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Summary Of Global Executive Moves In Wealth Management For June 2012

6 July 2012

UK

HSBC named Chris Allen as chief executive of its private banking division in the UK, a spokesperson for the banking giant has confirmed. He assumed the role as the former UK private banking boss, Mark Stadler, has moved to replace Huseyin Ozkaya as head of the bank’s operations in Russia. Stadler was previously head of HSBC Private Bank in the Middle East and North Africa and transferred to London earlier this year.

Investec Asset Management, part of UK and South Africa-listed Investec, replaced two portfolio managers who left its commodity team in April, a spokesperson for the company has confirmed. Tom Nelson and Charles Whall, who joined from Guinness Asset Management and Newton Investment Management respectively, will together manage the firm’s two energy funds with total assets under management of $2.2 billion. The previous managers, Mark Lacey and Jonathan Waghorn, resigned about five weeks ago. They have left the asset management industry.

Towry, the UK wealth advisory firm, made two senior appointments within its advice policy team. Kate Turner was appointed to head up the advice policy team, while head of advice policy, John Richardson, takes on the newly-created role of head of retirement.

Kleinwort Benson, the UK-based private bank, hired Valentina Tacchino to the newly-created role of head of its international private wealth management arm. Tacchino joined from the London office of the Swiss private bank Clariden Leu, where she was in charge of the 14-strong UK resident non-domiciled team. She joined Clariden Leu in December 2005 from Schroders Private Banking where she spent 11 years, becoming a director of the international team in 2003.

Ashcourt Rowan, the UK-listed investment and wealth management firm, said it reached an agreement to move six investment management staff from its Savoy Investment Management subsidiary to Walker Crips, the stockbrokers. The six persons who are moving were not identified.

Guardian Wealth Management hired Marlene Shalton as managing director of financial planning in a bid to expand in the UK. Shalton will join the UK-based firm on 1 September from Bluefin Wealth Management. Earlier in her career, she established her own financial planning practice, which she sold to Bluefin in 2007.

City Financial, the London-based investment firm, appointed David Crawford as its first in-house investment manager. Crawford was latterly at Octopus Investments and will bring with him his Absolute UK Equity Fund from 31 July, subject to a green light from the regulator.

UK-based Duncan Lawrie Private Bank added Richard Wastcoat to its board as non-executive director with immediate effect. Wastcoat has worked in the UK fund management industry for nearly three decades. He was at Fidelity for 25 years and rose to the position of chief executive of the firm’s UK mutual fund business. He then worked with FundsNetwork, the firm's fund supermarket, until retiring from the company in 2008.

Kestrel Investment Partners, the UK-based investment manager, named Dan McCausland as chief operating officer within its investment management team. McCausland joined from Aspect Capital, where he was head of client services and marketing. In this role, he was responsible for new funds, including managed accounts and structured products, as well as the establishment of Hong Kong and Swiss subsidiaries.

UK-based Smith & Williamson Investment Management promoted Robert Royle to director and named him co-manager of its North American unit trust. Royle has been working alongside Lady Tana Focke, the current manager, since he joined Smith & Williamson in December 2008. The investment manager said that Lady Tana has no plans to retire in the foreseeable future but that Royle’s promotion formalises the succession plan for the trust when she does.

UK-based M&G Investments named Michelle Scrimgeour as group risk director, replacing Les Scrine, who retired after almost 30 years at the firm. Scrimgeour was latterly at BlackRock, where she was most recently co-head of fixed income business management and a member of the executive committee, leading the $1 trillion Barclays Global Investors/BlackRock fixed income division.

The wealth and investment management division of Barclays made two Russia-focused hires who previously worked for Morgan Stanley. Pavel Skachkov joined as a private banker and director based in London. He will focus on the Russian market and report to Henry Fischel-Bock, head of wealth management for Central and Eastern Europe. Anton Moiseev joined the bank’s Russia team as an assistant vice president and private banker. He will also be based in London and report to Skachkov.

Cazenove Capital bolstered its Jersey office with the addition of Paul Battams as a portfolio manager. Battams joined from Lloyds TSB Private Banking, where he was a Geneva-based equity analyst. However, he previously worked for the firm in Jersey.

Dexion Capital Guernsey, the fund administration and fund management firm, named Robin Fuller as an executive director. Fuller, who has been on the firm’s board as a non-executive director since 2004, was previously chairman of Dominion Group and also served as managing director of Rothschild Asset Management in the Channels Islands and HSBC Securities Services (Guernsey).

Cater Allen, the UK private banking business which is part of Spanish giant Santander, named Miguel Sard as managing director. Sard’s new role is in addition to his existing responsibilities as managing director of Abbey for Intermediaries and his dual appointment reflects the fact the intermediaries market is a strategic priority for Santander UK, the firm said in a statement.

South Africa’s Old Mutual appointed Paul Feeney as chief executive of its wealth management business, effective from 1 August. Feeney is currently of CEO Old Mutual's Long Term Savings asset management business, having joined the firm at the start of this year. Before this he was head of distribution and an executive director at BNY Mellon Asset Management. Old Mutual’s wealth management unit comprises Skandia UK; Skandia International; the European businesses; and the newly-combined Skandia Investment Group and Old Mutual Asset Managers (UK).

