The spring continued to be a strong period for moves and appointments in the wealth sector that was buffeted by the UBS takeover of Credit Suisse and the demise and rescue of Silicon Valley Bank.

Nucleus Financial Platforms, a UK-based independent, advisor platform group, appointed Laura Barnes in the newly-created role of director of business development. She reports to Paul Bagley, Nucleus’ distribution director.

Barnes has more than 25 years’ experience in financial services. She joined from Parmenion, where she was head of intermediary distribution for almost three years with responsibility for sales strategy and growth. Prior to that she served in senior sales management roles at Aegon, Cofunds and Axa Group.

Pictet Alternative Advisors named Linus Nilsson as new head of Nordics, based in Stockholm. He concentrates on direct real estate transactions across the region and reports to Charlie Baigler, head of acquisitions, direct real estate. 

Nilsson has more than 13 years of experience in the real estate industry and has held various positions in Stockholm and London. He joined from SBF Fonder AB, where he was the chief investment officer.

Pictet appointed Raymond Sagayam, as the 47th managing partner in the 218-year history of the firm. The appointment, subject to regulatory clearance, takes effect from 1 January 2024. Sagayam joined Pictet Asset Management in 2010 as head of its total return fixed income business to build and grow its long-short credit capabilities. He was later made chief investment officer for fixed income at PAM, and joined its executive committee in 2017. Sagayam also became equity partner of the group in 2018 and head of PAM for London in 2022. Prior to joining Pictet, Sagayam was a managing director for Swiss Re Asset Management in London. 

Robeco made three head of institutional sales appointments for the US and Canada, the Netherlands and the UK. Angela Ruane was appointed for the US and Canada, based in New York; Tim Kruis took on the role for the Netherlands, based in Rotterdam; and Arabella Townshend named for the UK, based in London. They report to Malick Badjie, head of institutional sales Europe, North America and Africa.

Facctum, a regtech company specialising in cloud-delivered enterprise risk-decisioning technology, appointed Syam Chintapenta as chief development officer and Onkar Inamdar as head of engineering. Chintapenta has over 26 years of experience in the banking sector, working for a wide range of firms including i-flex solutions (Citibank), Barclays and Standard Chartered Bank. 

Inamdar has worked for a number of consulting and financial services firms such as ZS, Fiserv, American Express, and startups like Flexmoney. He has over 15 years’ experience in building customer-facing applications across banking and pharmaceutical domains. 

Suntera Global, a multi-jurisdictional provider of corporate, fund and private wealth services, promoted Alex Noel to chief financial officer and appointed Tom Cope as group head of finance.

Appointed to the group board of directors earlier in 2023, Noel was previously director of mergers and acquisitions after joining Suntera Global in 2020. He has over 12 years of industry experience in financial services. 

With over 20 years’ experience working in the international financial services industry, Cope has specific expertise of in-house finance functions. Most recently, he spent seven years with a FTSE 250-listed multi-jurisdictional service provider.

London-based digital wealth management platform Welrex appointed Chris Brils as its chief investment officer. Brils, who has 25 years experience in portfolio management, specialising in high-yield credit and ESG, has a track record of managing global and European high-yield and crossover portfolios. Past experience includes senior asset management roles in firms such as BMO Global Asset Management, Brookfield Asset Management, and ABN AMRO.  

Richard Charnock, a prominent figure in UK wealth management, joined the board of Handelsbanken Wealth & Asset Management as an independent director. He retired from abrdn in May 2022 after leading the discretionary business for 15 years.

Boodle Hatfield promoted David Rawlence to partner. Rawlence, who trained at the firm, qualified as a real estate lawyer at Boodle Hatfield in 2016. He has built a significant reputation as a go-to advisor for real estate acquisitions, disposals, financing and development as well as landlord and tenant work. Alongside David's promotion to partnership, the firm also promoted Fred Clark, Katherine Worrall, Katie Male and Michael Duffy to senior associate.

Candriam promoted Nicolas Forest, the firm’s global head of fixed income since 2013, to chief investment officer. 

Forest is responsible for leading a team of over 200 investment professionals, overseeing all of Candriam’s investment platforms, including fixed income, equities, absolute return, asset allocation and sustainable investment. He is based in Brussels. Philippe Noyard, global head of credit and deputy global head of fixed income, and in the group since 1989, succeeded Forest as global head of fixed income.

