Spain's Santander banking group has appointed Ben Whitfield as senior vice-president of business development. Mr Whitfield will focus on marketing Optimal Investment Services, Santander Asset Management’s $8 billion fund of hedge funds, to institutions, investment managers and private banks in the UK and northern Europe. Mr Whitfield was a director of London-based private equity and corporate finance firm AngelBourse. He was previously a senior member of the equity sales team at Cazenove. Optimal Investment Services increased its assets under management by $2.8 billion during 2006.