UK-based Ignis Asset Management saw the departure of Alisdair Bell, its director of discretionary sales for London and the southeast since last year. Austin McBride, Ignis’ head of UK retail, took over Bell’s responsibilities on an interim basis while the search for his successor proceeds.

London-listed Man Group appointed its head of strategy and corporate finance to take over as finance director with immediate effect. Jonathan Sorrell succeeded Kevin Hayes, who joined the firm as finance director in 2007 but is leaving to pursue “other professional and personal interests,” the firm said in a statement. Sorrell has been head of strategy and corporate finance since joining the firm in August 2011.

Charles Stanley, the UK wealth manager, made a string of hires to its asset management division in London. Edward Rust, who recently worked for Brewin Dolphin, will be joining Charles Stanley as a senior investment manager in October this year. Katherine Tasker who joined the company in November last year will be assisting him as an investment advisor. Tom Scarborough and Richard Uzupris, both investment managers supported by Julia Parkin, have already joined from Barclays’ wealth division, and will be part of a team that Matthew Guy and Joanna Danes, also investment managers, will join in July and August respectively. The new additions all report to Michael Clark, group director.

Lombard International Assurance, based in Luxembourg, appointed John Bissett to a team serving private banks. He reports to Stephen Atkinson, Lombard’s regional head of sales. Bissett has worked for almost 30 years in the financial services business, mainly in the area of private wealth and investments. Most recently, he led UK private wealth management offerings at a large European life and investment company, Lombard said in a statement, without disclosing its name. Matt Moran, chief executive officer, said he intended to add further hires in several markets over the coming months.

Murray Mackay was appointed as head of the Edinburgh office at Investec's wealth division. Mackay previously held the same position at Williams de Broë, the wealth manager firm bought together with its parent firm Evolution Group by UK and South Africa-listed Investec last year for £233 million ($382 billion). This publication also learned that David Bulteel has been named as head of the London office at Investec's wealth division. Bulteel was an internal promotion with no connection to Williams de Broë.

Richard Meyrick, head of sales and marketing at UK’s Veritas Asset Management, left the firm for family reasons, this publication can confirm. From March 2008, Meyrick’s role has mainly focused on retail clients. He previously had worked as a sales director at JO Hambro Capital Management.

Mirabaud Asset Management took on Daniel Tubbs – latterly of BlackRock – to manage a long-only UCITS investment fund focused on emerging market equities. The fund will be set up in Luxembourg but Tubbs will work in London, supported by three others, the firm said in a statement.  At BlackRock, Tubbs was co-head of the global emerging markets team for four years. As fund manager, he was responsible for two investment funds, including the Global Emerging Markets Fund, with assets of $1.2 billion.

Duncan Lawrie, the UK-based private bank, further bolstered its board with the addition of Jane Parry - its first female member. Parry has been with the bank for a year and is currently director, head of marketing and new business development, a role in which she oversees marketing and business development strategy, brand positioning and priority marketing channels. In her former career Parry was marketing director for the premier banking division at Barclays and also spearheaded the marketing of offshore investment solutions at Skandia International, part of the wealth management division of South Africa’s Old Mutual.

European Wealth, the London-based private and institutional wealth manager, hired Nigel Davies as director of its investment management subsidiary. Davies will spearhead the recently launched liquidity management service, working together with Nigel Marsh who joined European Investment Management in May. Davies joined from Hume Capital, formerly known as EPIC Asset Management, where he was currently a director in charge of its fixed income business. Earlier in his career, he worked for Singer & Friedlander Investment Management and Tilney Fund Management.

Future Capital Partners, the alternative investment boutique, hired Anthony Rogers as business development manager. Before joining FCP, he worked at a niche tax planning firm called Lord Associates, dealing with bespoke planning and structuring for private clients and owner-managed businesses. In his new role, Rogers will work on raising awareness of FCP’s range of investment products to financial advisors, accountants and tax planners in the southeast region of the UK.

Rothschild, the international financial advisory firm, named Peter Wheeler as executive vice chairman of the group and co-head of its South East Asia business, a role in which he will be based in Singapore working alongside Piers Willis. Wheeler was latterly group head of wholesale banking for Africa, the Middle East, Europe and the Americas at Standard Chartered Bank. However, he spent the majority of his career at Goldman Sachs, where he rose to partner level over a 16-year period, and where he established and headed the firm’s investment banking business in Asia ex-Japan. In addition to jointly overseeing Rothschild’s financial advisory business in South East Asia, in his new post Wheeler will also manage the firm’s wealth management and trust business in the region.

Sciens Fund of Funds Management Holdings, part of the Sciens Capital Management Group, appointed Tim Wilkinson as president. Prior to joining Sciens, Wilkinson was managing director at Russell Investments, where he led business development and distribution across Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Before that, he spent 15 years with Citigroup Global Markets, starting there in 1994 as director and Asia-Pacific head of international equities and derivatives, based in Sydney. He reports to chief executive Stavros Siokos and will be “active” across all of Sciens’ products and services.

