November was a busy month for moves in different regions, with examples including the resignation of GAM's chief executive and a host of hires by Raymond James in the US.

Wealth management executive moves for the UK, the rest of Europe, the Middle East and various international locations (excluding Asia and Americas, as reported below).

Employment law specialist Lois Madden joined Carey Olsen's employment team in Guernsey. Madden, who joined as an associate after working in a specialist employment role at one of the leading UK employment law firms, advises local and international clients on contentious and non-contentious employment law as well as data protection and regulatory issues. She was admitted as a solicitor in Scotland in 2016 after completing her training with a leading private client firm in Edinburgh, Carey Olsen added.

Legal and General Investment Management appointed Annacarla Dellepiane as head of exchange traded funds capital markets. In this newly created role, Annacarla is based in London and reports to Simon Hynes, head of retail distribution EMEA. Prior to this, Annacarla worked at State Street Global Advisors, where she was a lead relationship manager in the SPDR Capital Markets team. Before this role, Annacarla worked in iShares EMEA capital markets division.

UK wealth manager Tilney expanded its north of England presence, hiring Ben Roberts as an investment director. He is based in the firm’s Manchester office. Roberts joined from investment manager Brooks Macdonald, where he spent 6 years as an investment director. Prior to this he was a private client manager for Brown Shipley private bank. 

UK global asset manager Aviva Investors appointed Aaron Armstrong to a newly-created role as portfolio manager of global emerging market equities. Armstrong previously worked at Alquity, where he spent over four years, most recently as a senior analyst in the Asian investment team. He reports to Alistair Way who heads up Aviva’s global emerging market equities.

Singapore-based DBS is building a “strategic hub” in Dubai and appointed Rudiger von Wedel as head of international business, DBS Private Bank. Based in Dubai, he took over from Rob Ioannou, who moved to lead DBS’ wealth, trust and estate planning business, as well as driving the build out of DBS’ single family office offering and Australian desk. Von Wedel reports to Lawrence Lua, deputy head of private bank, and is a veteran in the industry. He was most recently CEO of the global wealth division of the National Bank of Abu Dhabi (NBAD).

David Haythe, former head of private wealth management EMEA at Morgan Stanley, joined Plurimi as a senior advisor to develop growth strategy and enhance internal corporate governance. Haythe has over 40 years’ experience in the financial industry and played an important role in building Morgan Stanley’s institutional and wealth offering in Europe.

The Danish fintech specialist Saxo Bank appointed Thomas Hovard as COO of global distribution and client services. He reports to Saxo’s chief commercial officer Damian Bunce. Before joining Saxo, Hovard spent 16 years at Danish bank Danske, holding a number of senior research and sales positions. Most recently he served as Danske’s global head of DCM sales & research. He said of the move to Saxo, he was joining a bank that “has pioneered in the industry with its forward-looking approach to technology".

Raymond James opened a new branch in Droitwich Spa, Worcestershire. The new branch is run by Daniel Faulkner who previously worked for Psigma, and before that was an Investment director of Rathbones. Faulkner has prior experience in setting up a new wealth management branch, having co-founded Rathbones’ Birmingham office in 2008. He has almost 30 years of industry experience, having begun his career at Albert E Sharp in 1989. He moved to Quilter in 1997 where he began to focus on providing discretionary management services to independent financial advisors and their clients.

The former chief executive of Jersey Finance for the past 12 years, Geoff Cook, joined offshore law firm Mourant as a consultant early this year. Cook became one of the most prominent advocates of international financial centres and his tenure at JF has seen the island become more of an established player in the field. Prior to his role at Jersey Finance, Cook was head of wealth management for HSBC Bank, based in London, responsible for delivering financial planning services.

EFG International appointed Lena Lascari as the new chief executive of EFG Bank (Luxembourg).  Lascari succeeded Konstantinos Karoumpis, who decided to leave the bank to pursue a new professional challenge. Lascari has been with EFG since 2014. Before joining EFG, she worked for Eurobank Private Bank (Luxembourg) from 2004 to 2014.

EFG International also named a new chief risk officer, Ranjit Singh; he succeeded Thomas A Mueller, who was elected to Raiffeisen Switzerland’s board. Singh reports to chief executive Giorgio Pradelli. 

Most recently, Singh served as group chief risk officer and group executive of Standard Life Aberdeen in Edinburgh and London from 2013 to 2018. Prior to that, he served as group chief risk officer of Swiss Re in Zurich, from 2007 to 2011. From 2002 to 2007, he was in a similar role at Allianz SE in Germany. He has a bachelor of science in business administration from Winona State University in Minnesota, USA, and a master of business administration in international management from the Thunderbird School of Global Management in Arizona, USA.

UK accountancy firm Saffery Champness appointed Diane Petit-Laurent to join the Manchester office as a corporate partner. Petit-Laurent concentrates on entrepreneurial clients - based primarily in technology, manufacturing and retail. She was previously a director at Deloitte in Manchester and brings a strong background of working with owner-managed and private equity-backed businesses, with a regional and international focus. She joined fellow partners Mike Hodges and Simon Kite in the Manchester office.

