UK

London-based Hearthstone Investments appointed Lucy Hawkins as an assistant fund manager for its forthcoming residential property fund. Hawkins will assist in the running of Hearthstone’s Property Authorised Investment Fund, alongside lead fund manager and director, David Gibbins.

Ignis Asset Management made its head of strategic alliance, Nick Pogmore, redundant, with the positions of up to 20 other employees in its London and Glasgow offices also in jeopardy, following “strategic change” within the firm’s business.

JP Morgan Asset Management saw the departure of Jamie Broderick, head of the European asset management business. Broderick came to the US firm in the early 1990s and had since then led its individual investor business in Europe, its European mutual funds arm and most recently its retail and institutional operations in the region. He joined from the Boston-based investment management firm Wellington Management Company.

Rowan Dartington, the Bristol-based stockbroker and wealth manager, appointed Allan Rosengren as relationship development director within Signature, its discretionary investment management business for intermediaries.  Rosengren was latterly joint chief executive of Lighthouse Group, having previously been CEO of Falcon Group and Sumus. He is also currently a partner at Heron Capital, a consultant at Rosengren Consulting and director at Capitecs.

Deutsche Bank Private Wealth Management announced five appointments to its Glasgow office. The team has three new relationship managers in the shape of Stephen Lawler, Kimberley Nelson and Alison Fitzsimons. Lawler joined from Santander, where he worked as a financial planning advisor, while Nelson previously worked in Standard Life’s investment technical team. Fitzsimons has trained as a solicitor since 2008. Scott Ballantyne joined the team as an investment director. He latterly worked for Gillespie Macandrew, and has also worked for Rensburg Sheppards (now Investec) and Grieg Middleton (now Barclays Wealth). Jan Coutts is now part of the team as a client assistant. Earlier in her career, she worked for Barclays Financial Planning, O2 and GE Money Motor Finance.

London-listed Shore Capital, manager of the Puma range of venture capital trusts, appointed Christian Yates as a senior advisor within its asset management business. Yates will seek new opportunities and develop products within the VCT market. He was previously a partner at investment manager Hazel Capital, where he helped establish a renewable energy infrastructure business and launch several funds investing in public and private equity. He remains a director of the Hazel Renewable Energy VCT 2.

Martyn Surguy stepped down from his position as UK head of portfolio management at Deutsche Bank Private Wealth Management. He will be replaced internally by Paul Wharton, the company’s chief investment strategist, until a permanent replacement is found.

Schroders announced that its chief investment officer, Alan Brown, will step down from its board in May, and that the firm will not replace him. This means that the UK investment manager’s four investment chiefs - Ken Lambden for equities, Karl Dasher for fixed income and qualified eligible participant, Nico Marais for multi-asset and Geoff Blanning for emerging market debt and commodities - will report to chief executive Michael Dobson.

Ignis Asset Management appointed Graham Ashby to manage the UK Equity Income Fund within its UK equity team. Ashby has over 21 years of investment experience and was previously lead manager of the LV= UK Equity Income Fund. He was also recently head of UK equities at LV= Asset Management, and has previously worked for Credit Suisse.

UK-listed F&C Investments strengthened its investment and institutional business with the addition of Steve Ilott as head of multi-strategy investments. Ilott is a former partner of Alignment Investors, which is part of BlueCrest Capital, and was also global head of fixed income at Aberdeen Asset Management until 2007. He started his career at Robert Fleming & Company, before moving to Deutsche Asset Management in 1998.

Barclays Wealth bolstered its Cardiff office with the addition of Paul Kirk - latterly of Coutts - as regional head. In his new role, Kirk oversees Barclays Wealth’s activity across south Wales, based primarily within the Cardiff office, which now has over 20 employees. At Coutts, Kirk headed up the wealth management offering in the southwestern region of the UK, holding responsibility for developing the business and opening new regional offices.

Goldman Sachs reshuffled the board of its UK subsidiary following the resignation of four executive members. Yoel Zaoui, Christopher French, David Wildermuth and Matthew Westerman stepped down from Goldman Sachs International. The first three, who retain these primary roles, are respectively co-head of global mergers and acquisitions, European head of private wealth management and managing director in the financing division. Westerman, meanwhile, relocated to the firm’s Hong Kong office. He was recently named as co-head of investment banking for Asia-Pacific ex-Japan.