SEI, the wealth management technology firm, hired Christopher Freeman as senior business development director in the firm's global wealth services division. Freeman joined from Pershing, were he was in charge of business development in private wealth. Earlier in his career he worked for eClerx, Dealogic, and TD Wealth Institutional (formerly OMX securities). In his new role, Freeman will work on growing partnerships with current clients, expand the client base and help to develop the existing GWS team.

Martin Currie, the UK-based equity manager, boosted its research team with the appointment of Gavin MacGregor as senior research analyst for healthcare. MacGregor will join the 13-strong research team in early August and thereafter will report to Jamie Mariani, the firm’s director of research. MacGregor was latterly a pharmaceutical equity research analyst at Credit Suisse. Before his four-year tenure at the Swiss banking giant he worked at Lehman Brothers UK as European pharmaceutical equity research analyst.

The Association of Independent Financial Advisers in the UK took on Clare Griffiths as senior policy advisor. Griffiths joined the organisation from the Financial Services Compensation Scheme. She has previously worked at Ernst & Young, as well as the UK's Financial Services Authority, the Treasury and the Bank of England. In her role, she will support policy director Chris Hannant on regulatory and legislative issues affecting the AIFA's members.

Investec Asset Management, part of UK- and South Africa-listed Investec, appointed Fergus McCarthy as sales director for UK strategic partnerships, an area in which the firm said it is committed to building long-term business partnerships. McCarthy has 13 years of experience in the asset management industry. He joins from Martin Currie, where he was appointed as sales manager in 2007. He started his career at Jupiter, subsequently moving to AXA Investment Managers as retail marketing manager, responsible for key strategic client relationships. 

Gottex Fund Management, a UK-listed alternative asset manager, nominated Dr Kevin Maloney and Dr William Landes to its board. Deputy chief investment officers Dr Maloney and Dr Landes will become co-CIOs and executive directors at the firm's next shareholder meeting. After a transitional period, Richard Leibovitch, the current CIO, will retire from the board. He will continue at Gottex in a consulting role.

Duncan Lawrie, the UK-based private bank, named Jeff Durant as its first regional director for Bristol and the southwestern region of the UK. Durant was latterly a senior partner at Clydesdale Bank, where he oversaw a Bristol-based team of corporate relationship managers. Before this he ran the Bristol/southwest branch of Allied Irish Bank, which he is credited with having developed into a successful business and private banking operation.

Cofunds saw the departure of its head of commercial, Russell Lancaster, next month after a 12-year tenure with the UK wrap platform. Lancaster held various operational and commercial roles throughout the development of the business and played a pivotal role in successfully bringing the platform’s new unbundled pricing model to market, Cofunds said in a statement.

Deutsche Bank Private Wealth Management bolstered its Glasgow office with the appointment of Patrick Caves as director and lending relationship manager. Caves previously worked for Allied Irish Bank, most recently as corporate business development manager and before that as head of private banking for Scotland. Before this he was a private banking partner at Clydesdale Bank for eight years. In his new role Caves reports to Paul Frame, managing director and head of Deutsche’s private client business in Glasgow.

Aberdeen Asset Management appointed Georgina Pardoe as head of UK wholesale marketing. Pardoe - latterly director of marketing at Neptune Investment Management - will join the firm in early autumn. She will report to Rob Sanders, pan-European head of marketing, the firm said in a statement.

London-based boutique Dart Capital added fund analyst Linsay McPhater to its research team, recruiting her from Aberdeen Asset Management, where she had been an investment analyst in the multi-asset team. It is believed that McPhater will be taking on some of the responsibilities of Nick Samuels, who stepped down as Dart’s head of fund research in April.

Smith & Williamson Investment Management strengthened its team in London with a raft of appointments. Fergus Caheny starts as investment director, along with investment manager Nick Travis. The pair serve charities, trusts and private clients and join Mark Burnyeat and Rae Brooks, who were also brought in as investment directors. Burnyeat has over 30 years of experience in investment management and private banking. Brooks began his career in 1979 at the Alexander Howden Group and is formerly of Crédit Agricole Asset Management. Nick Murphy - latterly of Quilter - started as an investment director on 2 July.

Mike Gibb relocated from the Edinburgh headquarters of Martin Currie to become director of sales and client services for Asia, based in Singapore. In Singapore, Gibb will work closely with Kimon Kouryialas, director and head of pan-Asia sales and client services. Gibb, a senior business development director, joined the UK-based equity manager in 2005 and has 22 years of industry experience overall. For the past four years he has worked on developing the firm’s hedge fund business in Asia.

Rothschild Trust appointed Paul Stibbard as the first member of its Senior Advisor Platform – a network of wealth planners and advisors which the firm hopes will strengthen its position in key markets while also improving its internal education and mentoring programme. Stibbard was latterly co-chair of the global steering committee and head of the wealth management department at law firm Baker McKenzie. He is also a member of the international committee of the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners and an academician of the International Academy of Estate and Tax Law.

Rothschild Trust appointed Paul Stibbard as the first member of its Senior Advisor Platform – a network of wealth planners and advisors which the firm hopes will strengthen its position in key markets while also improving its internal education and mentoring programme. Stibbard, who joins Rothschild Trust next week, was latterly co-chair of the global steering committee and head of the wealth management department at law firm Baker McKenzie. He is also a member of the international committee of the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners and an academician of the International Academy of Estate and Tax Law.