In a newly-created role, international law firm Bedell Cristin appointed Catherine Cadman as head of knowledge to lead its knowledge strategy. Cadman is a 20-year veteran of knowledge management, with leadership roles at onshore and offshore law firms, who joined the Jersey office to oversee the firm’s global presence across six jurisdictions.

Brewin Dolphin recruited financial planner Scott Heslin to join its office in Cambridge, UK. Prior to this, Heslin was a financial planner at Tilney in Cambridge, where he managed clients in East Anglia with a strong focus on Norfolk. Before repatriating to the UK, his overseas experience was with HSBC Expat as an international wealth manager in the United Arab Emirates and in the Channel Islands. 

GPP, the custody, clearing and wealth solutions firm, appointed Richard Shiel to join its wealth solutions business as sales and account manager. Shiel joined from the custody and clearing sales team at Platform Securities, part of the FIS Group. 

Foster Denovo, the UK advisory firm, appointed Richard Horton as finance director, having previously been in post on an interim basis. Since Horton joined the group he worked with chief executive Roger Brosch and head of corporate development, Henna Fry, to implement the firm’s development plans. Horton is a chartered accountant whose previous roles include group finance director at financial advice firm LEBC Group Limited, and insurance intermediary Hyperion Insurance Group.

London Stock Exchange-listed private wealth, fund and corporate service provider JTC appointed two senior figures to join its newly-launched private office in Jersey. JTC named Rebecca Bettany as senior director to run the private office; she left a family office she founded to return to Jersey. Also joining JTC as a private client-focused senior director was Karen O’Hanlon. Relocating to Jersey from Asia, O’Hanlon came to JTC having worked in the private client industry worldwide.

ODDO BHF AM, the German asset management firm, appointed Dr Markus Geiger as head of private debt, leading a specialised team that works with retail and institutional investors. Dr Geiger was most recently head of the D/A/CH region in Frankfurt at Kartesia Advisor, a European specialist in the financing of small and medium-sized enterprises.

Adrian Jones joined UBS Global Wealth Management as a managing director and client advisor in the Ultra High Net Worth (UHNW) team. Jones spent 30 years at Coutts advising high profile and entrepreneurial clients across sectors including sports and entertainment, private office and, more recently, the Coutts crown dependencies businesses. Most recently, he was head of international for Coutts’ Europe and Americas division. He reports to James Whittaker, head of UK UHNW. 

The global financial planning and wealth management body CISI appointed Paul Garrard, chartered FCSI, as president of its Guernsey branch. He took over from Patrick Millar who is stepping down after two years at the helm. Garrard held a number of positions on the CISI’s Guernsey regional committee and is a 30-year veteran of the financial services sector.

Equiom, the international professional services provider, appointed Nick Evans to the new role of global chief operating officer. Reporting to global CEO, Sheila Dean, Evans is responsible for the day-to-day operation of the company. Previously head of mergers and acquisitions at Equiom, Evans led its acquisition growth strategy and forming strategic relationships in Europe. With more than 25 years’ experience in banking and M&A, he oversaw a number of acquisitions before moving to this new position.

The Global Impact Investing Network appointed Sean Gilbert as its director of membership. Gilbert is responsible for overseeing the GIIN’s membership of over 280 member organisations from across over 40 countries around the world. He is based in Washington, DC. Prior to this, Gilbert worked at the World Resources Institute, where he was head of partnerships and outreach for the NDC Partnership, leading on the global initiative to support countries to increase the flow of finance and assistance to deliver national climate and development commitments. For over 20 years, he has worked in both the private and non-profit sectors integrating sustainability into business and finance.

Union Bancaire Privée named a prominent industry figure to be its vice chair for Asia: Alfred Tsai. Based in Hong Kong, Tsai reports locally to Eric Morin, head of North Asia and Hong Kong branch chief executive, and regionally to Michael Blake, head of the region and CEO for Asia. Most recently, Tsai headed the China market for BNP Paribas Wealth Management. He has held senior management positions at investment and private banks including Citibank, UBS, Credit Suisse, Merrill Lynch and Julius Baer.

Deutsche Bank Management appointed Nick Reeves as head of UK financial planning. Reeves was most recently a private client partner, for financial planning, at Tilney in London where he worked since 2013. (Tilney was sold by Deutsche that year, having been acquired by the German lender in 2006.) Reeves was previously an ultra and high net worth wealth advisor at Barclays from 2010 to 2013 and prior to that worked at Grant Thornton. He is based in London.

Hawksmoor Fund Managers added two new hires. David Chapman joined as HFM’s business development manager. Chapman is a 25-year veteran in financial services, whose career includes over 20 years with BlackRock. The firm also named Ben Mackie as a fund manager. Mackie has 12 years’ portfolio management experience in the wealth management industry.

Amun, a Swiss fintech special-purpose company launching exchange-traded products in the cryptocurrency space, hired Mark Rodino as managing director and global head of distribution. He is based in Zurich. Rodino joined the Amun team to prepare for a new suite of financial products in the form of exchange-traded products to be launched in the coming months. With more than 25 years’ experience, Rodino has worked for Morgan Stanley, UBS, HSBC and Deutsche Börse. He is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and The Wharton School.

