Luxembourg-based Banque Havilland has appointed Nicholas Parker as chief executive of private banking - an appointment which the bank has said “marks the beginning of a significant push by Banque Havilland into the ultra high net worth client sector.”

Parker started his banking career at NatWest, going on to hold senior roles at Coutts & Co, Merrill Lynch, Barclays and Citibank. He joined Citi in 2005 to help drive the development of its UK onshore and offshore UHNW business.

Banque Havilland opened a new office in Monaco last month, adding to its existing ones in London and Luxembourg. In July 2011 Banque Havilland acquired the former Dexia Private Bank Monaco from Dexia Banque Internationale à Luxembourg, as part of its plan to develop an international private banking group. The bank had been working since then to transfer the operational infrastructure of the Monaco bank to the Luxembourg operating platform. 

Banque Havilland was established in 2009 by the Rowland family; one of its stated brand differentiators is that UHNW clients are able to co-invest with the family and can also gain access to its professional business network.

The bank, which currently has 60 staff, rose out of the ashes of the bankrupt Icelandic bank Kaupthing. The Rowland family are understood to have bought Kaupthing in order to leverage having an operating infrastructure and experienced wealth management, private banking and asset management teams "ready made", as it were.