North America

Eaton Vance Investment Counsel, a subsidiary of New York-listed Eaton Vance, appointed William Gillen as vice president of business development.

Gillen will be responsible for enhancing its presence “in the marketplace and overall marketing efforts,” as well as managing select client relationships, reporting to David McCabe, president of EVIC.

Gillen has spent the past 23 years with Eaton Vance Distributors, another subsidiary of Eaton Vance, responsible for the distribution of the firm's mutual funds, separately-managed accounts and alternative investments.

Brown Advisory strengthened its Boston office, appointing Dune Thorne as partner - a role in which she will also serve as a senior investment and strategic advisor to families, family offices and foundations. 

Thorne joins Brown Advisory from Silver Bridge Advisors, where she was a managing director and principal, as well as serving on the management committee. Prior to Silver Bridge, Thorne was the director of investments for Circle Financial Group, an investment and wealth management think tank for ultra high net worth women.

Capital Guardian hired Brian Chapman as president for the independent channel. Chapman was most recently a regional vice president at Woodbury Financial Services, an independent broker-dealer owned by The Hartford.

In his new role he will be based at Capital Guardian’s Charlotte, NC, headquarters and help grow the firm’s national independent channel. He will also act as office of supervisory jurisdiction for the Southeast region.

American Independence Financial Services, the New York investment manager, bolstered its large cap value strategy with a new hire. Richard Baird assumes the role of principal portfolio manager for the large cap division, including the American Independence stock fund.

His background includes roles as senior vice president for Zions Bank and chief investment officer for Western National Trust Company. He also founded Wind River Advisors, which was acquired by Yellowstone, a registered investment advisory firm, in 2009. 

In his new role, he is joined by Chris Jacobs as assistant portfolio manager. Jacobs joined Yellowstone in 2010 and supports Baird with equity research and analysis. 

Greenwich, CT-based Fieldpoint Private, the wealth advisory and private banking firm, hired Bill Kennedy as chief investment officer.

Kennedy will oversee all of the firm's investment functions, including research, strategy and asset allocation. 

He is formerly of Guy Carpenter & Co, where he ran the firm's global analytic and advisory division.

Pioneer Investments, the fund manager owned by Italy’s Unicredit, expanded its US operations with a raft of hires and promotions, increasing its US retail sales team by almost a quarter.

In total, 16 new positions were created, bringing the internal and external wholesaling sales staff to 81 - an increase of 23 per cent.

The firm also brought in 15 wholesalers supporting wealth management firms and independent financial advisor firms across various regions throughout the US. Of those, nine were newly-created positions and six were internal promotions or replacement hires. Moreover, 13 new regional sales specialists joined, lifting the size of its internal wholesaling team to 33.

Foundation Source, a firm working with US private foundations, appointed two senior managing directors to cover the east and west regions.

Shannon Baker will serve the west region from a base in Colorado. She joins from Merrill Lynch, where she was a financial advisor working with high and ultra high net worth clients. She has also previously worked at Wachovia Securities. She will look after Colorado, Washington, Arizona, Utah, Oregon, Nevada, Montana, Wyoming, Idaho, New Mexico, Alaska and Hawaii.

Meanwhile, Anna Curry will be based in New York City and work with wealthy clients in the east region, spanning Northern New Jersey, New York and New England. Both report to King McGlaughon, chief executive of Foundation Source.

Greenwich, CT-based Fieldpoint Private, the wealth advisory and private banking firm, took on another New York-based managing director in the shape of David Zoll.

Zoll joins from the wealth and investment management division of Barclays, where he worked with 40 ultra high net worth families. In his new role, he is joined by former Barclays analyst Sarah Kechejian.

Citi appointed Helio Lima Magalhaes as country officer for Brazil, responsible for “establishing strong client relationships and driving growth in the country.”

Lima Magalhaes rejoins the firm from American Express, where he worked for 13 years, serving as head of global networks services for the Americas, country manager for Mexico, and president of American Express Brazil. He previously worked at Citi between 1988 and 2001.

He now reports to Francisco Aristeguieta, Citi’s chief executive for Latin America. He replaces Gustavo Marin, who has served as Citi country officer in Brazil since 2005. It is not clear at present what Marin's plans are.

California-based Citizens Business Bank appointed R Daniel Banis as executive vice president and head of its wealth management unit, CitizensTrust.

Prior to CitizensTrust, Banis was executive vice president of sales and strategy at MullinTBG, a Prudential Financial firm. There, he led the sales, marketing, relationship management, investment advisory and analytical service groups.

George Sauter is to retire from his post as managing director and chief investment officer at Vanguard on 31 December, when managing director Mortimer Buckley will replace him as CIO.

Sauter joined Vanguard in 1987 and currently directs the firm’s global investment management groups, which oversee a combined $1.6 trillion of Vanguard's $2.1 trillion in global assets.

In his new role, Buckley inherits a group of over 300 equity, fixed income, risk management and investment strategy professionals.

New York-listed Morningstar named Paul Kaplan as director of research for Morningstar Canada, reporting to president and chief executive Scott Mackenzie.

Most recently Kaplan served as director of quantitative research for Morningstar Europe, where he held a number of research and business development roles over the past 13 years.

