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Executive Moves December 2008

Rachel Walsh

5 January 2009

The following moves took were reported in December 2008.

UK                                                                                                                               

The nephew of Bruno Schroder, the billionaire controlling shareholder of the Schroders fund management group which includes a private banking business, was promoted to the main board in a boardroom shakeup.

Philip Mallinckrodt was promoted to the board in recognition of his success in transforming the group's private banking division, Schroders said in a statement.

Stephen Brooks, the finance director, is leaving the company and will be succeeded by Kevin Parry, who is a Schroders non-executive director and audit committee chairman.

Affiliated Managers Group, a Boston-based asset management company appointed Gordon Hogarth as managing director in charge of European distribution at its London office. In this newly created role, Mr Hogarth leads the company’s multi-affiliate distribution platform while catering to existing clients in Europe.

Mr Hogarth's appointment follows the opening of AMG's London office in February and its appointment of David Waite to lead AMG's Middle East effort.

UK investment bank and wealth manager Close expanded its investment management division with four new appointments.

Andrew Buchanan and Rebecca Chambers were appointed to strengthen Close’s offshore investment management capability and work alongside the existing investment specialists.

Mr Buchanan rejoined Close as senior portfolio manager after a spell at Coutts in Jersey and is responsible for the day-to-day management of a portfolio of discretionary investment management accounts. Ms Chambers joins from university as trainee portfolio manager. Both are based in the Jersey office.

Two further appointments focused on relationship management and client service. Mohamed Baluchi and Andrew Tattersall take up senior manager roles within the investment management division.

Hal Catherwood took up leadership of the Belfast office of London-listed private client investment manager Brewin Dolphin, having helped set up the office with Henry Algeo and Randal Herron in 2005.

Mr Algeo, previous head of the Belfast office, was appointed regional managing director for the Scottish and Irish region.

Longbridge Search & Selection, the recruitment company with offices in the UK and Europe, appointed Lyssa Barber to its private wealth management team to develop its capabilities in regions such as the Middle East. Ms Barber previously worked at McKinsey Mortreuil Clarke, an executive search firm, and Lockwood Gibb & Associates, another recruiter.

UK-based private bank Coutts appointed two private bankers to its new team in Cheltenham in the west of England as part of the firm’s continued expansion in the UK regions.

The appointees were Charlotte Ellison and Phil Needham, who joined from HBOS and NatWest Private Banking respectively. The Coutts Cheltenham office in Bayshill Road, Cheltenham, was opened on 29 October 2008, as part of the third wave of Coutts' regional expansion programme.

UK financial services provider Matrix Group put together their in-house funds of hedge funds team. The new team of six is headed by chief investment officer Stuart Ratcliff.

In September, Mr Ratcliff joined Matrix from Collingham Capital Management where he was a partner and senior portfolio manager; his team is now in place.

Three senior analytic and investment staff report to him. Bechara Madi, head of macro and chief economist was previously a senior EMEA and European economist at Morgan Stanley before moving to North Asset Management as partner and head of macro and quantitative research.

Justine Lee, head of operational due diligence, spent the last six years as head of operational due diligence, fund of hedge funds, for First State Investments. In addition, there are two research and investment analysts: Christopher Clarke and Angela Brown will support the team, as well as a marketing and sales department of fifteen professionals.

Laven Partners, the London based investment management consultancy, named Kevin Quinlan as a director. Mr Quinlan joined from IMS Consulting and previously worked for the FSA Enforcement Division.

UniCredit-owned Pioneer Investments made two senior additions to its UK institutional team: Ian Burton joins as head of UK consultant relations and Cecilia Wilson as client director.

In this newly-created role, Mr Burton is responsible for further strengthening the relationships with investment consultants in the UK and developing the company’s growing institutional asset management business.

Cecilia Wilson, who joined as client director, works closely with the institutional client servicing team to formulate a client servicing strategy for UK and Ireland institutional clients. She is based in London and reports to Richard Banks, global head of institutional client services. Before taking up this assignment, she was at State Street Global Advisors.

Carlton Partners, the UK merchant bank, was appointed the former managing director of HSBC Private Bank, Monaco, as joint managing partner.

Adrian Kyriazi had worked at HSBC for almost 20 years, most recently in the London-listed bank’s private banking operation in Monaco. Prior to that role, he was chief executive of HSBC Private Bank’s western region in the US. He was also chairman of Wealth and Tax Advisory Services, HSBC’s financial planning subsidiary for ultra-high net worth clients.

