The MD has been chief executive of Intertrust in Bahrain, as well as holding senior posts at a raft of major banks.

Crestbridge, which provides global administration, management and corporate governance solutions services, has appointed Bashar Bazian as managing director of its Bahrain office.

The office, which became part of the Crestbridge Group in April 2017 after it bought Ohad Trust, serves clients in areas such as administration, accounting, reporting and trustee services to funds, corporates, employee benefits trusts, philanthropic and family office structures.

Bashar Bazian will be responsible for business development activity in the Middle East in addition to the growth strategy and performance of the office, which has grown by nearly 50 per cent over the past two years, the firm said.

Previously Bashar Bazian was CEO of Intertrust Bahrain, director at Merrill Lynch, Credit Suisse and UBS, and before that regional head for Arab Bank Group.

Former MD, Naser Obaid, will be a non-executive director of Crestbridge Bahrain BSC company.

At the start of April Crestbridge announced that it is moving to larger offices in Luxembourg, a move that appears partly driven by a need to guard against the impact of Brexit. The new offices are at 1 Boulevard de la Foire. Besides Luxembourg, the firm, which has more than 250 staff, also operates from Bahrain, Cayman, Jersey and London.