In his new role Kaplan will develop methodologies for Morningstar's fund analysis and indexes, while helping to create tools for advisors and retail investors globally, but with a focus on Canadian research.

Convergent Wealth Advisors promoted its executive vice president David Zier to chief executive, replacing the founder and CEO of eighteen years Steve Lockshin.

Lockshin will retain his role as chairman, concentrating on working directly with new and existing clients, estate planning and “trying to effect change in the industry.”

As CEO, Zier will focus primarily on sales and client service, as well as employee communication and development. Meanwhile, Douglas Wolford, president, will continue to manage the day-to-day operations of the firm. Together, Zier and Wolford will “coordinate strategic and tactical planning.”

FallLine Strategic Advisors, a consultancy firm for the wealth management industry, hired Scott Graflund as a partner.

Graflund is a former managing director and head of technology and operations for Morgan Stanley Private Wealth Management, and former president of Morgan Stanley IT Holdings. In total he was with Morgan Stanley for 22 years, holding senior positions in the US, Switzerland and the UK. He specializes in the IT and operational requirements of wealth management and private banking businesses serving ultra high net worth clients.

RBC Wealth Management added Pedro Cañas to its international wealth management arm as first vice president and international financial advisor.

Cañas joins the firm from Oppenheimer in New York, where he provided wealth management services for high net worth clients in Venezuela and Argentina. Earlier in his career, he worked at ANZ Securities and Bear Stearns & Co, with a focus on Latin America.

The PrivateBank bolstered it private wealth team with the addition of managing directors David Pisarkiewicz and Chris Williams.

Pisarkiewicz and Williams were also appointed as investment advisor and private banker respectively. The pair report to Chris Carman, regional manager of private wealth.

Pisarkiewicz was formerly a senior portfolio manager at M&I Trust Company in St Louis, MO. Before that, he was a portfolio manager with Northern Trust in Chicago, IL.

Williams is also latterly of M&I Bank in St Louis, where he led the private banking team. Earlier in his career he was a private client manager at Bank of America/US Trust in St Louis, as well as a private client manager with Strong Capital Management in Wisconsin.

Canada’s TD Bank Group named Brandon Williams as senior vice president and head of TD Wealth, to lead an “aggressive expansion strategy” in the US, the firm said. Based in New York City, Williams will oversee “all US wealth functions,” serving high net worth, private banking, private investment counsel, private and institutional trust, and mass affluent clients.

He reports to Bharat Masrani, president and chief executive of TD Bank, and Leo Salom, executive vice president of the bank’s wealth advice businesses.

New York-headquartered Bessemer Trust, the US multifamily office, named Rebecca Patterson as chief investment officer, succeeding Marc Stern, who became chief executive in January.

Patterson starts her new role on 16 July and will report to Stern. Her responsibilities as CIO will involve working with Bessemer’s investment team on all aspects of investment management, including asset allocation, strategic portfolio direction and research.

Bank of America eliminated “some managers” from its US Trust unit amid a “company review of expenses,” Bloomberg reported, citing two unnamed sources. 

The sources declined to comment with regards to how many of about 40 managers were affected by the review, but they did say that some other managers overseeing private client advisors were also cut.

New York’s BNY Mellon took on Jeffrey Mortimer as director of investment strategy for its wealth management unit, Bloomberg reported.

Based in Boston, Mortimer will lead the firm's wealth investment strategy committee while setting asset allocations and making investment recommendations for client portfolios.

He reports to Leo Grohowski, chief investment officer of the wealth unit. Mortimer is latterly of Boston-based Bainco International Investors and was CIO for the asset management arm of Charles Schwab before that.

Peak Advisor Alliance, the coaching program for advisors led by Ron Carson, hired Paul West as managing director, replacing Steve Sanduski in the leadership role.

West was formerly president and chief operating officer of a registered investment advisory firm, and was with Securities America before that.

Meanwhile, Sanduski, who joined Peak Advisor Alliance in 2001 as a managing partner, will “remain in partnership with both Peak Advisor Alliance and Carson Wealth.” He will be a “strategic resource” and consultant to the firm, and be actively involved in the rollout of a new book, Tested in the Trenches: A 9-Step Plan for Success as a New-Era Advisor.

deVere Group, a financial consultancy firm, established an office in New York City and appointed Adrian Flambard to manage it.

deVere, which is on a mission to launch 100 offices worldwide over the next five years, is planning to make NYC one of its most important locations, said chief executive Nigel Green.

Flambard recently joined the firm from Kleinwort Benson in Guernsey. He specializes in the expatriate market – the firm’s main focus.

Illinois-based Old Second Bank added Jacqueline Runnberg to its wealth management division.

Runnberg joins from BMO Harris Private Bank, where she served as a vice president.

She will work with high net worth individuals and families on investment advice and management, trust and estate services and financial planning.

Invesco Real Estate hired Timothy Bellman as head of global research, based in the property investment manager’s office in Dallas, TX.

As part of the global research team, Bellman will focus on global asset allocation and coordinate the research efforts led by the firm’s three regional heads of research in North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific.