Adam Rollason, tax advisory partner at PKF Smith Cooper, was appointed chair of the Birmingham branch of the Chartered Institute of Taxation after serving as deputy chair since 2019. With 18 years of tax experience under his belt, he will lead the Birmingham branch of the CIOT for the next three years. Rollason has knowledge of corporate and personal tax matters in a variety of roles at companies across the West Midlands, including RSM and Grant Thornton.

Thomas Lloyd, the impact investment solutions business, appointed Nadir Maruf as chief investment officer. Maruf joined ThomasLloyd’s executive management team, reporting to Michael Sieg, the group chief executive officer. Prior to joining ThomasLloyd, Maruf was head of private markets at Tesco Pension Investment, where he was responsible for the private markets business and underlying portfolios, including overseeing all direct and indirect unlisted strategies. 

Kingsley Napley LLP appointed Daniel Sejas as head of its Restructuring and Insolvency practice. He is supported by Nicholas Hughes who also joined as a partner. Their former colleagues from HCR Sprecher Grier, Marieta van Straaten and Roz Gergees, also joined Kingsley Napley as legal director and senior associate, respectively.

Sejas, Hughes, van Straaten and Gergees work as part of the R&I team alongside Kingsley Napley’s existing insolvency specialists, including partners Michael Mulligan, Richard Foss and William Christopher, legal director Lucy Edwards and senior associate Daniel Staunton, in a new dedicated Restructuring and Insolvency practice.

Old Mill, the UK firm, appointed Amanda Browning as partner, head of Wealth Management. Browning was previously at Evelyn Partners (formerly Tilney and Smith & Williamson) where she was responsible for the integration of the wealth management teams following the merger. A CISI Fellow Chartered Wealth Manager, CII Fellow Chartered Financial Planner, Browning started her career as a cashier at Lloyds, and over the last 25 years has served in senior roles at Coutts and Rathbones Group before joining Smith and Williamson as a director in 2019.

London & Capital, a firm which specialises in dealing with clients with a US connection, appointed Kristin Schaefer as head of relationship management for the US family office. Her focus is on the cross-border Americans' client market. Schaefer, who previously led the private bank in Utah and Idaho for JP Morgan, has worked in international banking and wealth management for the past 24 years. 

Partners Capital appointed Euan Finlay as head of Europe, Middle East and Africa. Finlay is responsible for overseeing the business across the EMEA region, including mentoring the senior investment team and executing strategic growth initiatives. Finlay joined Partners Capital from Goldman Sachs in 2009, where he worked in their investment banking division focused on mergers and acquisitions.

UK law firm Farrer & Co made a series of senior promotions to partner level. They are Barbara Beasley in commercial property, John Davies in family and divorce and Alice Yandle in employment; Jane Randell in IP and commercial and Lindsey Cunningham in residential real estate became senior counsel.

Geneva-based asset management company Noble Capital Management SA appointed Nicolas Ganne as senior portfolio manager. Prior to joining NCM, Ganne was senior broker/derivatives trader at BGC Partners, where he was in charge of the High Touch initiative. 

EdenTree Investment Management, a specialist responsible and sustainable asset manager, appointed Leonora Rae as head of corporate responsibility and charity partnerships. Rae, who joined EdenTree’s charity team in 2019, works with EdenTree’s Corporate Responsibility Committee. Prior to joining EdenTree, Rae worked in the business development team at Cambridge Associates, partnering with endowments and foundations. 

Titanbay, a private market investment platform for private banks, wealth managers and sophisticated investors, appointed Stuart McGlynn as head of intermediary sales to lead the platform’s relationships with private banks and wealth managers across Europe and the UK. McGlynn has almost three decades of experience in sales and investment management, having started his career with Standard Life as a graduate and advancing to become head of EMEA for the merged entity of abrdn.

Universal Investment Group appointed Etienne Rougier as chief operating officer. Rougier started his career at AXA Investment Managers where he led several business reorganisation projects, most notably the outsourcing of AXA IM operations in Europe. In 2005, he was named global head of change management. He then moved to London to set up the multi-manager boutique Architas, a new asset management firm for AXA Group, where he was COO for five years. In 2013, he joined Alliance Bernstein where he spent almost ten years in various management roles. Rougier holds a master’s degree in finance.