The wealth management division of UK stockbrokers Collins Stewart appointed Lee Bailey as head of financial planning, signalling the firm’s move to develop this side of its business.

Mr Bailey joined from US-based Fisher Wealth. As part of his business brief, Mr Bailey looks at the financial planning needs of Collins Stewart’s wealth management clients, Neil Darke, head of wealth management, told WealthBriefing.

Architas, the multi-manager investment company which is part of the AXA Group, further expanded its team with a number of appointments.

Anna O’Donoghue took up the role of senior investment analyst, coming from F&C Asset Management, along with Steve Allen, Evelyn Olusanya and Quentin De Bottini who join as investment analysts.

Mr Allen and Ms Olusanya joined from Morgan Stanley and First Company Financial respectively, while Mr de Bottini previously held positions with Hewitt Associates and Reuters.

In addition, Kieron McLoughlin, who has previously worked for M&G Investments and Skandia, and David Tasker, who was formerly with Selestia Investments, took up sales manager roles.

The chairman of the UK financial regulator’s panel monitoring how decisions affect consumers resigned after he failed to persuade the Financial Services Authority to widen the group’s remit amid the credit crisis.

David Lipsey stepped down as chairman of the Financial Services Consumer Panel, part of the Financial Services Authority. The FSA said his replacement will be announced in due course.

North America

US investment management group AllianceBernstein named Peter Kraus as its new chairman and chief executive, succeeding Lewis Saunders who is retired.

Mr Kraus joined AllianceBernstein from Merrill Lynch, where he held the position of head of global strategy, in addition to being a member of the management committee.  His previous roles also include head of the investment management division and head of firm-wide strategy at Goldman Sachs.

UBS Wealth Management US appointed Brad Smithy from Merrill Lynch & Co as an executive director and a market area manager.

Mr Smithy will work with John Matthews, the firm's Atlantic regional manager, and with other senior management based in Weehawken, New Jersey.

Mr Smithy joins UBS in January. He worked at Merrill Lynch for more than 15 years. Mr Smithy was most recently the complex director for Merrill Lynch in Palm Beach, Florida.

Former Lehman Brothers wealth management subsidiary Neuberger Berman's mutual funds named Tom Seip, an independent board member, as non-executive chairman and Robert Conti as chief executive officer. The pair succeeded Peter Sundman, who is leaving the firm.

Mr Seip, a private investor, has been a member of the funds' boards since 2000 and lead independent board member since 2006.

Mr Conti has been an employee of Neuberger Berman since 1980. During that time, he has held a variety of positions in connection with Neuberger Berman's mutual funds business. He most recently served as an executive vice president of the funds and is a managing director of Neuberger Berman.

Johnson Illington Advisors named former Goldman Sachs executive Daniel Nolan as managing director. He is responsible, with chairman and chief executive Hugh Johnson, for developing strategy for the growth of the New York state wealth and investment management firm.

The hire was part of a succession plan, although Mr Johnson has no immediate intention of retiring.

Mr Nolan joined from NPV Capital, a private equity and real estate investment firm that he formed in July 2007. Prior to that, he was a partner in the Ayco Co, a Saratoga Springs-based subsidiary of Goldman Sachs.

Stanford Financial Group formed an institutional consulting business to serve high net worth individuals and institutions in areas such as foundations, retirement planning, education and healthcare.

The new unit, based in Baltimore in Maryland, is called Stanford Institutional Consulting and focuses on clients with assets between $10 million and more than $1 billion, the company said in a statement.

SIC is led by veteran financial advisor Christopher Aitken, in the role of executive managing director and senior investment consultant, and by Stephen Thacker, managing director and investment consultant.

Other financial professionals on the team include Dawn Pfaff, senior analyst; Timothy Truss, senior analyst; Danyelle Berger, senior analyst; Ayaz Hasan, analyst; Shari Serafin, operations manager; Teri Houp, portfolio administration and Karen Doggett, senior portfolio administrator.

Prior to joining Stanford Institutional Consulting, Mr Aitken was managing director for Citi-Smith Barney Institutional Consulting. Mr Thacker also joined the company from Citi-Smith Barney Institutional Consulting where he worked for the past 16 years.

City National Bank hired Michael Dowling as senior vice president and manager for its personal trust division. He oversees all personal trust division activities at City National, including all account administration for trust clients in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Orange County, San Diego and Las Vegas.

Mr Dowling joined from US Trust, Bank of America Private Wealth Management in San Francisco.

Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, the US private equity giant, created a new asset management arm, naming William Sonneborn as its head.