Bellman joins after seven years in real estate management at ING, most recently as the global head of research and strategy and previously as the Asia-Pacific head of research and strategy. Before that, he was with LaSalle Investment Management as regional director of research and strategy for Asia-Pacific.

The Securities and Exchange Commission appointed Thomas Butler as director of its new Office of Credit Ratings, mandated by Dodd-Frank and charged with oversight of the country’s main ratings agencies.

Butler will oversee a staff or around 25 lawyers, accountants and examiners responsible for monitoring the nine registered Nationally Recognized Statistical Rating Organizations (NRSROs). They will examine each agency on a yearly basis and release a public report.

Genworth Financial Wealth Management, a subsidiary of Genworth Financial, appointed Rico Casares to lead the southeast region within its practice management consulting team.

The current team is made up of James Mackiewicz, who joined earlier this year and covers the central states; Dana Marino, covering the west; and Gretchen Golembewski, who has been with the firm since July 2011 and covers the northeast. The trio reports to Matt Matrisian, director of practice management. 

Manulife Financial has named Craig Bromley as senior executive vice president and general manager of its US division, as well as president of John Hancock Financial Services. 

As of 1 September, Bromley will take over from Jim Boyle, who is retiring after 20 years at the firm. Boyle will remain at John Hancock until the end of the fiscal year so as to “facilitate a smooth transition.”

In his new roles, Bromley will report to Manulife president and chief executive Donald Guloien. He will also join the executive committee. 

PGB Trust & Investments, the wealth management division of Peapack-Gladstone Bank, hired Lisa Berry, Bruce Ficken and Erik Vadeika as vice presidents.

In addition to their roles as vice presidents, Berry and Ficken were appointed as wealth advisor and senior financial consultant respectively, while Vadeika also serves as senior portfolio manager.

Berry, with over 25 years of wealth management experience, was formerly a vice president and trust officer at US Trust.

Opes Advisors, a wealth management firm and mortgage bank, took on Aurora Dreyer as a real estate investment advisor.

Dreyer will lead the firm's real estate investment advisory services, advising clients on how to ensure their investment returns are “maximized and managed effectively.” She will also provide research and analysis on the overall real estate market, including real estate capital markets and residential housing markets.

Prior to joining Opes, Dreyer served as vice president and regional asset manager for Bank of the West/BNP Paribas, as well as property and operations manager for Pacific Realty Associates.

G2 Investment Group, the private investment firm, brought in Peter Rockefeller as managing director to develop the firm’s investment origination and capital-raising capabilities.

Rockefeller will develop relationships with new clients for G2-sourced investment opportunities. He will also work with families on a global basis to discuss investments, asset allocation, philanthropy and legacy issues.

Rockefeller’s past experience includes mergers and acquisitions, corporate finance and capital markets, private equity and investment strategy. He is formerly of Berkshire Capital Securities, a New York-based mergers and acquisitions advisor focused on serving clients in the investment management and securities industries.

Opes Advisors, a wealth management firm and mortgage bank, added Alex Katz to its wealth management division as vice president of business development.

Katz will lead strategic and tactical planning, sales development and market share growth while managing the wealth advisory team. Prior to joining Opes, he held group vice president positions for over 10 years at Fisher Investments, leading their sales, trading and investment operations, and research divisions. 

Enterprise Bank & Trust, the banking subsidiary of Enterprise Financial Services, promoted Scott Goodman to executive vice president and director of commercial banking services and wealth management. 

Goodman is responsible for Enterprise’s fee income-producing divisions, including Enterprise Trust, the firm’s community development entity and the bank’s mortgage, treasury management, international banking and tax credit lending and brokerage activities.

Goodman was formerly president and chief credit officer for the bank’s St Louis, MO, region. He is replaced in this role by James Lally, president of the bank’s Clayton, IN, banking unit, who serves as president.

New York’s BNY Mellon added Tom Hamilton to its team of wealth strategists for its western Pennsylvania, Ohio and greater Chicago, IL, businesses.

Hamilton will be based in Pittsburgh, PA, reporting to Don Heberle, head of international and client segments. 

Prior to joining BNY Mellon, Hamilton served as a wealth advisor at Wells Fargo and was a director within the wealth group at Grant Thornton before that.

Stratos Wealth Partners, a registered investment advisory firm, added former Morgan Stanley Smith Barney advisors Craig Adams and Steve Beierlein to its newly-created office in Ogden, UT.

Adams and Beierlein were both appointed partners, as well as wealth advisor and branch manager respectively. The pair has 70 years of combined experience in the financial services industry and “maintain a direct partnership with Stratos,” the firm said. 

Ballentine Partners, the Waltham, MA-based wealth management firm, named William Braman as chief investment officer.

Braman has 30 years of experience in the asset management industry. At Ballentine, he will lead an investment team which oversees around $6.5 billion in assets under advisement, spread across traditional investments, hedge funds and private equity.

Before joining Ballentine, he was chief executive of Fortis Investment Management USA, until its recent acquisition by BNP Paribas. Prior to that, he was CIO at John Hancock Advisers, and at Baring Asset Management before that.

California’s Beverly Hills Wealth Management appointed industry veteran Steven Stahlberg as western division director.

Stahlberg joins BHWM with over 30 years of industry experience and will focus on growing and developing the firm’s presence on both a regional and national scale.