Kypros Charalambous, head of discretionary portfolio management for the Midlands at Deutsche Bank Private Wealth Management, left the post. Charalambous had been at Deutsche since March 2009, when he joined what was then called Tilney Private Wealth Management from Barclays Wealth. He was based in Birmingham.

Berkeley Law, a London-based law firm specialising in wealth advice for high net worth individuals, bolstered its CIS capabilities with the hire of Elshad Huseynov and Lydia Lavrova as senior counsel and trainee lawyer respectively. Huseynov was latterly with Deloitte, managing a portfolio of individual clients and multinational FTSE 350 companies, and has extensive experience in acting for Russian and CIS individuals and corporates. The hires are intended to help Berkeley Law capitalise on the growing number of HNW individuals from countries such as Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan who want to move their assets or themselves to the UK.

RBC Wealth Management, part of Royal Bank of Canada, hired Jeremy Parlons – latterly of Credit Suisse - as a director in its London-based UK private client wealth management team. Parlons joined as a relationship manager and he will be working on expanding the firm’s ultra high net worth clients, family office and entrepreneurial client base. He will be based in London and report to Philip Harris, the Canadian bank’s head of UK private client wealth management.

London-based environmental investment manager WHEB Group bolstered its asset management unit with the addition of a UK sustainability investment team - latterly of Henderson Global Investors - consisting of George Latham, Seb Beloe, Tim Dieppe and Hyewon Kong.

Arbuthnot Banking Group named Alan Karter as head of legal affairs, continuing a raft of recent changes which saw the installation of a new chief executive at the firm’s private banking and wealth management arm at the start of this month. Karter was latterly a partner in the corporate group at Simmons & Simmons and in this capacity advised Secure Trust Bank and Arbuthnot Banking Group on the November AIM IPO of the former.

Schroders, the UK investment house, appointed Marcus Durell as a structured solutions specialist within the portfolio solutions team, reporting to head of structuring Mike Hodgson. Prior to joining Schroders, Durell held positions at RBS and ABN AMRO, where he was a trader on the fund derivatives desk. Additionally, he has held positions at Citigroup and Marsh & McLennan, working on emerging market credit and structured insurance solutions respectively.

Rathbones strengthened its Edinburgh office with the hire of investment manager Keith Mackenzie from Williams de Broë. Mackenzie had been an investment manager at Williams de Broë since 2008, having previously worked at Gerrard Investment Management. Williams de Broë is part of Evolution Group, which was bought by South Africa’s Investec at the end of last year. Williams de Broë’s Edinburgh office is to be folded into Investec Wealth & Investment’s operation in the Scottish capital.

Dickinson Dees, the UK-based law firm with 100 employees in its private client practice, promoted Emma Moody to head of charities. Moody joined the firm in 2007 from London law firm Farrer & Co and has worked in charity law for ten years. She replaced Ros Harwood who left the company for Gordons, a law firm in Leeds.

Thomas Miller Investment launched an onshore private client business under Harry Morgan, who will join the firm in May as head of private investment management. Until enrolling at Edinburgh University in September last year, Morgan was head of investment management at Adam & Company. The creation of an onshore private client investment business in the UK is meant to complement the firm’s offshore operation in the Isle of Man.

Paradigm, the UK-based financial services group, appointed Noel Stubley to the newly-created position of finance director of the group. Stubley joined from Lloyds, where he was director in the bank's corporate markets and acquisition finance team. Earlier in his career, he worked for KPMG and Ernst & Young. In his new job, Stubley works with Paul Hogarth and Anthony Morrow in the senior management team with all the group's activities falling within his remit.

UBS Global Asset Management’s head of wholesale for Europe and the Middle East, Rob Lay, assumed interim responsibility for strategic alliances after the departure of current head Warren Tonkinson for Skandia. Tonkinson has taken up the role of head of UK distribution at Skandia.

Charles Derby, the UK financial advisor, moved past the 200-advisor mark, nine months after the business was launched in July 2011 and as it argued that regulatory change is driving its asset growth. Charles Derby, with £600 million (around $950 million) of client funds under management, aims to reach £850 million of assets under management by the end of this year.

Gallagher Benefits Consulting appointed Paul Kiely as director of private client services - a role in which he will develop and expand the south and southeastern UK region, including London. Previously, Kiely was a senior consultant at London-listed insurer Jardine Lloyd Thompson.