The new business division is to called KKR Asset Management, the firm said in a statement. The KKR Fixed Income business unit is part of the new asset management operation. Under the change, Mr Sonneborn succeeded Saturnino Fanlo, who is chief executive of KFI, KKR Financial Holdings and KKR Strategic Capital Management, and David Netjes, chief operating officer of KFI, KFN and SCF, who are both leaving the firm.

Prior to joining KKR, Mr Sonneborn was chief operating officer of The TCW Group, an investment management firm with over $130 billion in assets.

US bank Wells Fargo selected an internal candidate to run its wealth-management group instead of a Wachovia executive as the former bank continues with its takeover of the latter.

Wells Fargo named Jay Welker, the head of its wealth-management group, as the president of the combined group, reported the Winston-Salem Journal, citing a memorandum sent by a senior Wells Fargo executive.

Old Mutual Asset Management hired Sanford Brown as director of alternative investments. Mr Brown reports to Keith McRedmond, director of global investment services. Mr Brown is responsible for client service, business development and marketing of Old Mutual Asset Management's alternative investment capabilities.

Mr Brown joined Old Mutual Asset Management from Deutsche Bank Absolute Return Strategies, where he was vice president and head of hedge fund distribution. Previously, he was regional vice president at GAM, the London-based investment manager.

US executive search firm Slayton Search Partners appointed Ellen Heller as its managing director in the firm’s financial practice in asset and wealth management, based in Boston.

Ms Heller joined Slayton from Whitney Group, where she was the leader of its North American asset management practice.

US Trust, Bank of America Private Wealth Management confirmed its new head to replace the outgoing president, as the firm’s parent continues with its $50 billion takeover of Merrill Lynch.

A Bank of America spokesman said that Keith Banks, president of Bank of America’s Global Wealth & Investment Management division, was to assume day-to-day leadership of US Trust, effective immediately, taking over from Frances Aldrich Sevilla-Sacasa, US Trust president, who has left the firm.

Ms Sevilla-Sacasa left to “pursue other opportunities,” a spokesman for the company said, but he did not elaborate on her plans.

After the Bank of America takeover of Merrill Lynch went through on 30 December, Mr Banks became head of Global Private Client, Institutional and Investment management.

Reporting to Mr Banks are the following US Trust leadership team members, including: Mick Ankrom, credit and banking executive, Doug DiVirgilio, Southeast division executive, Chris Hyzy, investment strategies executive, which now includes wealth structuring and specialty asset management, Ann Limberg, Northeast division executive, which includes the combined Metro-Atlantic and New England divisions, Tim Maloney, Central division executive, Thong Nguyen, Fiduciary Solutions executive, and Tracey Warson, West division executive.

After the BoA/Merrill transaction was completed and Mr Banks became head of global private client, institutional and investment management, the following individuals now report to Mr Banks: Steve Bodurtha, head of Institutional Retirement & Philanthropy, Mike Jones, who continues to serve as president of Columbia Management, David Bailin, head of alternative investments asset management, and Dick Silverman, business development executive.

Bob McCann, vice chairman and president of Merrill Lynch Global Wealth Management, is the new head of Merrill Lynch Global Wealth Advisors, working alongside Mr Banks. As a result of the combination of these two US firms, the enlarged company has almost 20,000 financial advisors worldwide.

UBS Wealth Management US added 132 financial advisors who managed $14 billion in client assets as the firm continues to beef up its recruiting efforts amid brokerage industry turmoil.

Kathleen Murphy, chief executive of ING US Wealth Management, joins Boston-based Fidelity Investments in a role that she will start in January 2009.

ING also announced new chief executives for three of the four parts of the realigned US business. Bill Lowe who was previously president of Wealth Management Wholesale Distribution, will be chief executive of US Annuities, whilst Catherine Smith, who was chief executive of ING's US insurance unit will become chief executive of Retirement Services. Butch Britton, who was previously president, US Life Insurance, will be chief executive of US Insurance.

International professional services firm Maitland hired Magda Embury as partner, and Bernadette Carey and Angelina Whiteman as associates in its Cayman Islands office. The team there is headed by Sara Collins.

Ms Embury most recently headed the property and banking department at law firm Solomon Harris in Cayman and joins Maitland as head of its finance and local business group in the Cayman Islands.

Ms Carey joined from Henry Davis York in Australia, where she was a senior associate specialising in commercial litigation matters, focusing on insolvency and restructuring.

Ms Whiteman joined from McMillan LLP in Toronto, which she joined after a stint with Maples and Calder in Cayman.