Mark Schwartz returned to Goldman Sachs as a vice chairman and chairman of Goldman Sachs Asia-Pacific, based in Beijing.

Schwartz will represent “the importance of China” and the Asia-Pacific region to the firm’s overall business.

New York-based J Michael Evans, chairman of Asia-Pacific since 2004, will continue in his role as a vice chairman of the firm and global head of growth markets.

Schwartz will work alongside Masa Mochida, president of Goldman Sachs Japan, and David Ryan, president of Goldman Sachs Asia-Pacific Ex-Japan. He will rejoin the firm’s management committee, on which he served from 1999 - when the firm went public - until his departure in 2001.

Houston, TX-based US Capital Advisors took on Clifford McTee as a managing director and Austin, TX, market manager.

At US Capital, McTee is responsible for the expansion and management of the firm’s wealth management business in the Austin market. He was previously a senior vice president overseeing 13 wealth management offices in central and West Texas at Wells Fargo Advisors

Sloan Wealth Management, the Dallas, TX-based investment advisory firm, appointed Christopher Davis to manage the investment portfolios of a select group of private clients.

Davis has over 16 years of experience in building businesses and client advisory relationships within the public and private markets. Prior to joining Sloan, he was a vice president at Bernstein Global Wealth Management.

In his new role he works with clients and their advisors on investment matters including tax and estate planning, concentrated stock positions and the sale of privately-held businesses.

Opes Advisors, a wealth management firm and mortgage bank, added Richard Cunningham to its wealth management division as director of investment strategy and research.

Cunningham is a chartered financial analyst, with over 17 years of experience in portfolio management and investment research. At Opes he will lead tactical asset allocation strategies, money manager selection and portfolio risk management.

Before Opes, Cunningham was a senior portfolio manager at Morgan Stanley. He was also previously chief investment officer for the western market for Comerica Bank, and regional investment manager for Northern California at Bank of the West.

Morgan Stanley Smith Barney promoted firm veteran Michael Outlaw to managing director within its wealth management office in Atlanta, GA.

Outlaw has been with MSSB and its predecessor firms since 1996.

BNY Mellon appointed Edward Watson as executive vice president and chief operations officer – a newly-created position.

Watson will serve as a member of the global operating committee, reporting to Kurt Woetzel, head of global operations and technology and chief administrative officer.

At BNY Mellon, he will lead “the centralization of certain operations" and "oversee operational activities in our global delivery centers and have responsibility for operations functions that today reside in our businesses,” Woetzel said.

Wells Fargo snapped up new advisor hires with more than $1.99 billion in assets under management in its private client group, bank branch-based wealth brokerage services and independent financial network in the past several weeks.

The largest team joining the private client group was John Taitague, Tom Krahe, Matt Tatum and Tom Doyle, who join in Richmond, VA, from Suntrust. The team previously had $520 million in assets under management and $3.1 million in annual fees and commissions, the report said. Also joining Wells Fargo with the team were client associates Jennifer Smith and Davis Walker. The team reports to Richmond market manager Rob Withers.

The McFadden Group, including financial advisors John McFadden and Pari Hashemi, also joined the private client group in Philadelphia. They joined from Morgan Stanley Smith Barney, where they had $268 million in assets under management and $954,000 in production. The team reports to branch manager David Lojpersberger.

Also joining the private client group from Morgan Stanley were financial advisors Alan Metheny, David Clarke and Gary Ledbetter. The team joins in Walnut Creek, CA, and previously had $244 million in assets under management and $2.6 million in production. They report to branch manager Kevin Smith.

Two more advisors, Robert Shelton and Donald Reed Mayne, also joined the firm’s private client group from Morgan Stanley. Shelton joined in Lafayette, LA, after overseeing $155 million in client assets. Shelton reports to branch manager Ken Meyers. Mayne joined in La Jolla, CA, after having $107 million in assets under management. He reports to branch manager David Jones.

In addition, Wells Fargo hired William Kennedy from Morgan Keegan to its private client group in Hot Springs Village, AR. Kennedy previously had $125 million in assets under management, and reports to complex manager Greg Strnadel.

In wealth brokerage services, the firm’s business based in bank branches, Wells Fargo hired Robert Moreland in Baltimore, MD, from Merrill Lynch. Moreland previously had $100 million in client assets under management and $868,000 in annual production. He reports to regional brokerage manager Joshua Ritz.

Wells Fargo also hired two new financial advisor teams to its independent financial network with more than $489 million in assets under management, according to OnWallStreet. Floe Financial Partners moved to Wells Fargo from LPL in Pasadena, CA. The 12-person team includes advisors Robert Floe, Kenneth Sanchez and Lee Wolfe. Together, they had more than $380 million in assets under management.

Spruce Private Investors, a wealth management firm based in Stamford, CT, added Donald Herrema as a senior advisor.

Herrema is executive vice chairman and chief executive of Kennedy Wilson's capital markets group. Under the partnership with Spruce, he will advise the firm on strategic and investment issues. He joins Nouriel Roubini, who has been a senior advisor to Spruce on global economic issues for three years.