Martin Currie, the fund manager firm, appointed Matthew Franklin to lead global industrials and utilities research. Franklin previously spent 15 years at Schroders.

Ashcourt Rowan, the UK wealth management firm, appointed Richard Sinclair, who has been group chief operating officer, to its board. He previously worked at OfCom, the UK telecoms regulator, as Olympic and Paralympics delivery director - a role in which he was responsible for leading the team that deals with the electromagnetic radio spectrum for broadcasting the London 2012 games.

Hiscox, the international specialist insurer, made a trio of appointments to bolster the high net worth motor capabilities of its UK art and private client division. Steve Morse, previously senior development underwriter for the division in Birmingham and London, was promoted to head of the firm’s high-value motor arm, while Matthew Webb has been named head of motor underwriting for the UK. Webb has spent the last four years underwriting HNW motor business at Hiscox. Clare Limond was appointed as motor underwriter, having previously worked in motor roles at RSA and Aviva.

John Clougherty left his post as director of UK collective investments at London's Aviva Investors in order to pursue other opportunities. Clougherty headed a joint venture between Aviva UK Life and Aviva Investors alongside chief operating officer, Tim Orton, who assumed Clougherty’s role and responsibilities on an interim basis.

Thesis Asset Management, the UK-based solicitor-linked asset manager, recruited Lawrence Cook and Neil Lloyd to take up the roles of business development and marketing director and compliance manager, respectively. Cook joind Thesis from Towry Wealth Management, where he latterly managed the Bristol office. Before this he spent 25 years at Standard Life.  Lloyd, meanwhile, previously worked at Skandia for four years and before this spent seven years at Rensburg Investment Management covering private client and fund management compliance.

Close Brothers Asset Management saw the departure of Paul Chambers and Anita Juneja, who were chief financial officer and head of strategic relationships respectively. Chambers had been with Close for two years, having previously been an executive director at Lehman Brothers. Juneja had also been with Close since 2010, having previously been head of business implementation at Cofunds.

Protean Investments hired Bob Champney to bolster the firm’s investment solutions capabilities, with particular focus on macroeconomic dynamic index funds. Champney was latterly managing director and head of product development at Merrill Lynch. He has also been head of exotic derivative trading at Toronto Dominion, as well as serving as special advisor to the UK Treasury Select Committee during its investigation of the split-capital investment trust industry.

Rathbone Investment Management made four new hires, taking staff from Brewin Dolphin, Newton Investment Management and Turcan Connell.  Tony Milner and Caroline O’Callaghan joined from Brewin; both were divisional directors and ten-year veterans at their former firm. James Neill  had been an associate director at Newton.  Evangelos Assimakos, investment manager at Turcan Connell, joined Rathbone in Edinburgh and reports to office head David Macauley.

James Hambro & Partners, part of J O Hambro Capital Management, named four partners – including the appointments of Tim Boughton and Nicola Barber, and promoted Charles Underwood and Penny Kunzig. Boughton, formerly of Barclays Wealth since 2008, started as partner for business development. Barber joined the firm’s asset allocation committee.

Kames Capital, the UK-based asset management arm of AEGON, hired former LV= Asset Management chief investment officer Piers Hillier as head of overseas equities.

Henderson Global Investors hired Matthew Beesley as director and head of global equities. Beesley joined from Trinity Street Asset Management, where he was a partner.

The wealth and investment management arm of Barclays added Dame Judith Mayhew Jonas to the advisory committee for its wealth management business in the UK and Ireland. Dame Judith, who by profession is a lawyer, served as a board and non-executive committee member at firms including The New West End Company, London & Partners and Merrill Lynch in New York. Also at the same part of Barclays, Matthew Woodbridge joined the firm as a vice president, leaving his old post as head of investment at Chelsea Financial Services in London.

C Hoare & Co hired Simon Barker - latterly of Investec - as head of charities. Barker, who began his career at KPMG, previously worked for Schroders Private Bank, GAM and Asset Risk Consultants.

UK wealth advisory firm Towry announced that chairman Glyn Jones was stepping down after five and a half years in charge. The firm's current non-executive director Gerald Corbett will assume the vacant position.

Martyn Surguy, the former head of portfolio management at the UK arm of Deutsche Bank Private Wealth Management, joined Morgan Stanley Private Wealth Management.

