AXA Wealth has appointed Gary Stoker as regional development manager for the southwest region of the UK, recruiting him from Skandia.

At Skandia, Stoker was executive business consultant responsible for platform sales, investments and Retail Distribution Review consultancy.

In his new role he will be responsible for Elevate and Architas sales in the southwest region. Elevate is AXA’s platform business and Architas is the multi-manager arm of the French insurance giant.

In other recent hires, at the start of this month AXA Wealth appointed Jo Vertigan to lead its digital strategy as it completes the transition away from its life company roots towards being what it calls a “more modern, digital, and customer-focused wealth management organisation.”

Vertigan is a well-known figure in the digital space; he formerly ran Sony’s Direct Ecommerce B2B and B2C businesses and he also served as head of digital for England 2018, England’s FIFA World Cup bid.

AXA Wealth launched two years ago, following the sale of its legacy life and pensions business to Resolution, and now focuses only on wealth management.