Lloyds TSB International Private Banking saw the loss of around twenty private bankers who were based in Miami servicing the Latin American market.

CorrectNet, a US information delivery and client reporting service for investment management firms, announced several senior appointments. Important among them were Aron Miodownik, who was named executive chairman and Bill Cline, a new addition to the board.

Two senior industry executives joined the management team. CorrectNet added Peter Lennon as senior vice president of project management. Lennon joined from Lehman Brothers where he was the VP Project Manager across several business groups. Previously, he was with Bank of New York (Pershing) and TD Waterhouse.

CorrectNet also announced the appointment of Bridget Piraino as director of marketing and alliances. Ms Piraino has led marketing strategies for global organizations in the financial services technology industry including AssetControl, SeeBeyond, TIBCO and Sybase.

Gerald Corrigan, a former president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York,was tapped by Goldman Sachs as chairman of its newly created bank holding company.

Two former executives from Fidelity Investments resigned to join Boston-based Putnam Investments. The moves continued an effort by president and chief executive of Putnam, Robert Reynolds, himself a former Fidelity executive, to strengthen Putnam’s senior management team.

Clare Richer and Andra Bolotin joined the firm as senior managing director and chief financial officer, and managing director and controller, respectively, Putnam said in a statement. Ms Richer held a series of positions at Fidelity, including chief financial officer, from 2005 to 2007. Most recently, she served as executive vice president of Fidelity management and research.

Switzerland

Deutsche Bank denied a report in German weekly Die Zeit quoting unidentified sources to the effect that its chief executive Josef Ackermann – who is Swiss - would consider moving back to Switzerland to become chairman of UBS if asked in writing with the backing of the Swiss government, according to Reuters.

"Mr Ackermann is not considering giving up the post of chief executive of Deutsche Bank," the spokesman said, pointing out that Ackermann's contract runs to 2010.

Zurich-based Vontobel Holding announced the departure of three members of its board of directors, while also naming three candidates who will be proposed for election next year.

Hans Caspar von der Crone and Heinrich Wegmann resigned, while Heinz Roth will not stand for re-election for personal reasons, the Swiss firm said.

Vontobel will propose three new members for election to the board at its general shareholder meeting on 28 April 2009: Ann-Kristin Achleitner, research director at the Technical University Munich, Frank Schnewlin, former chief executive of the Bâloise Group, and Philipp Cottier, former chief executive of Harcourt Investment Consulting.

Bank of China (Suisse) Fund Management, which was recently set up by the state-owned Chinese bank, recruited a team from Bedrock Alternative Asset Management in Geneva. BoC recruited Geneva-based investment manager Bedrock partners Daniel Penseyres, Grégore Haenni and Nicholas Salomon. The trio started their work at Bank of China on 1 December.

Mr Penseyres heads the fund selection and alternative investments division. At Bedrock, he was managing partner and co-portfolio manager of two funds of hedge funds and a large book of advisory mandates for ultra high net worth individuals.

In 2001, Mr Penseyres joined Darier Hentsch before its merger with Lombard Odier. Prior to that, he set up the alternative investments marketing, sales and advisory platform for Union Bancaire Privée in Geneva.

Mr Haenni heads the research and portfolio management within the fund selection and alternative investments division of BOC (Suisse) Fund Management. At Bedrock, he was a managing partner, as well as head of research and portfolio management. He was a portfolio manager of two fund of hedge funds, as well as tailor-made portfolios designed for UHNW individuals and based on proprietary multi-dimensional models that he developed over the last 15 years.

Prior to Bedrock, Mr Haenni was a senior qualitative and quantitative analyst at Pictet & Cie's hedge fund department. He was also the manager of the Asian multi-strategy fund of hedge funds and managed tailor-made portfolios of hedge funds.

Mr Salomon acts as operations manager of the fund selection and Alternative Investments division of BOC (Suisse) Fund Management. Prior to joining Bedrock Alternative Asset Management in Geneva as operation analyst in 2007, Mr Salomon was the operations manager at Cedar Partners, a single and funds of hedge funds firm in Geneva. He held a similar position with AIB/Mourant in Jersey, Bank of New York in Dublin and Société Générale in Paris.

Swiss private bank Julius Baer opened a branch in St Moritz, set up under a manager hired from UBS, as previously announced in June this year. The office, in Via Serlas, is managed by Heinz Inhelder, who previously was head of UBS Wealth Management in the fashionable Alpine resort.