Swiss private bank EFG International appointed Giorgio Angelo Girelli to head up its Milan branch. The reboot is part of the firm’s growth strategy in what it sees as a key region. Girelli reports to Franco Polloni, EFG's Switzerland & Italy regional head. Girelli has held several executive and board positions in a 20-year career in Italian investment banking. For the last two years, he served as managing director of Banca Intermobiliare SPA in Turin. 
 

Seddons, the UK law firm, appointed Stuart Crippin as a partner and head of its private client business, having previously been partner at the London office of Thrings in its succession and tax team. Prior to this, Crippin worked at Mishcon de Reya.

Geneva-based Mirabaud added to its Basel private banking team, hiring Robert Lussi as manager of the branch in the city, and three new employees. Lussi, a former manager of the Basel branch of Notenstein La Roche Private Bank, has more than 30 years’ experience in private banking in Basel. Prior to this change, Nicolas Mirabaud led the Basel branch, but from Geneva as there was no ranch head in Basel.

Investec AM appointed Deirdre Cooper as a portfolio manager to boost the firm’s sustainable investment capability. Before joining Investec, Cooper was a partner and head of research at UK-based Ecofin Ltd where, among portfolio responsibilities, she co-managed its Vista and Global Renewable Infrastructure Fund. Prior to this, she was an investment banker at Morgan Stanley.

Tilney brought Neil Joss to its Glasgow office as a senior investment manager. He joined from Smith & Williamson where he worked as an operations manager and most recently as an investment manager. Before this, he was a manager at Gerrard Investment Management.

Citigroup appointed Fabio Fontainha as head of retail banking for Asia-Pacific and Europe, Middle East and Africa. This is a segment covering wealth management for mass affluent and high net worth individuals but not including the private bank. Fontainha replaced Gonzalo Luchetti, who was named Asia-Pacific and EMEA consumer banking head in September. Fontainha reports to Luchetti. The new appointee oversees Citi’s retail banking and wealth management businesses across 12 markets in APAC and five in EMEA, Poland, Russia, the UK, the UAE and Bahrain. Prior to his latest appointment, Fontainha was the ASEAN cluster head for the Asia-Pacific consumer banking business since December 2016. He joined the US banking giant in 1994 as a management associate in Brazil. 

Edmond de Rothschild melded its real estate arms under a joint management set-up and revamped investment operations. Former Pictet Wealth Management chief investment officer Christophe Caspar joined the firm as a deputy CEO. Caspar is based in Geneva and reports to Vincent Taupin, global CEO asset management and chairman of the Edmond de Rothschild (France) executive board.

Gad Amar, head of business development at Edmond de Rothschild Asset Management, was appointed as the second deputy CEO for asset management, responsible for sales. Pierre Jacquot was appointed head of the real estate business for the group and has joined the asset management executive committee. Jacquot founded Orox Asset Management in Switzerland in 2007. He later helped found and grew the Edmond de Rothschild Real Estate SICAV fund. In another move, Johnny El Hachem, managing director of Edmond de Rothschild Private Equity, joined the asset management executive committee.

Sanne, a global provider of alternative asset and corporate services, promoted Karlien De Bruin to head up the firm's management company business (“Manco”) in South Africa, joining its Cape Town office as director. De Bruin brought 17 years’ banking and asset management experience to Manco’s leadership, stepping up from her previous role heading market risk for the management arm. Before Sanne, De Bruin was an investment analyst at GraySwan, where she chaired the responsible investing committee; she is also a qualified carbon footprint analyst.

Wealth management platform Dolfin appointed Richard Gray as head of investment management, a newly-created role within the firm. Gray, who heada the firm's investment team, joined from ACPI, where he was co-head of institutional wealth management. Before that, he was the head of the special situations team and co-head of the multi-asset group at Credit Suisse. Previously, he was an investment analyst at Credit Suisse and UBS.

Avaloq, the Switzerland-based technology firm serving banks and wealth managers, appointed Martin Greweldinger to the newly-formed post of group chief product officer. Greweldinger reports to Juerg Hunziker, group CEO, and is responsible for connecting client and market requirements and translating them into product and service offerings. Previously, Greweldinger was at The Boston Consulting Group where he was a principal and member of the financial institutions and technology advantage practice areas.

A prominent wealth management figure in Asia and the Middle East, Gary Dugan, took up the position of chief executive of Purple Asset Management, a new joint venture. Dugan is based in Singapore. The JV was set up by The Fry Group, a global financial advisory group, and Independent Strategic Group, a fintech firm specialising in digital investment management solutions. Dugan, who has relocated to Singapore from Dubai, was most recently chief investment officer for Namara Wealth Advisors from July 2017 to July this year; prior to that, he was CIO for Emirates NDB in the UAE for about 18 months, and before that, was CIO at National Bank of Abu Dhabi, also for about 18 months. Well known to this publication and an occasional speaker at its events, Dugan has also been a CIO for Asia and Middle East at Coutts.

Mirabaud appointed Nicolas Mirabaud and Michael Palma, previously limited partners and on the group’s executive committee, to join its board of managing partners. Managing partner Camille Vial joined the chair’s office of Mirabaud’s executive committee, due to take over from Antonio Palma in July. It also appointed Thiago Frazao as a limited partner.

