UBS Wealth Management Americas has appointed Ajay Mehra as head of manager and fund research and managing director.

Mehra previously served as portfolio manager and partner at Columbus Nova, where he managed a global long-biased equity fund and worked with investment clients in emerging markets. Before that, he worked for Morgan Stanley and State Street Research and Management.

At UBS, Mehra will be responsible for delivering investment advice and guidance to financial advisors and clients, covering over $100 billion in institutional and retail managed separate account assets and more than $200 billion of mutual fund assets. He reports to Tony Roth, head of wealth management strategies. 

The appointment represents the Swiss bank's ongoing investment drive in the US on the client relationship side. Just recently, the firm brought in eight senior advisors with a combined total of over $1 billion in assets under management and $9.25 million in production to various branches across the country. In June, it hired 38 financial advisors with a combined $24.3 million in annual production and $2.8 billion in client assets. Thirty-seven per cent of its global workforce are in the US.