Quilter Cheviot Europe, the Irish subsidiary of discretionary wealth manager Quilter Cheviot, appointed Andrew Fahy as chief executive officer. Fahy took over the role from Brian Weber who left the business at the end of last year. Fahy joined the business as head of financial planning in Ireland at the beginning of 2022 to help establish QCE’s financial planning capability. He had previously worked at Brewin Dolphin Ireland where he was head of tax and financial planning. Prior to that, he held a similar position at Investec Wealth & Investment.

Monument, the UK "neo-bank," appointed Craig Blackburn as chief of staff, reporting to chief executive officer, Ian Rand. Blackburn has extensive experience of leading strategic initiatives. Most recently, he worked at Estel Property Group Limited as chief operating officer. Prior to this, he served in several senior posts in the Royal Navy, including chief operating officer and de-facto chief executive officer.

UK wealth manager St. James's Place appointed Justin Onuekwusi as its new chief investment officer, reporting to Tom Beal, director of investments. Onuekwusi has more than 20 years of experience in the investment management industry. He joined from Legal & General Investment Management where he was head of retail investments, EMEA and head of retail multi-asset funds. 

Suntera Global, a multi-jurisdictional provider of bespoke corporate, fund and private wealth services, announced the appointment of Kathryn Wilkinson as head of operations. Wilkinson, who is responsible for providing operational support to the Jersey office, has more than 25 years’ experience in international financial services. Prior to joining Suntera, Wilkinson was director of central operations at the Jersey Financial Services Commission (JFSC).

Boston Multi Family Office, which is based in the Isle of Man with offices in Malta, made a clutch of C-suite appointments. Nick Gilbert, who joined as chief financial officer, leads all financial operations in the firm’s offices. A chartered accountant and a fellow at the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales, Gilbert has more than 20 years’ experience working across many different industries.

Stephen Wilson became the new chief operating officer and joined the group board and the board of Boston Limited. Wilson, who joined the firm three years ago, was promoted from head of group finance. 

Alex McNee – previously COO – along with chief executive Katherine Ellis, led the management buyout of Boston in 2019. McNee took on the newly-created role of group director, mergers and acquisitions. 

Boston also appointed a new chairman, Richard Grainger. Grainger has spent 30 years in corporate finance since qualifying as an accountant with PwC. He was formerly CEO of Close Brothers Corporate Finance and has chaired more than 10 businesses.

Canoe Intelligence, the US-based fintech working in the alternative investments space, made five strategic senior hires.

Aman Soni, VP of data strategy. Soni has experience in bank operations and private markets, including strategic sales and digital innovation. He worked for seven years at JP Morgan in London.

Betsy Daitch, VP of marketing. She has more than a decade of experience in financial services at LPL Financial, S&P Global Market Intelligence, Visible Alpha, and her own consulting business, Betsy Daitch Marketing Advisors, of which Canoe was a client for more than four years.

Brian Sadler, VP of enterprise architecture and scalability: Sadler has almost 20 years’ software engineering experience across past roles at Braven, S&P Capital IQ, and Comverse.

Kevin Winter, VP of information security: Winter is an expert infrastructure and information security professional with more than 20 years of experience in IT functions across multiple industries, including manufacturing, distribution, and financial services, through roles at Crane Currency, Thermo Fisher Scientific, EMC, and Heilind Electronics.

Taylor Wamsley, VP of finance: An operational leader with over 10 years of experience leading finance, operations, fundraising, and M&A across technology, private equity, and investment banking roles, Wamsley has previously held leadership positions with Cold Start Ventures, Seismic Software, JMI Equity, and Merrill Lynch.

Invesco, an asset manager, promoted Bethany Shard to deputy fund manager on the Invesco UK Opportunities Fund and the Invesco UK Equity Fund. She joined lead manager, Martin Walker, in the management of the funds. She joined the Invesco UK Equities team in February 2020 as an analyst, having joined Invesco’s Finance & Corporate Strategy function in January 2019. Previously she worked at Ernst & Young.