New World Capital Advisors, a merchant banking and investment firm based in London's Mayfair district, named two new partners: Alexander Tsirigotis and Simon Evans. Tsirigotis is chief operating officer and Evans became general counsel. 

Tsirigotis previously worked at BlackRock, where he held positions in its financial markets advisory and corporate strategy divisions. His previous experience includes roles at Merrill Lynch, Mediobanca and Nomura. Evans qualified as a barrister and then had senior roles at HSBC and JP Morgan in Hong Kong, Citibank in Zurich and Goldman Sachs, during which time he advised Asian and Middle Eastern families and corporations.

Sandaire, the multi-family office operating in the UK and Asia, appointed Marc Cane as the new head of risk and compliance. Cane joined from WH Ireland wealth management, where he was head of compliance and money laundering reporting officer.

Credit Suisse's private bank in the UK recruited a total of 10 new individuals, two of whom hold the title of managing director. The MDs were Jesus Madalena, who was previously at UBS, and Michael Darriba, formerly with Deutsche Bank. Besides Madalena and Darriba, three directors and five vice presidents joined Credit Suisse. Six of them are relationship managers, several of whom came from Barclays.

Fenergo, an Ireland-based provider of client lifecycle services to financial firms, built a new private banking and wealth arm to be led by Steve D'Souza. D'Souza reports to Fenergo’s chief executive Marc Murphy; he is based in London. D'Souza's 35-year career encompasses roles at Unisys, Odyssey, Parity, Propero and TCA Consulting before setting up Sales Kinetics in 2008. During his time at Sales Kinetics he worked with over 25 IT firms doing business in the UK and Switzerland. He has made sales into Brewin Dolphin, Quilter, Brooks Macdonald and the LGT Group.

Wealth Dynamix, or WDX, the client lifecycle specialist firm, launched operations in Singapore, adding to offices in New York, Toronto and Zurich. As part of the Asia push, the firm recruited Dominic Gamble as its Asia-Pacific head; he will be based in the Asian city-state. Gamble, who has more than 18 years' experience in the wealth management sector, worked at Credit Agricole Indosuez, Credit Suisse and Deutsche Wealth Management. Most recently, he founded findaWEALTHMANAGER.com, a matchmaking service for wealth firms and clients. 

Switzerland's J Safra Sarasin appointed two senior figures to bolster its distribution business within the Alpine state and further afield. Marco Corti joined the wholesale division as director to manage relations with banks, insurance companies, asset managers and family offices and is based in Zurich. Corti has over 15 years of experience in the wholesale business, having spent more than four years with Swisscanto Invest/Zürcher Kantonalbank and having previously worked with Man Investments and Bank Leu.

Volker Buschmann joined Banque J Safra Sarasin (Luxembourg) as an executive director, heading the wholesale and institutional business for the Benelux and Nordic countries. With over 25 years of experience, Buschmann assumed various senior positions for RobecoSAM Europe GmbH in Frankfurt and for M&G International Investments both in Frankfurt and in Zurich. He also worked with Gartmore Investment Services, BHF Bank and Dresdner Bank.

Peel Hunt, the corporate brokerage house, made three senior appointments to boost its corporate, broking, and sales and research division. Andrew Buchanan joined as a director in the corporate broking financial institutions group. The 20-year veteran has over a decade of senior experience at UBS, and before that he worked in equities research at HSBC James Capel Securities. He joined from Canaccord Genuity, where he was a managing director.

John Gilbert joined from Macquarie to manage specialist sales for Peel Hunt’s natural resources team. Tim Huff capped the hiring effort, coming as a research analyst in the mining team. He joined from RBC’s research division after holding a number of research analyst posts at RBS, Citi and Credit Suisse, having spent 25 years in the sector.

Fidelity International promoted Steve Ellis to global chief investment officer to head up fixed income. He took over from Charles McKenzie, who retired. Ellis joined Fidelity in 2012 as the portfolio manager for emerging market debt. Prior to this, he worked as a portfolio manager at Goldman Sachs asset management and has 25 years’ investment experience. He reports to Bart Grenier, global head of asset management at the privately held firm, and hands over portfolio duties to Paul Greer and Eric Wong, who currently co-manage with him.

Global consultancy Mercer appointed Benoit Hudon as its new head of wealth in the UK. Prior to this, Hudon was Mercer’s Global Defined Benefit leader and he has held a number of senior posts at the firm, working in areas such as risk management.

Liechtensteinische Landesbank, the private bank, appointed a prominent bank industry figure as its new chief operating officer after his predecessor left last May. It named Dr Patrick Fürer as COO; he also joined the group board, replacing Kurt Mäder. Most recently, Dr Fürer was chief executive of Notenstein La Roche Privatbank, St Gallen.

Barclays Wealth Management made six senior appointments in West Yorkshire, joining the business’ 27-strong North East team. The hires included Richard Kirkham, David Firth, Catherine Makin, Richard Lindop, Andrea Charge and Alison Probert. They report to regional director Nick Keenan.

The Bermuda-based offshore law firm hired Ashley Fife to work with its trust and private wealth practice. Fife spent five years at another offshore firm in the territory. Prior to this, he was head of legal for the Jersey office of international trusts, funds and corporate service provider for the TMF Group.