Switzerland

Iris Bohnet, an academic, and Jean-Daniel Gerber, a former senior Swiss government policymaker, were proposed for election to Credit Suisse’s board of directors for three years at the bank’s annual general meeting on 27 April. Bohnet, a Swiss citizen, is academic dean and Professor of Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School. Gerber, a Swiss citizen, was director of the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) between 2004 and 2011. Peter Weibel stepped down from Credit Suisse’s board of directors. Weibel has been a member of the board since 2004 and was chairman of the audit committee from 2004 to 2011.

Rothschild Wealth Management hired former Morgan Stanley veteran Jon Andrea von Planta as the new co-head of its private client business in Zurich. Joining Rothschild from an asset management advisory company which he founded, von Planta took responsibility for the private client business with Riccardo Petrachi, who joined from UBS in March of last year.

Evelyn Lederle joined Jupiter Asset Management as the UK firm opened the doors to a new representative office in Zurich, taking on the role of senior sales manager for Switzerland.

Vontobel appointed Georg Schubiger, a senior manager at Danske Bank, as the new head of its private banking business unit, which will take effect from 1 September 2012. Schubiger took over from Peter Fanconi, who is left to pursue a “new professional challenge outside the group”. Schubiger reports to Zeno Staub, chief executive of Vontobel.

Europe

Jean-François Mazaud replaced Daniel Truchi as head of Société Générale Private Banking as part of wide-ranging changes at the top of the firm. Mazaud’s responsibilities include being a member the executive committee of the private banking, asset management and securities services divisions of the firm.  Patrick Folléa was appointed deputy head at the private bank, retaining his roles as CEO of Société Générale Private Banking France and supervisor of the private bank’s activities in Belgium. Previous deputy head of the private bank Yves Thieffry is to take up another position at the firm after holding this role since 2007.

Jersey Finance  appointed its technical director, Heather Bestwick, as deputy chief executive – a newly-created role in which she will assume several operational functions, including human resources, finance and IT. Bestwick, who retains her role as technical director, joined Jersey Finance in 2010, having formerly been managing partner of the Jersey office of international law firm Walkers.

Offshore law firm Carey Olsen added lawyer Elaine Gray to its litigation and dispute resolution group at its Guernsey office. Gray is the department’s second senior appointment in the last nine months. Gray joined after having been a partner at Guernsey law firm AO Hall, where she specialised in dispute resolution, employment law, intellectual property law and commercial litigation specifically based in the Channel Islands.

Societe Generale Private Banking named Nicolas Cagi Nicolau as head of commercial and marketing, reporting to Jean-François Mazaud and Patrick Folléa, the recently-installed new head and deputy head of SGPB. Nicolau had been deputy global head of market solutions at SGPB for just over a year, managing market activities covering fixed income, foreign exchange, equity and bonds, and overseeing the development and promotion of its structured products and derivatives business lines.

Societe Generale appointed Karim Hajjaji as chief operating officer of its global investment management and services division. Hajjaji was already chief financial officer of the global investment management and services division and will retain these responsibilities in addition to his new ones. He joined the executive management team of the division, reporting to GIMS head, Jacques Ripoll. Hajjaji was CFO of SocGen’s global investment management and services division since 2009, having previously been CFO of SG Americas from 2005

BNP Paribas moved Béatrice Belorgey from head of investor relations and financial information to deputy head of private banking in France. Belorgey is number two to Sofia Merlo, also co-chief executive of wealth management at the French giant. Stéphane de Marnhac replaced Belorgey as responsible for the investor relations and financial information. Separately, the French giant appointed Kaye Fontaine - latterly of SG Hambros – as head of private banking in Jersey.

UK-based Cordea Savills, the international property investment manager, appointed Clement Pigott as head of investment for France and Benelux. Pigott was named president of the firm’s new French unit, Cordea Savills SAS. Pigott has 20 years of industry experience in European property investment markets, having worked for MAB group, Goldman Sachs and UFG Credit Mutuel. In his new role, he reports to Richard Lake, who is head of European investment.

Geneva-based Semper, the asset management firm, appointed Jean‐Evrard Dominicé as chief investment officer - a role in which he will develop the firm’s investment products and services, with the additional task of opening a London office. Previously, Dominicé worked for Warburg Dillon Read in Zurich, and subsequently for Credit Suisse in London.

