Citi Private Bank has appointed James Holder to head its global family office business in the EMEA region. This is a newly-created position following the opening of the GFO business in the third quarter of last year, this publication has learned.

Holder remains based in London, and reports to Luigi Pigorini, chief executive of Citi Private Bank EMEA, and Catherine Weir, head of the GFO group. As head of the family office business for EMEA, Holder will also become a member of the private bank’s leadership team for the region.

He joined Citi in 2005 as a senior private banker on the UK team and member of the UK leadership team.

The private bank announced it was forging a GFO unit back in September 2010, to provide services to the family offices of its major clients, which it said were growing in number.

Offering services to ultra high net worth individuals and their family offices is a business area private banks have been increasingly looking to tap into. Credit Suisse, for example, opened a family office hub in Asia last December. Located in Singapore: its aim is to help UHNW clients jump-start their family office plans, while providing them with networking and education opportunities, as well as back- and middle-office support.

Meanwhile, at the beginning of the year UBS announced it was creating a family services unit in Asia for UHNW clients. The new unit is intended to bring together the Swiss bank’s existing expertise in philanthropy, family advisory, wealth planning and other non-financial services into a holistic offering for UHNW clients in the region.