REYL & Cie, the Swiss private banking group, named a managing director for corporate advisory and structuring in its London office. The appointee, James Spooner, previously held senior roles at Goldman Sachs' securities division.

Asia-Pacific

BNP Paribas Wealth Management appointed Henry Hui as head of structured investments and derivatives, Asia, based in Hong Kong and reporting into Lemuel Lee, deputy head of investment services, Asia-Pacific. Hui is responsible for originating, structuring and marketing structured products to clients across all asset classes. With more than 15 years of financial services experience, Hui was previously head of equities advisory and sales trading, Hong Kong for Bank of Singapore, where he specialised in advisory and execution for equities and multi-assets structured products.

DBS, which wants to build a “strategic hub” in Dubai, appointed Rudiger von Wedel as head of international business, DBS Private Bank. Based in Dubai, he takes over from Rob Ioannou, who moved to lead DBS’ wealth, trust and estate planning business, as well as driving the build out of DBS’ single family office offering and Australian desk. Von Wedel, who reports to Lawrence Lua, deputy head of private bank, is a veteran in the industry and was most recently CEO of the global wealth division of the National Bank of Abu Dhabi (NBAD).

BlackRock namned a new Asia-Pacific boss. Dr Geraldine Buckingham took over as chair and head of the business in the Asia-Pacific region. She succeeded Ryan Stork, who becomes deputy global chief operating officer, based in New York. 

Dr Buckingham, who is senior managing director, is also global head of corporate strategy at BlackRock and a member of its global executive committee. She previously served as head of Americas corporate strategy. Prior to joining BlackRock in 2014, Dr Buckingham was a partner with McKinsey & Company’s financial services practice based in New York. Previously, Stork was the global head of the Aladdin Business within BlackRock Solutions in New York. (Aladdin is BlackRock’s fully-integrated investment management technology platform.) Within that business, Stork was responsible for client relationships and business development, as well as the implementation and delivery of Aladdin services and its third-party investment accounting business.

Singapore’s ruling party – the People’s Action Party – promoted the jurisdiction’s finance minister to a role that made him likely to become prime minister ahead of an expected transfer of power in the next couple of years. The party named Heng Swee Keat, 57, as the first assistant secretary-general of the People’s Action Party. This is typically the role held by a leader-in-waiting for a top job. The PAP named his role on its website, along with that of other senior figures.

Hong Kong-listed Ping An named Steven Winegar as overseas company lawyer and general counsel. He will be responsible for legal and compliance matters globally. Winegar has over 24 years of experience in law firm and in-house positions. He began his career in the US as a corporate attorney at Shearman & Sterling and Goldman Sachs. He moved to Hong Kong with Goldman Sachs in 2005, becoming managing director and senior counsel at the bank, before returning to private practice in 2010 when he joined Paul Hastings. He served as partner and chair of Paul Hastings' Hong Kong office before joining Ping An in September.

HSBC made several hires in its Asia-Pacific retail banking and wealth management team located in Hong Kong. The head of digital for Asia-Pacific, Andrew Connell, moved to a new role of global head of partnership development and innovation. The HSBC Digital Solutions head of delivery, Dan Phipps, was appointed head of digital business for RBWM Asia-Pacific, responsible for setting and executing the bank's Asia-Pacific digital strategy. The RBWM Asia-Pacific head of digital product management, Tamara van den Ban, took on the newly-created role of chief customer officer of HSBC Digital Solutions.

Standard Chartered Private Bank appointed Tracy Chan as director for managed investments distribution. Chan is based in Hong Kong. Chan provides advice on managed investment solutions to Standard Chartered’s relationship managers, investment advisors and clients in Hong Kong. She reports to Jason Yeung, head of managed investments distribution for Hong Kong. Before this, Chan was director of funds and exchange-traded funds at HSBC Private Banking for two years. Before that, she was a director at Swiss bank Julius Baer.

Aberdeen Standard Investments appointed Thibaut Ferret as senior solutions director for Asia-Pacific, based in Hong Kong. As part of the business’s global strategic client solutions team, Ferret oversees delivery of customised investment solutions to institutional clients in Asia. It was a newly-created role for the firm. Ferret reports to Ian McDonald, global head of strategic client solutions, based in London. Ferret has 17 years of experience in the financial industry. Prior to joining ASI in October 2018, he was head of asset-liability management (ALM) for Sun Life Hong Kong and regional head of investments for AXA Asia.

Union Bancaire Privée Alfred Tsai as Asia vice chair. Based in Hong Kong, Tsai reports locally to Eric Morin, head of North Asia and Hong Kong branch chief executive, and regionally to Michael Blake, head of the region and CEO for Asia. Most recently, Tsai headed the China market for BNP Paribas Wealth Management. He held senior management positions at investment and private banks including Citibank, UBS, Credit Suisse, Merrill Lynch and Julius Baer.