Midlands-based accountancy and advisory firm PKF Smith Cooper recruited Dean Castledine to the new role of private client director, as the firm expands its tax advisory division and private client services. Castledine has 20 years of experience and expertise in private client tax advisory services to PKF Smith Cooper. 

Quilter Cheviot appointed Sarah Osato as an investment manager within its charities team. Reporting to head of charities, William Reid, she joined from tax recovery specialists WTax, where she worked as head of partnerships. Osato has also worked in the asset management industry at Anchor Capital.

REYL Intesa Sanpaolo appointed Richard Albrecht as head of wealth management. Reporting to partner Lorenzo Rocco di Torrepadula, Albrecht is responsible for developing internal wealth management operational processes as well as promoting all of the bank's business lines as part of its 360-degree service offer strategy.

Albrecht has more than 25 years' experience in banking, including 15 years in Swiss and international client development. He is based in Geneva. Prior to joining REYL Intesa Sanpaolo, Albrecht was head of French-speaking Switzerland as a member of the WM European committee at Deutsche Bank, then a member of the executive board and head of wealth management for French-speaking Switzerland at BNP Paribas. 

Evelyn Partners, a wealth management and professional services group, bolstered its Edinburgh office with the appointment of Duncan Arthur as financial planning director. Arthur joined from Blackadders Wealth Management in Dundee where he was director of financial planning and worked for more than five and a half years.

atomos, the advice-led wealth manager, appointed senior financial services industry figure Jon Taylor as chair. Taylor, who previously sat as a non-executive director on the board, took over from Alison Endemano, who had been chair since Oaktree Capital Management invested in atomos in May 2022.

Accountancy firm Saffery Champness announced six partner promotions for 2023. 

Casidhe Baleri is responsible for managing the office’s not-for-profit clients. Baleri qualified at Saffery Champness in Bournemouth as a chartered accountant and later as a chartered tax advisor. 

Seb Cartwright, based in the London corporate finance team, works on transaction support and business advisory engagements across a range of sectors. Hilary Clelland, based in Inverness, leads corporation tax services for a range of clients in and around the Highlands. 

Sarah Donaghay leads the firm's outsourcing service line. Based in London, she has over 25 years' experience in providing tailored outsourcing solutions to clients and provides business advice based on the digital reporting delivered by her team, the firm added. 

The promotions also included London-based Kathy Johnson, a member of the firm’s sports and entertainment group. Johnson has 25 years’ experience of advising entertainers and production companies. 

Sean Watts, a corporate tax advisor with experience of advising businesses and their owners on their tax affairs across a wide variety of industry sectors, was also promoted. Based in Bristol, Watts' experience includes advising on tax matters associated with acquisitions, disposals and restructuring companies, employee incentive structures, tax aspects of debt and equity fundraisings and capital allowances.

Carmignac appointed Jacques Hirsch as co-manager of the Carmignac Portfolio Patrimoine Europe fund, a flexible, mixed Europe allocation fund. Hirsch, based in London, joined the firm. He took over Keith Ney's responsibilities, who left Carmignac for personal reasons. Hirsch joined from Ruffer, where he has worked since 2011.

Canaccord Genuity Wealth Management UK and Crown Dependencies appointed Duncan Stratford to the newly-created position of managing director of its UK business. With 20 years at the firm, most recently as head of the UK front office, Stratford was promoted to managing director and will take responsibility for the growth of the UK’s extensive investment management and wealth planning business.

Robeco appointed Ralf Oberbannscheidt as global head of Thematic Investing. Based in Zurich, Oberbannscheidt is responsible for overseeing the teams and furthering the development of the active thematic investing offering. He reports to Mark van der Kroft, CIO Fundamental and Quant Equity. Oberbannscheidt was formerly a founding partner and portfolio manager at Global Thematic Partners, New York, where he was responsible for analyst and portfolio management. From 1999 to 2010, he was senior portfolio manager at Deutsche Asset Management, based in Frankfurt and later for DB Advisors in New York.

Offshore law firm Appleby announced 12 senior promotions across its Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Guernsey, Isle of Man, Jersey and Mauritius offices.

Partner promotions:

-- Dean Bennett (Corporate, Cayman Islands); 
-- Claire Corkish (Dispute Resolution, Isle of Man); 
-- Andrew Jackson (Dispute Resolution, Cayman Islands); and
-- Farzanah Nawool (Corporate; and Dispute Resolution, Mauritius).

