Wicks joins from Neos Capital, where he was a fund manager. In his prior career he had served as a US equities investment manager at New Star Asset Management and as a senior investment manager looking after offshore private client portfolios at HSBC Investment Management.

Reporting to Simon Miles, head of MLPM, in his new role Wicks will manage high and ultra high net worth clients’ portfolios while collaborating with the wealth structuring and advisory teams.

In another recent high-profile hire at Merrill Lynch Wealth Management, the firm last month named Peter Schmid - latterly of UBS - as the new general manager and chief executive of its Swiss bank. Schmid replaces Mario Alini, who had been acting chief executive and general manager of Merrill Lynch Bank (Suisse) since September.