Brown Shipley, the UK private bank, has appointed Julian Hardiman as head of private banking in its Manchester office for its northwestern region of the UK.

Hardiman, who has been at Brown Shipley for seven years and has more than 12 years’ investment management experience, has filled the newly-created role of head of private banking - North West and reports to Ian Sackfield, managing director, the firm said in a statement yesterday.

Last year, Brown Shipley hired three senior private banking staff in Birmingham. On 1 December, it completed the acquisition of the investment management arm of the Scottish law firm Gillespie Macandrew.