Citigroup appointed Fabio Fontainha as head of retail banking for Asia-Pacific and Europe, Middle East and Africa. This is a segment covering wealth management for mass affluent and high net worth individuals but not including the private bank, which serves those more towards the ultra-high net worth end of the spectrum. Fontainha replaced Gonzalo Luchetti, who was named Asia-Pacific and EMEA consumer banking head a few months before. Fontainha reports to Luchetti. The new appointee oversees Citi’s retail banking and wealth management businesses across 12 markets in APAC and five in EMEA, Poland, Russia, the UK, the UAE and Bahrain. Prior to his latest appointment, Fontainha had been the ASEAN cluster head for the Asia-Pacific consumer banking business since December 2016. He joined the US banking giant in 1994. 

Tan Su Shan, the group head of consumer banking and wealth management at DBS – and a recent winner of a lifetime achievement award by this publication – took over from Jeanette Wong as group head of institutional banking. Wong retires at the start of March this year. Tan joined DBS in June 2010 as group head of wealth management, before she took on a wider role that included overseeing the consumer banking arm. Her period in the role has seen DBS expand both organically and through its purchase of the Asian private banking arms of Societe Generale and and Australia and New Zealand Banking Group. Sim S Lim, presently DBS’ Singapore country head, succeeded Tan Su Shan in her consumer banking and wealth management role. 

Shee Tse Koon, DBS’ group head of strategy and planning, took over as Singapore country head. Lim, a 35-year banking veteran, joined DBS in September 2010 as country head, DBS Singapore, a then newly-created role. Shee has almost 25 years of banking experience, and these include 22 years at Standard Chartered Bank, which spanned front and back office roles, with stints in Asia, the Middle East and Europe. Prior to joining DBS in September 2016, he was country head of Standard Chartered Indonesia.

EFG International named a new chief risk officer, Ranjit Singh; he succeeded Thomas A Mueller, who was elected to Raiffeisen Switzerland’s board a few days ago. He reports to chief executive Giorgio Pradelli. Most recently, Singh served as group chief risk officer and group executive of Standard Life Aberdeen in Edinburgh and London from 2013 to 2018. Prior to that, he served as group chief risk officer of Swiss Re in Zurich, from 2007 to 2011. From 2002 to 2007, he was in a similar role at Allianz SE in Germany. He has a bachelor of science in business administration from Winona State University in Minnesota, USA, and a master of business administration in international management from the Thunderbird School of Global Management in Arizona, USA.

Avaloq appointed Martin Greweldinger to the newly-formed post of group chief product officer. Greweldinger reports to Juerg Hunziker, group CEO, and is responsible for connecting client and market requirements and translating them into product and service offerings. Previously, Greweldinger was at The Boston Consulting Group where he was a principal and member of the financial institutions and technology advantage practice areas. Prior to that, he worked for a number of top-tier financial institutions for more than 15 years, including Commerzbank, Credit Suisse and Dresdner Bank. He spent a significant time of his professional life in Asia-Pacific.

A prominent wealth management figure in Asia and the Middle East, Gary Dugan, took up the position of chief executive of Purple Asset Management, a new joint venture. Dugan is based in Singapore. The JV was set up by The Fry Group, a global financial advisory group, and Independent Strategic Group, a fintech firm specialising in digital investment management solutions. Dugan, who relocated to Singapore from Dubai, was most recently chief investment officer for Namara Wealth Advisors from July 2017 to July 2018; prior to that, he was CIO for Emirates NDB in the UAE for about 18 months, and before that, was CIO at National Bank of Abu Dhabi, also for about 18 months. Well known to this publication and an occasional speaker at its events, Dugan has also been a CIO for Asia and Middle East at Coutts.

LJ Partnership, which is rebranding as Avarium Investments, appointed Neill O'Brien as managing director. O'Brien joined the firm's wholly-owned investment and advisory subsidiary, Guggenheim Investment Advisors (Hong Kong), the entity that LJ Partnership bought in 2016. O’Brien has more than 10 years of experience in real estate advisory, counselling Asian real estate clients on acquisitions, dispositions, JVs, debt and equity raising, as well as leasing and ownership strategy. Based in Hong Kong, his real estate advisory expertise complements GIA HK’s existing asset management capability.

JP Morgan Private Bank in Asia appointed Alex Wolf as head of client investment strategy. This was a new role for the bank. Wolf previously served as a senior emerging markets economist at Aberdeen Standard Investments conducting economic and geopolitical research, helping to establish and communicate the house view.

Sandaire, the multi-family office operating in the UK and Asia, appointed Marc Cane as the new head of risk and compliance. Cane joined from WH Ireland wealth management, where he was head of compliance and money laundering reporting officer. The sector veteran has had a number of senior posts, including eight years at the creative investment group Ingenious Media and three years at Permal.

Investec Asset Management appointed Marco Tang as head of advisor business for Greater China, a newly-created role. Tang manages and drives Investec’s advisory businesses across the region. Based in Hong Kong, he reports to Eric Fu, managing director and country head, Greater China of Investec Asset Management. Bringing close to 20 years of experience in the financial services industry, Tang joined Investec Asset Management from Neuberger Berman Asia where he was the head of retail business for mainland China and Hong Kong.