Credit Suisse in Guernsey appointed three of its managers to its board of directors. Chris Mountford, Ciaran O’Neill and Fiona Troalic were appointed to the position. Mountford joined Credit Suisse in 1995 and has worked across a number of areas at the firm; O’Neill is head of trust and estate advisory in Guernsey, having joined the company’s London office in 2007. Troalic joined Credit Suisse Trust in 1996 and is head of its legal and compliance department.

Deutsche Bank appointed Marc Hess to succeed Roland Folz as chief financial officer for its private and business clients corporate division, effective from the start of July. Hess was previously a management board member and chief financial officer of Deutsche Postbank.

Bank Sal Oppenheim (Switzerland), now part of Deutsche Bank, appointed former Coutts banker Rolf Frehner as an executive board member and head of Central and Eastern Europe. Frehner recently held the post of executive vice president for Eastern and Central Europe for four years at Coutts in Zurich. The focus of his work was on Russia and the CIS.

International

Lowenhaupt Global Advisors Australia, the family office firm, appointed Juliet Dunworth as its executive director. Prior to joining the firm, Dunworth held senior roles at Credit Suisse Private Bank, Pengana Capital and Westpac Private Bank.

Middle East and Africa

Emirates NBD appointed Jamal bin Ghalaita as the new chief executive of Dubai Bank, recently acquired by Emirates NBD, making it a wholly-owned subsidiary. Bin Ghalaita's appointment was in addition to his current position as CEO of Emirates Islamic Bank, another Islamic subsidiary of Emirates NBD.

The firm appointed Douwe Oppedijk, formerly the interim CEO of Dubai Bank, as advisor to the new Dubai Bank chief. Bin Ghalaita's move was aimed at unifying the management team of both Islamic subsidiaries under the umbrella of Emirates NBD. Bin Ghalaita was appointed as CEO of Emirates Islamic Bank in September 2011; he previously held the position of group deputy CEO, heading the consumer wealth management division.

Asia-Pacific

Prime Value Asset Management, the Australian equities fund manager, hired Shin Thin Wong as a portfolio manager from local rival Xantias Financial Management. There, he was head of investments focusing on Australian equities portfolios.

SFG Australia, the wealth manager formerly known as Snowball Group, added Naseema Sparks as a non-executive director to its board. Sparks currently holds a number of non-executive directorships, including Blackmores Limited, PMP, DealDirect, Chartis Australia, Sydney Dance Company and Racing NSW.

AllianceBernstein, the Australian investment management firm, named Ross Kent as chief executive. He served as senior managing director for institutional relationships since December 2006.

CommInsure, the Australian insurance and advisory group, appointed Olivia Sarah-Le Lacheur as a new head of national accounts to manage the firm's relationship with Commonwealth Bank of India's advice business. She will be responsible for the company's national dealer group portfolio, supported by the national accounts team. In the next weeks, a national accounts manager will also be named, said CommInsure.

ClearView Wealth hired Tony Smith and Tony Schiavello as state managers, responsible for selling life advice and wealth products in Queensland, Victoria and Tasmania. They have both been in the industry for over 20 years.

Pacific Investment Management Company, the US headquartered investment firm, appointed John Valtwies as Australia-based portfolio specialist to its global wealth arm. He joined from Morningstar, where he was a senior research analyst.

Altius Asset Management, the Australian boutique asset manager, hired Don Tammer, Wayne Jarman and Tony Fitzgerald as portfolio managers for the investment advisory committee, which focuses on domestic and international bond markets.  Stammer used to be an economist for the Reserve Bank of Australia and also served as director of ING Australia. Fitzgerald was previously the chairman of the credit committee of Global Asset Management, a subsidiary of Colonial First Statea. Jarman used to be an executive director of the NSW Government's asset management committee. 

Global auction house Christie’s, hired Jinqing Caroline Cai as managing director of China. She starts 1 June and was previously based at PR firm Brunswick where she was founder of the China office.

Cathay Financial Holdings, the Taiwan financial holding firm, hired Timothy Matson as chief investment officer for its joint venture with US asset manager Conning, in Asia. Matson joins the firm from ING Insurance in the US where he served as head of investments.

Deutsche Bank hired Gunit Chadha and Alan Cloete as co-chief executives for Asia-Pacific, replacing Robert Rankin who will become co-head of coporate banking and securities and head of corporate finance based in London. They start 1 June.