Counsel promotions:

-- Susan Fallan (Dispute Resolution, Cayman Islands); 
-- Stuart Fee (Corporate, British Virgin Islands); 
-- Paula Fry (Private Client & Trusts; and Corporate, Guernsey); 
-- Khiyara Krige (Dispute Resolution, Bermuda); 
-- David Lewis-Hall (Dispute Resolution, Cayman Islands);
-- Ashley Oogorah (Corporate, Mauritius);
-- Caljonah Smith (Private Client & Trusts, Bermuda); and 
-- Paul Worsnop (Corporate, Jersey).
 

North America
Republic Capital Group, an investment bank concentrating on the RIA, wealth and asset management, securities, and fintech industries, appointed Jim Collins as partner, managing director and general counsel. Collins was previously a partner at the M&A investment bank, Silver Lane Advisors, and at the law firm, Morgan, Lewis & Bockius, among other roles.

EncorEstate Plans, a fintech company that provides estate planning software for financial advisors, hired Riskalyze co-founder Matt Pistone as the firm’s first chief technology officer. Previously, Pistone was CTO for 10 years at Riskalyze.

Banco Santander appointed Christiana Riley as regional head of North America. Riley is responsible for all the bank’s businesses in the US and Mexico, with the respective country heads, Tim Wennes and Felipe García Ascencio, reporting to her. She reports to the group’s CEO, Héctor Grisi, who was the regional head for North America until he was appointed to his role in January this year. Riley has served in several leadership roles over the past 17 years in both Europe and the Americas. She was most recently regional CEO for Deutsche’s business across the Americas, based in New York. 

Manhattan West, a US wealth management and alternative investments firm, appointed Patrick McDonald as managing director and financial advisor. McDonald,who is based in Orange County, California, has more than a decade of relevant experience to Manhattan West, specializing in tax preparation and financial planning. Previously, McDonald was director at MAI Capital Management. Before MAI, McDonald was an associate in Goldman Sachs’ executive counseling division, providing tax preparation, wealth transfer, alternatives and investment management services to corporate executive and wealthy families. 

Argent Mineral Management, a subsidiary of Argent Financial Group, appointed Anna Rachal as mineral manager. Rachal, concentrates on mineral wealth, contract negotiation, oil and gas accounting and asset evaluation. She reports directly to David Luke, Argent Mineral Management president and David Smith, Argent Mineral Management Louisiana manager. 

Toews Asset Management named Cory Kendall as its new managing director of strategic partnerships. Kendall has more than two decades’ experience in sales leadership in the financial industry. Most recently, Kendall acted as fintech and sales strategy consultant for CK Consulting as well as executive vice president of sales strategy for The Pacific Financial Group.

Dynasty Financial Partners started to work with Andrew Marsh, a Canadian entrepreneurial executive, and founder of Richardson Wealth. Marsh’s work at Richardson Wealth helped propel it from a startup to having more than $30 billion of assets under management in 15 years – the business was sold in 2020. Dynasty created this new role as part of its “Advisor to CEO” program, which provides content and coaching for CEOs in Dynasty’s network of independent RIAs.

Fairport Wealth, a Cleveland, Ohio-based Hightower advisory business, appointed Matt Logar, its president, as CEO. With more than two decades of wealth management experience, Logar succeeded Ken Coleman, who retired after nearly 25 years of leading Fairport. Logar joined Fairport in 2021 as director of client strategy and in 2022 was elevated to the role of president.

Ameriprise Financial’s branch channel brought in father-son team Harry Slade III and Harry Slade IV. They serve clients in Ellicott City, Maryland. Slade III, a 25-year industry veteran and Slade IV, who has served clients as an advisor for the past eight years, joined from Edward Jones and manage about $330 million in assets. The practice will operate as Ellicott Mills Wealth Management and is supported by client service associates Lynda Day, Stacy Fernen and Shawn Kramer. 

IQ-EQ, the global investor services group, appointed Matt Okolita as regional chief executive for the Americas. He took over from Mark Fordyce, who remained as non-executive chairman at the firm. Okolita reports to Mark Pesco, IQ-EQ group chief executive. Before this new role, Okolita was global head of outsourced business services, and worked with Fordyce for a number of years. Fordyce joined IQ-EQ in 2020 with the acquisition of Blue River Partners and steered the business through four subsequent strategic acquisitions.