Wealth Dynamix, or WDX, the client lifecycle specialist firm, launched operations in Singapore, adding to offices in New York, Toronto and Zurich earlier this year. The firm recruited Dominic Gamble as its Asia-Pacific head; he is based in the Asian city-state. Gamble, who has more than 18 years' experience in the wealth management sector, worked at Credit Agricole Indosuez, Credit Suisse and Deutsche Wealth Management. Most recently, he founded findaWEALTHMANAGER.com, a matchmaking service for wealth firms and clients, filling a space in the sector where high net worth persons sometimes struggle to find the most suitable organisation for their needs.

Four portfolio managers were added to Aberdeen Standard Investment teams in Shanghai and Hong Kong. Edmund Goh joined in Shanghai where he will focus on China sovereign bonds and credit investing. Aaron Ni joined him to cover onshore China credits. Prior to this, Ni specialised in credit analysis at Ping An Asset Management. Stella Li completed the Shanghai trio and focuses on China equities. She previously worked as an equity research analyst with Macquarie Securities. The fourth hire was Alec Jin, who joined the Asian equities team in Hong Kong, where he covers China and Hong Kong listed stocks. Before this, he was a director at Standard Chartered working on the leveraged finance team.

UBS created two new country country teams in the China International business of the bank. The teams are led by Ann Qian and Fritz Chan. Ann Qian has more than 20 years of experience in the financial industry.  She joined UBS in 2007 as a client advisor and has been a desk head for the China International team since 2011.  She has built a Prior to UBS, Ann held various managerial positions at ICBC Asia and ICBC Zhejiang, servicing financial institutions and international businesses. 

Fritz Chan joined UBS in 2013 as a desk Head for the China International team. Prior to UBS, he was head of business management at Barclays Wealth and Senior Manager at BNP Paribas Wealth Management.

HSBC's private bank added new personnel to its investment services and product solutions (ISPS) team in Singapore. The team includes people serving high net worth clients with more than $5 million of investable assets. The appointees were Tay Li Choo, head of fixed income for ISPS, Southeast Asia; Justin Bramley, head of investment counsellors, ISPS, at Southeast Asia, and Roy Teo, head of foreign exchange and commodities, ISPS, Southeast Asia. The trio report to Kenneth Teo, who heads up the ISPS team in the Southeast Asia region.

North America
Argent Financial Group hired Amy Rhodes as vice president and senior compliance administrator of retirement services for its fiduciary consulting services division. Reporting to Argent Trust Company chief compliance officer Deanna Rankin and based in San Antonio, Rhodes is responsible for all aspects of compliance for Argent Trust Company. Rhodes has nearly 30 years of banking and trust industry experience. She most recently served as vice president and fiduciary compliance specialist with Frost Bank in San Antonio, where she had worked since beginning her career in 1989. Rhodes joined the bank as a trust operations cash disbursement specialist, later serving as vice president/wealth management systems analyst.

Raymond James Financial’s board of directors announced that Robert P Saltzman, an 11-year member of the board, decided not to seek re-election. Raymond James also brought in a 12-person team overseeing more than $560 million in client assets. The team operates as Financial Services & Investment Strategies Group and joins Raymond James from Wells Fargo. The business is based in Mountain Home, Arkansas.

The new joiners included financial advisors Jackson Rhoades; Jan Schmeski; Mike Stockton; Steve Bettenhausen; David Matty and Logan Stone. Additionally there are six FSIS team members whose roles include: office manager Cindy Mowry; client account manager Donna Kaczmar; client relationship manager Kim Pace; client estates & transfers manager Sandy Rehak; client data access manager Summer Obert; and client service manager Brock Bettenhausen. Starting in 2019, Steve Bettenhausen will serve as FSIS Group’s business controller.

The firm also named Tim Holcombe, CFP®, as its employee broker/dealer arm in Alpharetta, Georgia. Holcombe was previously at UBS. At that firm he managed about $119 million in client assets. He was joined by his son, Perry Holcombe, who is a trainee in the firm’s Advisor Mastery Program. The father-son duo operate as Holcombe Wealth Management. Tim Holcombe has more than 26 years of experience in the financial industry, having started his career at First Investors Corporation, and later working at Merrill Lynch. Perry Holcombe began his financial services career in 2018 after completing his bachelor’s degree in financial planning from the University of Georgia.

Raymond James recruited financial advisor Judy T Ross, AAMS® and her colleagues to join its independent broker/dealer business, Raymond James Financial Services. She is based in Woodstock, Georgia. Ross operates as J Thompson Ross Investments and joins the firm from Wells Fargo Financial Network, where she previously managed about $245 million in client assets. Joining her at Raymond James are Daren Sexton, director of portfolio management for J Thompson Ross Investments and RJFS senior registered associate; Patricia Hayton, director of client services; and Lauren Richert, client service associate. A financial advisor for more than 25 years, Ross began her career at First Union Brokerage Services, moving to AG Edwards & Sons in 2001 and remaining with the firm through the acquisition by Wells Fargo. She founded her independent practice at Wells Fargo FiNet in 2010.

Registered investment advisory business Prospera Financial Services said a team based in Lafayette, Louisiana became affiliated with it. The team of Carolyn French and Byron Reyes, overseeing $150 million of client assets, had previously been with UBS.