Mr Inhelder was joined by three relationship managers from the region: Adriano Trivella, Marco Kleger and Fredy della Torre. The team offers specially tailored private banking services to Swiss and international clients in St. Moritz.

The Swiss-listed bank has opened a number of offices, such as an investment advisory office in Jakarta, to be called Julius Baer Advisors Indonesia, and an office in Cairo.

Alex Widmer, the chief executive of Swiss private bank Julius Baer, sadly died unexpectedly at the age of 52, the bank said.

T Rowe Price appointed Josef Bossi as a senior business development executive focused on Switzerland and Liechtenstein. Based in Zurich, he focuses on developing and managing client relations.

Mr Bossi joined from State Street Global Advisors where he had been a managing director for the past four years, before which he was head of marketing and sales.

Andrew Marks, head of business development for the EMEA southern region, said the hire was a visible and long-term commitment to the Swiss market.

Europe

SG Private Banking appointed Xavier Denis as economist and strategist. He is an addition to the investment team headed by Hervé Plista, SGPB’s global chief investment officer.

Mr Denis helps determine the economic scenario used to define the firm’s investment strategy, working with SG Asset Management’s strategy and economic research department headed by Michala Marcussen. As spokesman for the private bank’s investment committee, he is responsible for communicating this strategy inside SGPB as well as to clients.

Dexia Asset Management began reorganising its management team at the end of the year. Hugo Lasat and Naïm Abou- Jaoudé were appointed president and vice president respectively of Dexia Asset Management’s executive committee.

As chairman, Mr Lasat replaced Mr Abou- Jaoudé, who was previously head of the commitee. Mr Abou- Jaoudé has also been head of alternative management at Dexia Asset Management for two years, a role he maintains.

Mr Lasat was president of the executive committee on one previous occasion, from September 2001 to December 2005. In January 2006 he took over as head of private client services, retail and private banking and asset management services.

Mourant strengthened its recently-opened Dublin office with the appointment of Vivien Revenboer as a director. Ms Revenboer joined the professional services firm from JPMorgan Bank in Ireland, where she provided core treasury administrative services and value-added services to clients on an agency or outsourced basis. She was responsible for managing the front office, back office, business support and client service delivery functional groups and she was also a member of the senior management team and risk committee. 

SG Private Banking, the wealth management arm of Société Générale Group, appointed a team of three senior private bankers dedicated to ultra high net worth clients in Greece.

The team will is led by Miltos Karlos, who has the role of deputy general manager. Together with Nadia Iglezi as commercial director and Séverine Drevet as senior private banker, Mr Karlos will be responsible for building, developing and maintaining client relationships with UHNW individuals in Greece.

The team reports to François Farjallah, managing director and chief executive of SG Private Banking in Greece and a member of the executive board of SG Private Banking in the Middle East.

Mr Karlos, Ms Iglezi and Ms Drevet joined SG Private Banking from BNP Paribas Private Bank, where they held similar positions.

Mr Karlos was most recently deputy chief executive of BNP Paribas Private Bank in Athens, having previously held the roles of deputy chief operating officer of BNP Greece and head of private banking.

Having occupied a number of positions within the firm's private banking division, Ms Iglezi’s was most recently deputy private banking manager at BNP Paribas Private Bank Greece.  

Ms Drevet’s latest role was senior relationship manager at BNP Paribas Private Bank in Athens, having previously been a branch manager of the Greek private banking division of the bank.

Middle East

UAE’s National Bank of Abu Dhabi appointed Zeki Muderrisoglu as an associate fund manager to further strengthen its asset management arm.

Prior to joining NBAD’s asset management group, Mr Muderrisoglu was a technical analysis instructor at the Smartline Investment Training Institute in Cyprus.

Swiss private bank Julius Baer appointed Jean-Marc Suter as head of its Abu Dhabi representative office, effective from 1 January 2009.

Mr Suter joined Julius Baer from UBS, where he was the senior representative at its Abu Dhabi office. Previously he was chief representative for Credit Suisse in Abu Dhabi and Dubai. He also held senior positions in wealth management with a focus on the Middle East at Credit Agricole Indosuez and served as a vice president in the Middle East department of Credit Suisse in Geneva.

Asia Pacific

Barings Asset Management confirmed that its head of Japanese equities, Joji Maki, is to depart the firm by mid-2009 as a result of the team’s relocation to London. Mr Maki will remain with the group in Tokyo until the move is complete.

