Merrill Lynch Wealth Management has bolstered its Middle Eastern operations with the addition of financial advisors Haytham Abou El Nasr, Mahmoud Bakr and Rani Mortada - a trio who will work as a team focusing on the US giant’s offshore business in the GCC countries, Egypt and the Levant region.

El Nasr, who is now is based in Dubai, joins from Prime Asset Finance in London, where he was chief operations officer, overseeing investment placement, fund raising, corporate finance and business development in the MENA region.

Bakr and Mortada’s new roles are London-based. Bakr joins from MHBI Consultants, of which he was the founder and chief executive, having previously worked as a relationship manager for UBS, HSBC Private Bank and Credit Suisse Private Banking. Mortada was latterly with Standard Chartered Private Bank, focusing on the Levant region. Before this he was with London-based Plurimi Capital, where he was an advisor to both institutional and private clients.

In their new roles El Nasr reports to Ahmed Barakat, market manager for the UAE, while Bakr and Mortada report jointly to Adam Horowitz, head of UK and Ireland, and to Tamer Rashad, head of the Middle East.