Founders Investment Services, an operation offered at Founders Federal Credit Union, has from Cetera Advisor Networks to join the broker dealer and RIA platform of LPL Financial. Based in Lancaster, South Carolina, the credit union was founded in 1950 to serve the employees of Spring Mills. Advisors include C David Tolson III, managing director and wealth advisor, and financial consultants Keith Benton, CFP®, Zachary Boerger, Cody Bowers, Jake Carr and Austin Terry. 

Mayco Financial Services also joined LPL’s broker-dealer and corporate registered investment advisor (RIA) platforms. The firm reported that it served approximately $170 million of client brokerage and advisory assets as of October 17 this year. The firm, based in Lakewood, New Jersey, joins from Cadaret Grant. The business was founded by Morris “Moshe” Mayerfeld, CFP®, who has been an advisor for over 30 years. Gabriel Fisher of Brooklyn, New York, joined Mayco in 1998. Mayerfeld’s son-in-law, Yisroel Meir Krohn, CFP®, of Toms River, New Jersey, joined the firm in 2011.

Cresset Family Office recruited three new senior figures to join its team. Dan Terlep joined as senior managing director of financial and tax strategy; Tony McEahern, joined as senior MD, wealth planning; and Joel Alberts, joined as client advisor, Midwest Region. 

Capital Counsel, an independent investment management firm based in New York City, appointed Daniel McCarron as director of business development. Prior to joining Capital Counsel, McCarron worked as national channel manager at BNY Mellon’s Pershing Advisor Solutions. McCarron led the alignment of the two separate advisor solutions businesses of BNY Mellon and Pershing. Previously, McCarron was head of BNY Mellon Wealth Management’s National Custody and Advisor Solutions business, where he was responsible for managing sales and service delivery to investment advisors, consultants and high net worth individuals.

Raymond James Financial named a chief investment officer for its private client group. The CIO, Larry Adam, used to work at Deutsche Bank, where he was chief investment officer – Americas; he was also the global chief investment strategist for Deutsche Bank Wealth Management. He joined Alex Brown & Sons in 1992 and continued with the firm through the 1997 acquisition by Bankers Trust and the subsequent purchase by Deutsche Bank in 1999. Raymond James purchased the business from Deutsche Bank in 2016. 

DWS Group named Kumber Husain as head of private equity, Americas; this was a newly formed role. Based in New York, Husain reports to Mark McDonald, global head of private equity, who joined DWS in November 2017. Previously, Husain – with more than 16 years’ industry experience – was part of the senior investment team at Morgan Stanley Alternative Investment Partners, where he also sat on the private markets investment committee. Prior to this, he spent five years at WP Global Partners.

Argent Trust, part of the Argent Financial Group based across the southern states of the US, appointed new senior vice presidents to lead its funeral home trust business following the firm's new alliance with Live Oak Bank’s trust business. Steve Jackson is a Certified Trust and Financial Advisor, Certified Financial Planner and Certified Public Accountant and has more than 30 years of banking, trust and funeral services experience, while Jim Breaux has more than 20 years of banking and trust industry experience. Jackson, based in Wilmington, North Carolina, joined Argent as senior vice president of the company’s funeral and cemetery division.

Breaux, based in New Orleans, joined as senior vice president and national sales executive. They all report to Mark Milton, senior vice president of institutional services, also based in New Orleans. Before joining Argent Trust, Jackson was CEO of Live Oak Trust, a division of Live Oak Bank. Previously, he was senior vice president and regional trust manager for Regions Bank.

Goldman Sach's private wealth management arm named its region head for Florida and Latin America, while also unveiling another senior hire in the PWM business. Rob Barlick is the region head of PWM in Florida and Latin America, while Greg Ferrero moved to the role of private wealth advisor from region head of private wealth management in Miami and West Palm Beach.

A fund designed to tap into the tax incentives created by new US Qualified Opportunity Zones recruited a senior figure from community finance and impact investing. The Cresset-Diversified QOZ Fund and Cresset Partners, part of Cresset Capital Management, said Matt Reilein joined the fund and Cresset team. Reilein spent more than 15 years forming relationships and building teams to deliver market-driven capital to low-income communities as head of impact investing with O’Brien-Staley Partners and prior to that as MD, Community Development Banking, with JP Morgan.

RBC Wealth Management hired a new team in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. The Nearing Wealth Management Group comprises Gordon Nearing, CFP®, senior vice president – financial advisor, who joins with 39 years of industry experience;  Pamela Dallas, associate vice president – financial advisor, who joins with three years of experience; Nicole Molieneux, senior registered client associate; and Kelly Tullidge, client associate.  

Wells Fargo Asset Management appointed Joseph Wong as a senior solutions manager, working in San Francisco. Wong focuses on designing and implementing outcome-oriented investment portfolios as part of WFAM’s multi-asset solutions team, reporting to Jonathan Hobbs, head of US portfolio solutions. Hobbs joined WFAM in 2017 from BlackRock, where he led the client solutions office in San Francisco and was co-head of liability-driven investment in North America.

Prior to this, Wong was at Ameriprise Financial, where he served as a director on the asset Allocation team. Before that, he led the investment consulting team covering the private wealth and asset manager channels within multi-asset portfolio and investment consulting at Blackrock. He also held senior positions at Deutsche Asset Management in Australia and New York.