Antal Russia, the Moscow-headquartered executive recruitment firm, has appointed Karl Franzmann to head the banking practice and strengthen its banking recruitment division.

In his new role Franzmann is responsible for building a client-centric recruitment business, the firm said in a statement. He joined Antal from Barclays, where he was responsible for recruitment at the bank’s wealth management and global retail and commercial banking. Prior to that, Franzmann was a director of recruitment for Moscow-based Renaissance Capital, the Russia and emerging markets-focused investment bank.

“Karl is a key strategic management hire in line with our ambitious expansion plans for this year and beyond. He has hands on recruitment experience in the UK and Russia based international investment banks, he brings a wealth of exceptional local and international market knowledge and uniquely an in depth understanding of recruitment,” said Tremayne Elson, regional managing director at Antal Russia.

Antal Russia is one of the largest recruitment companies in Russia and the CIS and works on mid to senior level managerial recruitment across most industry sectors.

Antal International, the former UK-headquartered parent company of Antal Russia, sold its Russian business to the FiveTen Group in March 2008.