commodities, derivatives, foreign exchange brokers and dealers.

Walbrook Group, the offshore fiduciary services provider based in the Channel Islands, has appointed Chris Bevan to head up its family office services. He will be responsible for providing trust and tax services to Walbrook Group’s international private clients. Mr Bevan previously headed up KPMG’s international private client services in Hong Kong. He has also lectured extensively on tax and trust issues in the UK, US, and the Far East.

London firm Goodman Derrick is hiring three partners from ASB Law to strengthen its family and private client teams. Ursula Danagher joined Goodman Derrick in May to work with the firm’s head of litigation, Tim Langton. Ms Danagher, who was head of private client and family at ASB, will be developing Goodman Derrick’s existing family practice. She will be joined in September 2005 by two more ASB partners, Lindsey Alexander and Clare Jeffries, who will also be doing private client work.

International law firm Ogier has appointed Simon Davies as a partner. Mr Davies joined the firm as head of litigation in Guernsey in October 2004 and has been responsible for the recent expansion of Ogier’s litigation capability, particularly in financial services dispute resolution, which was previously outsourced by the firm. Before joining Ogier, Mr Davies practised as a senior litigation solicitor and senior associate at Carey Olsen.

GuernseyFinance has appointment Peter Niven as chief executive, a role that he will combine with immediate effect with that of director of finance sector development in Guernsey, which he took up earlier this year. The appointment follows the announcement last month that Talmai Morgan had decided to step down from his full-time post as chief executive to move to an external consultancy role. Having moved to Guernsey in 1996, Mr Niven was previously chief executive of the Lloyds TSB offshore financial services group and is a former president of the Chartered Institute of Bankers in Guernsey.

The Canonbury Group, a London-based consultancy advising financial firms including private banks, on policy and political risks that influence market prices and performance, has appointed Armando Falcon , as a principal in the firm. His appointment also coincides with the Canonbury opening an office in Washington DC. Mr Falcon was the former director of the US Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight. He joins Philippa Malmgren, who founded the Canonbury Group. Ms Malmgren served as special assistant to the President in the White House where she was responsible for financial market issues for George W. Bush.

North America
Citigroup has appointed Damian Kozlowski as its new chief executive of its global private banking business. He replaces Peter Scaturro, who left in October after a regulatory scandal in the private bank’s Japan business and is now running US Trust. Mr Kozlowski was president of the US region for Citigroup Private Bank.

Morgan Stanley has appointed Mike Durbin, who has been made head of the international business of at the bank’s individual investor group, based in London. Mr Durbin takes over from Marianne Hay, the former head of its European private banking business for the Wall Street bank, who left to head up Citigroup’s private banking business in Europe. He also replaces Mayree Clark, head of the bank’s international individual investor group in the US. Morgan Stanley also saw the departure of David Horn, who was responsible for global marketing and in charge of the global senior relationship managers at the bank’s private wealth management division.

JP Morgan has created a new marketing umbrella group in the US and has consolidated business units under it, according to reports in the US media. The new group will be led by Helena Jordao; she previously was head of competitive strategy at the US bank. The new marketing organisation will be broken down to three units: strategy, to be led by Ms Jordao; communications, led by Siew Thye Stinson; and events, led by Lynn Meggers.

Deutsche Bank Alex Brown, the US private client services division of Deutsche Bank Securities, has appointed Donald Nejedly as managing director of its San Francisco office, and Kyle Harrington as client advisor in the San Francisco office. Mr Nejedly’s new position is an internal promotion. Mr Harrington joins from Wachovia Securities private client group. Deutsche Bank has also appointed Christopher Frank as managing director and client advisor responsible for advising high net worth families, family offices and institutions in the Los Angeles offices. Mr Frank was most recently market president for Bank of America and head of the bank's Southern California private bank supervisory structure.

He is joined by Michael Tusing and Michael Huntsman, who were appointed client advisors in the Los Angeles office. Mr Tusing joins the firm from Bank of America's private bank in Los Angeles where he was a senior client strategist and member of the management team. Mr Huntsman also joins from Bank of America’s private bank.

Gloria Nelund, head of Deutsche Bank’s US private wealth management unit, is leaving the firm. Ms Nelund "will be transitioning the business to prepare for her departure," said Pierre de Weck, global head of Deutsche Bank’s private wealth management unit, in an internal memo. He added the firm intends to name her replacement as soon as possible, which as of the end of June, had not been found.