Japan’s Nomura hired Deutsche Bank’s former head of investment products for North Asia, Bill Tsang, as head of investment products in Asia outside of Japan in the wealth management division.

Citi India hired a new head for its private banking operations. Sameer Kaul assumes the position of head of private banking for Citi Private Bank India, after serving as head of the country's retail branch banking business.

Mitsubishi UFG Securities appointed its London-based head as principal executive officer. Cliff De Souza, currently chief executive of Mitsubishi UFJ Securities International in London, will become PEO of the Tokyo-based securities subsidiary.

Lowenhaupt Global Advisors Australia, the family office firm, appointed Juliet Dunworth as its executive director. Prior to joining, Dunworth held senior roles at Credit Suisse Private Bank, Pengana Capital and Westpac Private Bank.

Pictet Asset Management named Prashant Kothari as senior investment manager in the emerging markets equity team for the Indian equities division. Kothari was previously a vice president and senior investment manager at ICICI Prudential Asset Management Company in India.

DST Global Solutions appointed Tasman Tanner as senior client relationship manager for global third party administrators, responsible for global custodian accounts in Sydney. Also newly appointed was Michele Harrick as client solutions manager, responsible for defining, designing and supporting the sales of client-specific solutions. Tanner is now based in Sydney, while Cameron is based in Melbourne. The hires came on the heels of the appointment of Fran Thompson as head of client relationships and new business for Asia.

Suncorp Group added Dr Doug McTaggart and Michael Cameron to its board as non-executive directors. McTaggart is set to step down from his role as chief executive of the Queensland Investment Corporation in April, while Cameron is currently the CEO and managing director of The GPT Group, an Australian property firm.

HSBC Global Asset Management appointed Sten Ankarcrona as chief executive for Singapore, replacing Patrick Tse who has taken a regional business management post for the Hong Kong division. Ankarcrona joined the company in 2004 as managing director for the Stockholm branch and then became head of sovereigns and supranationals Asia-Pacific in Singapore in 2010. Before HSBC, he was a senior portfolio manager for US equities at Nordea Investment Management.

Citi named Han Kwee Juan as chief executive and country business manager for Singapore. Han was previously the head of retail banking, which he assumed in August last year. He took over from Anil Wadhwani, who was appointed head of cards and personal loans for Citi Asia-Pacific.

HSBC appointed Vineet Vohra as regional head of wealth development for Asia-Pacific based in Hong Kong. Vohra was a general manager for Asia wealth management at Australia and New Zealand Banking Group. He departed the company amid a series of cost cutting initiatives at the Melbourne firm amounting to around 1,000 jobs terminated.

Khan Investment Management, the Cayman-based investment advisory firm, brought in Narantuguldur Saijrakh to head its new representative office in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. Saijrakh resigned from his role as general manager of Asia Pacific Securities, the brokerage and dealing arm of Asia Pacific Investment Partners, to focus on being director of Khan Investment Management.

Swiss financial group CLS Group Holdings appointed Makoto Miyazaki as general manager, Asia-Pacific based in Tokyo. Miyazaki joined the firm from MST Insurance Service, where he was senior managing director. At CLS, he is responsible for all Asia-Pacific region related operations, reporting to Alan Bozian, chief executive officer. He replaced Kiyoshi Morofushi who retired after 12 years with the company.

Blackstone, the New York investment and advisory firm, added two senior members to its Asian private equity team. Yi Luo and Edward Huang joined as senior managing director and managing director, respectively, both with a focus on the Greater China market. Luo was previously with Carlyle Group in Shanghai and Hong Kong, while Huang was with Morgan Stanley Private Equity Asia in Hong Kong. Both report to Michael Chae, head of private equity for Blackstone Asia-Pacific.

Nikko Asset Management chairman and chief executive Timothy MacCarthy announced his retirement at the end of the fiscal year. His old post was assumed by current head of international and institutional business Charles Beazley in 1 April. The moves are part of the Japanese firm's long-agreed succession plan, the firm said.

Global investment firm BNY Mellon announced the appointment of Aneish Kumar as country executive for India and chief representative of the company's Mumbai representative office. Kumar brings over 30 years of industry experience to the role, taking over from Navneet Singh, who  retired in February.