RBC Global Asset Management, part of Royal Bank of Canada, appointed Donald Sanya as head of US institutional sales. Sanya leads all US distribution efforts for RBC GAM’s US business. The role is a newly-created one and Sanya is based in Boston, Massachusetts. He continues to report to Mike Lee, head of North American Institutional at RBC GAM.

Raymond James brought in financial advisor William Anderson to join its independent advisor channel. Anderson owns SW Anderson Financial in Salt Lake City, Utah. He is also joined by office manager Emily Rodarte. In in the wealth industry since 2002, Anderson previously served for 21 years serving as an Army officer. Anderson holds both Certified Financial PlannerTM and Accredited Asset Management SpecialistTM professional designations. He earned a bachelor’s degree in engineering from the United States Military Academy at West Point, a master’s degree in space operations from the Air Force Institute of Technology and a master’s degree in business information systems from the University of Alabama.

International law firm Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner appointed Rob Crea as a partner, resident in its San Francisco office. He works within the corporate transactions practice as the firm’s new US head of fund formation. 

Definiti, a US retirement services firm, appointed former AssetMark chief executive Ronald Cordes and former US Senator Patrick Toomey to join its managers board. (Cordes is also a board member of Pathstone, the wealth management firm.)

Toomey represented Pennsylvania in the US Senate from 2011 to 2023, serving on the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs; Budget; and Finance Committees, as well as the Joint Economic Committee and the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction. Toomey was the Ranking Member of the Senate Banking Committee from 2021 to 2023 and previously chaired the Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Protection. Before that, Toomey served in the US House of Representatives from 1999 to 2005, where he was a member of the House Financial Services and Budget Committees. 

Cordes co-founded and served as CEO and executive co-chairman of AssetMark, the US-managed account platform. He co-authored The Art of Investing published by McGraw Hill. Cordes is currently an Advisory Council Member to LMP, assisting in deal sourcing, evaluation and due diligence, and is co-founder of the Cordes Foundation with his wife. He serves on the boards of MicroVest Capital Management, ImpactAssets, Align Impact, Pathstone and the Social Impact Lab at Lynn University.

Warburg Pincus, the investment house, appointed business figure David Gabriel as a senior advisor in its industrials group. Gabriel, who has more than four decades’ experience at a number of firms, works with Warburg Pincus to identify and evaluate new investment opportunities in distribution and other sectors and help drive value-creation at portfolio companies.

Global law firm Goodwin appointed Anthony McCusker as the firm’s next chair. The appointment will become effective at the beginning of the firm’s next fiscal year on October 1, 2023. McCusker will succeed Robert Insolia, who has served as chair since 2019 and as managing partner from 2012 to 2019.

Private Advisor Group, the US wealth management business, appointed Adam Schorr as chief financial officer – now an expanded role. Separately, the firm said that Petra Barone, previously CFO, had assumed a new role as head of finance. 

As CFO, Schorr's responsibilities cover leading the strategy for the finance and accounting teams, helping oversee the firm's capital strategy and investments, developing robust financial metrics and business intelligence, and engaging with stakeholders. Barone's remit is to oversee advisor compensation, advisory fee billing, accounts payable and treasury functions. He will continue to serve as the primary liaison with key sponsor and compliance partners. Based in Charlotte, North Carolina, Schorr has more than 17 years of financial services experience.

Raymond James welcomed financial advisor Rui M Forcada to the firm’s employee advisor channel. He will serve as senior vice president – investments. Based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Forcada joined from Deutsche Bank with over 35 years of experience in the financial services industry. Forcada began his career in 1986 as a service officer at Citibank’s international private banking department in New York. In 1989, he moved to Miami to continue his private banking and wealth management career at BankBoston International, Lloyds Bank International, HSBC Private Bank International and Deutsche Bank Wealth Management, having held senior leadership positions at the last two.

Raymond James announced that Art A Garcia, former chief financial officer at Ryder System, and Raymond W McDaniel, chairman of Moody’s Corporation, had joined its board of directors. 