The private client services division of Bear Stearns in the US has appointed Mark Whaley as a managing director. Mr Whaley will be responsible for developing a private client services presence in New Jersey through a satellite office. Opening satellite offices in markets where Bear Stearns has the opportunity to hire the top brokers is part of the company’s s current growth strategy. Other satellite offices are located in Seattle and St Louis; other similar type of offices are planned.

Wilmington Trust has appointed Stephen Davenport to be head of derivatives in its investment department; the position is a new one. Mr Davenport was previously a senior investment advisor at Columbia Management Investment Advisors in Boston. In a statement, the Delaware-based firm said Mr Davenport will play a major role in developing risk-managed investment strategies for the firm’s high net worth clients. He will report to Rex Macey, head of equity management for Wilmington Trust Investment Management.

Jeffrey Roush has been appointed as president and chief executive of California-based Epic Bancorp’s wealth management unit. Mr Roush, who joins from the Bank of Montreal/Harris Private Bank, where he was chief operating officer of HarrismyCFO Inc, will report to Epic Bancorp chairman, Kit Cole. Epic Wealth Management was created in January to offer fee-based investment management, financial planning, and a wider range of wealth management capabilities and currently has more than $250 million of assets under management.

Prudential Financial has named Denis Chatterton head of global sales and marketing for its international investments business. Vincenzo D’Amelio has been promoted to head of European sales for the company’s offshore fund product worldwide investors’ portfolio. Both positions are effective immediately and will be based in London. Mr Chatterton will be responsible for leading the sales and marketing team of 10 in its two main areas - promotion of the WIP family of funds and supporting the marketing and sales efforts of international investment’s businesses in Prudential's major strategic markets of Italy, Germany, Korea, Taiwan, Mexico, Japan and China.
He will report directly to Joseph D’Onofrio, managing director of international investments, having joined the company in April 2003 as vice president and chief administration officer within international investments.

Family Wealth Advisors, the multi-family office of Bank of America, has appointed Alexander Zaharoff as advice and product executive. He joins from JP Morgan Private Bank, where he was head of the bank’s Advice Lab. Mr Zaharoff joins Tom Boehlke, client service executive, John McGuinness, national sales executive, and Joel Cohen, business development executive, and will report to Alan Rappaport, president of the group.

The Family Office Exchange, a US-based consultancy service for the ultra-high net worth market, has hired John Benevides as its new president and chief operating officer. He was previously managing director for the financial services group and membership organisation, the Corporate Executive Board. Mr Benevides is replacing Wally Head, who resigned late last year to join PrivateBancorp as chief investment officer. The new president will be responsible for both advisor and high-net-worth membership.

Asia-Pacific

Pierre Baer has been appointed to the newly created role at SG Private Banking (Asia Pacific) of regional head of marketing for the region. Mr Baer was previously head of Credit Suisse private banking operations in South East Asia, based in Singapore. In the new Singapore-based role, Mr Baer will oversee the business development functions for SG Private Banking, managing the development of its marketing teams in North Asia and South Asia, as well as trust services. Additionally, he will be heavily involved in overseeing the expansion of its strategy of asset diversification from Europe to Asia.

Mr Baer will report to Daniel Truchi, chief executive officer of SG Private Banking (Asia Pacific), chairman and chief executive of SG Trust (Asia) and chairman of SG Private Banking (Japan).

Citigroup has appointed Ajay Sondhi as head of its wealth management business for the Indian subcontinent. Mr Sondhi will be based in Singapore and will report to Citigroup’s head of global wealth management for the Asia-Pacific and Middle East regions, Deepak Sharma. Mr Sondhi joins from Kotak Mahindra Capital Company, where he was managing director. According to a statement, Mr Sondhi will oversee the bank’s wealth management businesses in India, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Bangladesh, and in the non-resident Indian markets.

Middle East

Dubai Bank has appointed Moukarram Atassi as head of investment services, a post which includes wealth management, private banking and the bank's planned brokerage services division. He joins from ABN Amro’s Saudi Hollandi Bank in Riyadh, where he was head of the investment group. An asset management and treasury specialist, Mr Atassi has worked for Shearson Lehman Brothers and the Saudi French Bank (Riyadh) as well as Standard Chartered Bank in London where he held several positions.