Ibbotson Associates Australia, the asset management unit of Morningstar Investment Management, hired Damian Holland as managed account solutions head. Prior to this role, he was the group head of distribution at Armytage Group and also served as managing director of Ralton Asset Management. At Ibbotons, he is responsible for developing and managing the delivery of managed account portfolios.

Matthew Koder, the former head of Asia-Pacific corporate and investment banking at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, was appointed president of the region. Koder joined the company in June 2011 from UBS and now reports to Thomas Montag, president of global banking and markets. Meanwhile, Brian Brille, current president, assumed the new position of chairman for Asia-Pacific.

Credit Suisse hired two senior analysts from Samsung Securities to grow its Asia-Pacific equity research team. Viktor Shvets was hired as managing director and head of thematic equity research Asia-Pacific, based in Hong Kong, while Timothy Ross became managing director and head of Asia-Pacific transport research. Both report to Ernest Fong, head of equity research for non-Japan Asia.

A senior manager who previously worked at the Asia wealth management division of Standard Chartered was named chief of the UK and Jersey-based wealth unit. Bjorn Stauch relocated from Singapore to the London office for the role, replacing Tim Hinton, who has moved from the London division to Singapore.

HSBC Amanah Malaysia strengthened its retail banking and wealth management units with the appointment of Rizwan Jawaid as country director. Jawaid joined from HSBC Global Amanah where he worked for over seven years, most recently as head of the bank's credit cards business in Saudi Arabia.

UK-headquartered Aberdeen Asset Management named Charles Macgregor as head of credit research for Asia-Pacific. Macgregor joined from Aviva Investors Asia in Singapore, where he was senior vice president in charge of Asian credit research. Concurrently, the firm announced that Thu Ha Chow is being relocated to Singapore as a senior credit analyst.

Asset management firm BlackRock appointed Joseph Pacini as head of BlackRock Alternative Investors Strategy Group for Asia-Pacific ex-Japan. Pacini previously worked at JP Morgan Private Bank (Asia) where he was head of alternative investments. At his new role, he is responsible for leading the alternatives division while working closely with the Global BAI Strategy Group.

Citi Private Bank hired former HSBC Private Bank managing director and head of marketing Donna Leong to take up the role of head of marketing and sales for Asia. Leong replaced Money K, who moved to different role at the US lender. Leong had worked at Citi for a decade before transferring to HSBC in 2002.

St George Bank, the Australian banking arm of Westpac Group, appointed George Frazis as chief executive, taking over from Rob Chapman. Frazis joined from Westpac New Zealand where he served as CEO for three and a half years. His old post was filled by Peter Clare, formerly the group executive for products and operations at Westpac.

Sun Life Financial, the Canadian asset management firm, hired Kevin Strain as president of Sun Life Financial Asia, replacing Dikra Ohannessian who retired. Strain is now based in Hong Kong, reporting to Dean Connor, president and chief executive. The announcement came after the company opened a new office in Beijing.

High-end international property investment group The Hideways Club named Iain Johnston as chief executive. Johnston has been non-executive chairman of Event Marketing Solutions and non-executive director of Active Risk, and InternetQ. The CEO slot had been vacant for over six months Nick Bettany left.

Barclays Wealth hired Shajikumar Devakar as director for wealth management in India. Devakar used to be a director at Deutsche Bank in Bangalore and brings over 12 years of financial services experience to the role. At Barclays Wealth, he is responsible for the affairs of high net worth clients and reports to Vishal Jain, managing director.

Global investment services firm PDL International hired Keith Campbell Golding as chief representative for Middle East and Asia. Golding previously ran Strategy Finance, which he set up in August 2010 to help companies looking to do business in the Middle East and Asia.

DBS Bank, the Singapore bank, hired Peter Triggs as managing director, head of international and head of wealth structuring, effective April 2012. Triggs relocates from Geneva, where he was deputy chief executive and head of international private banking at BoC (Suisse). He reports to Su Shan Tan, group head of wealth management at DBS Bank.

UBS announced plans to increase its wealth management client advisor count to 4,700 in the medium term, with a particular focus on the emerging market and Asia-Pacific segments. The Swiss bank also said it would make advisor training and platform enhancements to further strengthen links between its wealth management and investment banking businesses.

LeapFrog Investments, the Mauritius-based investment fund, named David Steel director of investments for East Asia in Sydney. Steel was previously the managing director of strategic planning at American International Group, specializing in merger and acquisition, restructuring and strategy projects.