Merrill Lynch Wealth Management has recruited Ritesh Rihani from Barclays Wealth to take up the newly-created role of head of alternative investments for wealth management across Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

While at Barclays Wealth Mr Rihani was responsible for origination and distribution for hedge funds, building out portfolio management capabilities, the feeder fund platform and tax efficient alternative products for specific markets, Merrill said in a statement. Before this he was responsible for hedge fund manager selection for Lehman Brothers’ European investment advisory group.

In his new role Mr Rihani is charged with developing and delivering a coordinated alternative investments strategy for Merrill’s wealth management business, in collaboration with alternative investment colleagues across Bank of America Merrill Lynch. He will also work to provide an integrated product and service programme for Merrill’s wealth management clients.

Based in London, Mr Rihani reports to Trang Chu, head of the financial products group, Merrill Lynch Wealth Management, EMEA. 

"His [Mr Rihani’s] extensive experience of Alternative Investments will further strengthen our offering to wealth management clients. The addition of this role comes at an important time as the UCITS III framework continues to provide protection for investors through rigorous risk, diversification, counterparty exposure, liquidity and eligible asset constraints,” said Ms Chu.