Michael Mount, latterly HSBC Private Bank's managing director for South East Asia, has joined Coutts as managing director within its international business in the UK.

Coutts has continued a spate of recent senior hires with the appointment of Michael Mount as managing director within its international business in the UK.

In his new role Mount will lead Coutts’ Asia, Africa and non-resident Indian teams in London, and will be instrumental in enhancing links between the bank’s Asian and UK operations while also driving its NRI strategy in the UK. He reports dually to to Stephen Fletcher, chief operating officer for Coutts & Co, and Ranjit Khanna, head of South East Asia and global NRI.

Mount was latterly managing director for South East Asia at HSBC Private Bank; his departure from HSBC emerged in July, at which point his future plans were unknown. Mount first joined HSBC in 1997 as head of Europe at HSBC Republic and went on to hold several senior roles. Before HSBC he worked at the international private banking arm of Crédit Lyonnais for just over four years. He began his banking career at Barclays’ international private banking business.

"With an increasing amount of UK wealth deriving from international locations, Coutts’ international desk in London continues to be of significant importance to the business. Michael’s extensive experience will enable us to maximise the opportunities within this market,” said Michael Morley, chief executive of Coutts & Co.

Just two days ago Coutts announced that it had appointed senior manager Nick Gornall as head of UK learning and professional development, an appointment which comes at a time when the firm is taking a new approach to educating wealth management professionals worldwide.

Gornall was previously a private banking head for the entrepreneurs client group at Coutts and for its south east and south west regional businesses in the UK. These businesses are now managed by Paul Smith, as announced in October 2011. Gornall has held a number of roles in Coutts' change programme.  He led the business readiness component of its new IT platform, Avaloq, and more recently put together an advisor training programme in conjunction with the Judge Business School at Cambridge.

In taking on the role, Gornall is a counterpart to Nick Pollard, who was appointed to the role of head of international learning and professional development last week.

Pollard’s move was a surprise; he had previously been chief executive of Coutts in Asia. Prior to that, he was managing director for the UK front-office between March 2005 and May 2009.