Monetary Metals, a business headquartered in Arizona, appointed Jeff Deist as general counsel. Deist is a former president of the Mises Institute, a US think tank that advocates the classical liberal position on economics and other topics. Deist had been president of the Mises Institute since 2013. Before that, he was chief of staff for congressman Ron Paul, and worked in private equity, mergers and acquisitions, and tax law. 

Asia-Pacific
Impax Asset Management, the UK-based investment firm focused on “sustainable investments,” appointed Yasumitsu Iwasa as head of Japan. Iwasa has almost 30 years’ investment banking and fund management experience in Japan. Prior to joining Impax in March, he was head of Japan at Fullerton Fund Management, an asset management arm of Temasek Group. 

Brown Advisory, which opened an office in Japan, appointed Toshiyuki Murasawa, a financial services veteran with over 25 years’ experience, as head of Japan Office. Murasawa was formerly at Credit Suisse Asset Management. He reports to Walter Beckett, head of Asia Pacific, who relocated to Singapore from London in 2019.

Union Bancaire Privée appointed Andrew Chin as team head, North Asia. Based in Hong Kong, Chin reports to Ivan Wong, region head North Asia and chief executive Hong Kong. Chin was most recently desk head – UHNW Hong Kong at HSBC Global Private Banking, where he managed a team of senior relationship managers and worked closely with institutional family offices in Asia. Prior to that, he was head of investment counselling, also at HSBC Global Private Banking, covering Hong Kong, the Philippines and international markets. 

DBS appointed venture capitalist David Ho to the boards of DBS Group Holdings and DBS Bank. Following the appointment, Ho stepped down from the board of DBS Bank (Hong Kong), which he has served on since March 2019. Ho is chairman and founder of Kiina Investment, a venture capital company that invests in startups in the technology, media and telecommunications industries. He also serves as a member of the boards of Air Products and Chemicals Inc, US-based Qorvo, Sun Life Financial and Sun Life Assurance Company of Canada.

Citigroup appointed Vikram Singh as chief executive for its Malaysia business. He replaced Usman Ahmed who has joined National Bank of Bahrain as CEO. Singh also has oversight of the Citi Solutions Centers in Malaysia. He reports to Amol Gupte, South Asia and ASEAN head for Citigroup. Singh, who joined Citigroup in 1999, has 24 years’ corporate banking experience, managing 18 markets in Asia-Pacific.

Thomas Lloyd, the impact investment solutions business, appointed Nadir Maruf as chief investment officer to drive the firm’s expansion. Maruf joined ThomasLloyd’s executive management team, reporting to Michael Sieg, the group chief executive officer. He is responsible for developing and executing the group’s investment strategy, helping to drive the firm’s expansion as an impact investor in sustainable energy infrastructure projects across Asia, drawing on more than 25 years’ experience in alternative investments.

Manulife Hong Kong appointed Thaddeus Yu as chief strategy officer and Alice Li as chief communications officer for its Hong Kong and Macau operations. They report directly to Patrick Graham, chief executive officer of Manulife Hong Kong and Macau. Yu succeeded Carrie Tong, who was recently appointed as chief operations officer for Hong Kong and Macau. A qualified actuary with over 15 years of experience in various local and regional positions at Cigna, AIA, and Bank of Montreal Insurance, Yu joined Manulife's Asia Strategy team in 2021. 

Li’s responsibilities include leading strategy development for external and internal communication goals, building the corporate reputation and a culture of pride, and promoting the company's global Impact Agenda, aligned with Manulife’s global communications team and strategy. With more than two decades of experience in corporate and marketing communications, Li is a seasoned professional who joined Manulife in 2020. 

Franklin Templeton appointed former Eastspring figure Benjarong Techamuanvivit to the newly-created role of head of Thailand Business. Techamuanvivit, who is based in Singapore, reports to Christian Bucaro, head of retail for Asia at Franklin Templeton. 

With more than 20 years of industry experience in Thailand’s financial services industry, Techamuanvivit previously worked as deputy managing director, head of corporate strategy, product, digital and marketing at Eastspring Asset Management (Thailand) Co. 

Simons & Simmons, the international law firm, appointed Angelia Chia as a partner in the banking and finance team in Singapore. Chia has more than 25 years of experience in trade and commodity finance. 