The head of the wealth management unit of Edelweiss Securities resigned his post. Subsequent to the departure of Anurag Mehrotra, the unit is thought to be being led by Naresh Kothari, a director at Edelweiss Securities. Mr Mehrotra is reported to have said that he has yet to take a decision on his next role. 

Jason Brand, president of Merrill Lynch’s Asia-Pacific operations, is leaving the firm, two people familiar with the matter said. Mr Brand, who’s based in Tokyo, is in charge of investment banking and private banking in Asia including Japan.

Bank of America, the third-largest US lender, said yesterday it plans to cut as many as 35,000 positions over the next three years because of the Merrill acquisition and a weakening economy.

French bank BNP Paribas named Serge Forti as its new Asia-Pacific chief executive and said it will increase headcount at its Singapore wealth management operation by 67 per cent by the end of next year.

The appointment of Mr Forti follows the move of former Asia-Pacific head Michel Longhini to lead the bank’s Wealth Management International business line.

Mr Forti said that despite global economic uncertainty, BNP Paribas will push ahead with large-scale hiring plans for its Singaporean wealth management unit, increasing headcount from 300 to 500 employees by the end of 2009.

Of the new appointees, Mr Forti said that about 30 will be senior relationship managers, each of whom will bring with them at least $200 million in assets.

EMP Global, a Washington-based private equity house that specialises in emerging markets, has named Chung Min Pang and Samir Soota as managing directors of its Asian operation.

EMP recently announced it was to join the BMB Group, after the alternative assets manager acquired a majority share of the company.  

Chung Min Pang will be responsible for the Greater China region and will be a member of EMP Daiwa’s Investment Committee. He will also support BMB’s activities in China. He was previously the China country head for both Bank of America and Salomon Brothers, and most recently headed Aureus Capital in China. Samir Soota will be based in Singapore to oversee the South and South East Asian markets. Mr Soota joined EMP from Principia Management Group, a specialty investment services firm which he co-founded with a private equity firm.

Citi named managing director Christopher Gammons as its head of private equity banking in Asia. Mr Gammons replaces Christopher Laskowski, who moves to Chicago.

Mr Laskowski remains a Citigroup private equity banker, handling deals for mid-western based buyout firms and hedge funds.

Australian financial group Macquarie appointed Bryan Shepherd to its Wellington private wealth advisory team. This hire further expanded the company’s New Zealand operation and follows the appointment of wealth manager James Malden last month.

Mr Shepherd specialises in providing investment and strategy advice to wealthy private investors.

Joining Macquarie from the Bank of New Zealand where he was a private banker, Mr Shepherd also spent 12 years with Guardian Trust in Wellington in roles including trust manager and trust and financial services consultant.

The chief executive of BT Financial Group, Rob Coombe, announced executive appointments to the combined wealth management team formed by the St George Bank and Westpac Banking Group merger, according to media reports.

Geoff Lloyd, the chief executive of Asgard, will become the general manager of advice and private banking.

Gai McGrath became the general manager of customer service, while John Shuttleworth, Tony Forward, Mark Smith, David Lees, John Frechtling and Shenaz Khan are the general managers of superannuation and investment solutions, technology, insurance, wealth transformation, finance and risk, and people, respectively.

BT also announced appointments to its advice and private banking business, including Mark Spiers, head of BT Advice, Jan Swinhoe, head of Westpac private banking, and David Hewitt, head of St George private clients.

Bettina Pidcock was appointed head of marketing, brand and communication in the super and investments business. The heads of practice management, business performance and channel marketing, and the head of dealer groups and licensee select have not yet been announced.

International

India’s ICICI Bank was appointed Chanda Kochhar as chief executive officer, making her one of India's most prominent businesswomen. 

Ms Kochhar is currently joint managing director and chief financial officer. She will replace KV Kamath at India’s second-largest bank on 1 May 2009, the bank said in a statement. Mr Kamath will take over from N Vaghul as non-executive chairman.

City veteran Bob Wigley, the current Europe, Middle East and Africa chairman of Merrill Lynch, is to step down, after a brief handover period. Wealthbriefing viewed an internal memo, in which Merrill Lynch chief executive John Thain told staff Mr Wigley was leaving the firm to focus on the next stage of his career.

Mr Wigley joined Merrill Lynch in 1996 to help spearhead the development of Merrill Lynch's European investment banking business, advising on many of the firm's largest European transactions. He became co-head of corporate broking in 2000, co-head of UK investment banking in 2001, global co-head of telecom and media investment banking in 2002 and chairman of EMEA corporate banking from 2003 before taking up his current position as EMEA chairman in December 2004.