Julius Baer made a number of Southeast Asia leadership appointments, including making Chin Lit Lee as head of Southeast Asia, and Yee Kim Tan as Singapore branch manager. Kevin Tay took on Tan’s previous role as group head for Southeast Asia. Tay most recently served as head of wealth planning and family office services. He reports to Tan in his new role.

Yee Kim Tan was most recently group head of Southeast Asia at the bank. Prior to joining Julius Baer in 2015, he worked with Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank and JP Morgan. He reports to Jimmy Lee, member of the executive board, Julius Baer Group and head of the Asia-Pacific region. Tan reports to Lee. This new responsibility added to Tan’s roles as Greater China (Singapore) location head and group head. In his expanded position, he oversees the Singapore branch’s daily operations, risk controls, and governance. Benjamin Sim continued in his role as deputy branch manager and chief operating officer in Singapore.

Knight Frank expanded its Private Office to Hong Kong and appointed Ho-Pin Tung as head. Tung, a Dutch-born Chinese who grew up and was educated in the Netherlands before returning to Asia, joined Knight Frank with a one-of-a-kind network. With a career as a professional racing car driver, Tung made history as the first Chinese racing car driver in Formula 1 and IndyCar and won multiple international championships, including the 24 Hours Le Mans race, the world’s largest automotive endurance race. He was also the co-founder and executive of Jackie Chan DC Racing. Tung leads Knight Frank’s newly-created Private Office in Hong Kong, advising private clients on their global real estate portfolios.

Farro Capital, a Singapore-based wealth management platform and multi-family office, appointed Vincent Valladares as a senior advisor. Valladares has more than 27 years’ international financial services experience in India, the Middle East, Singapore, and Australia. He has held several leadership positions within financial institutions, including executive director at Bank of Singapore; head of commercial banking at RBL Bank; and managing director, Middle East head of commercial banking at Citibank.

Janus Henderson Investors appointed the former head of funds distribution at Aberdeen Standard Investments, Shanice Loo. In her newly-created role, she is director of sales management. Among various tasks, Loo coordinates sales campaigns, oversees the distribution team workflow and manages Janus Henderson’s master agent relationship in Taiwan. Loo reports to head of intermediary sales, Asia ex Japan, Alexander Ng, who joined the firm in July 2022.

The Family Office Association Hong Kong appointed Teresa Lee, Michel Lee and Grant Ko to chair the newly-launched Wealth Management Sub Committee, Crypto Sub Committee and Education and Research Sub Committee respectively.

With over 20 years of banking experience focusing on private wealth and family offices, Lee specialises in providing solutions for high net worth clients in Greater China. Michel Lee is currently the executive president of HashKey Group. He has more than 25 years of international investment banking experience. Grant Ko, who is the co-founder and chairman of Wisdom Group Holdings, has over 25 years of experience in the financial services industry at multinational private banks covering the Greater China region. He also has experience in the asset management sector, advising wealthy families and individuals as well as corporates on wealth planning, portfolio management and investment markets. 

Nomura appointed former Citi Private Bank top figure Dr Rudolf Hitsch in the newly-created role of head of North Asia for its international wealth management business. He had the same role at the private bank of Citigroup. Working in the private banking sector for 25 years, Dr Hitsch spent more than 12 years at Citigroup, building its offshore mainland China and Taiwan private banking business and overseeing the growth of the Hong Kong business. Prior to that, he spent another 12 years at Goldman Sachs Private Wealth Management in Hong Kong, where his last assignment was to lead a China team.

HSBC Bank (Singapore) appointed two new directors to join its board: Sam Liew and Colin Bell. Liew is managing partner, government strategic business group at Singtel NCS Group. Prior to this role, he was managing director at GIC’s technology group and headed up its business partner and solutions division.

Bell, who is chief executive at HSBC Bank and HSBC Europe, joined the UK/Hong Kong-listed group in July 2016 where he has served in a number of senior roles. Before this, he was at UBS working as head of compliance and operational risk control and, prior to that, he spent 16 years in the British Army. A former top EFG Bank figure in Singapore, among recent moves, earlier this year he moved to HSBC Private Banking. Manoj Ramarao took up the post of managing director, head of global India business.