Cincinnati, Ohio-based Fifth Third Bank strengthened its private banking team with the addition of Cody Tellis as president and wealth management advisor to cover the Bowling Green, KY, and Nashville, TN, markets.

Tellis is a relationship manager, working with affluent clients on asset protection, financial planning, estate review, risk management, generational wealth transfers, captive insurance planning and asset management.

Prior to joining Fifth Third, he served as a wealth management advisor in the Bowling Green community for four years. He is a certified financial planner and is currently pursuing his CPA license. 

Eaton Vance, the US investment management firm, appointed Aaron Dunn, J Griffith Noble and Jason Kritzer as senior research analysts and vice presidents.

Dunn joined the large-cap energy research team on 7 May while Noble, who joined on 21 May, is responsible for covering the small- and mid-cap energy and industrial sectors. Kritzer started on 31 May and analyzes the large-cap healthcare space.

The trio reports to Charles Gaffney, director of equity research.

Citi Private Bank employed Jane Monahan as director and head of its Delaware Trust business.

Monohan is based in New Castle, DE, and reports to Pete Randazzo, US trust administration head.

Monahan joins from RBS Coutts Trust & Fiduciary Services, where she was executive vice president and managing director. There, she lead the firm’s fiduciary business in Geneva, Switzerland.

BlackRock’s chief equity strategist Bob Doll decided to retire after 34 years at the firm.

Doll had managed BlackRock's large cap fund series since 1999. In light of his retirement, the firm appointed Chris Leavy, chief investment officer of fundamental equity (Americas), to manage the LCS portfolios, along with Peter Stournaras, who has co-managed the series since 2010. 

Raymond James & Associates, the broker/dealer subsidiary of Raymond James Financial, appointed Lisa Detanna as senior vice president of investments within its Los Angeles branch.

Lisa Detanna is a southern California financial professional, wealth advisor and a former president of the Beverly Hills Chamber of Commerce.

Alexander Friedman, UBS Wealth Management’s chief investment officer, will hold this position globally for the Swiss firm, including the Americas wealth management segment.

The Presidio Group took on 27-year investment industry veteran Thomas Smith as managing director within its capital advisors unit. Smith is tasked with launching an office in Chicago.

The new office was due to open at the end of the month - at 155 North Wacker Drive. Mark Palmer, head of the capital advisors unit, said the firm expects to hire additional advisors and staff for the office over the next 12-18 months.

Citi Private Bank added ultra high net worth private bankers and directors to its teams in Colorado and Texas.

The bank brought in Brian Becker in Denver, reporting to to Mark Connally, Southwest region executive.

Becker is latterly of JP Morgan Private Wealth Management, where he was a vice president in Denver. Before that he spent three years at Bernstein Wealth Management, also in Denver. 

BNY Mellon’s wealth management business hired Patrick Cappatt as a senior sales director throughout the Pittsburgh region. He joined the firm in April and reports to Philip Spina, senior vice president of sales.

Cappatt’s 30 year-career includes two decades with “Big Four” consulting and advisory firms. Before joining BNY Mellon Wealth Management he was a strategic global account relationship director at KPMG.

AllianceBernstein boosted its alternatives business with the appointments of senior vice presidents Christopher Bricker and Michael Gaviser, as head of business strategy and head of sales and client service respectively.

Gaviser joined AllianceBernstein 14 years ago, and was most recently co-head of alternatives sales and client service with John Akkerman. Akkerman left the firm to “pursue another opportunity.”

Bricker, a 20-year AllianceBernstein veteran, will assume “overall responsibility” for the $13 billion alternatives platform, which includes multi-manager strategies, proprietary hedge funds and closed-end drawdown funds. He will also remain head of product development.

Gaviser will lead the firm's client-facing efforts, which involves expanding and developing the team of alternatives 

Asia-Pacific

Alex Jagmetti, the former head of Asia-Pacific for Falcon Private Bank, resurfaced at Swiss private banking boutique Gonet & Cie as head of Asia. Jagmetti left Falcon in October 2011 in the midst of a restructuring. He has been based in Asia for around a decade, serving as managing director with HSBC and then UBS, before becoming head of Asia-Pacific for Abu Dhabi-owned Falcon Private Bank.

Wilson HTM Investment Group, the Australian wealth management firm, added three advisors to its Melbourne team. David Permezel was named senior institutional advisor, Robert Ward senior investment advisor and Ivor Ries senior research analyst. Permezel was previously an equity partner and institutional advisor at EL & C Baillieu, Ward used to be an equity partner and director from EL & C, while Ries was an equity analyst and financial journalist for the likes of The Age and the Australian Financial Review.

Barclays, the UK bank, strengthened its emerging markets research unit with the appointment of Dr Nigel Chalk as managing director and head of emerging Asia research based in Singapore. Chalk joined the company from the International Monetary Fund, where he served as China mission chief and senior advisor on Greater China and Mongolia. He has been with the IMF since 1997. 

CME Group, the US-based derivatives and risk management firm, appointed Izumi Kazuhara as executive director for its Japan office. Kazuhara brings considerable experience in the exchanges and derivatives industries, having previously worked for EUREX and NYSE Euronext. The position is based in Tokyo.

Barclays named Rickie Chan as market head for the Hong Kong wealth and investment management arm effective 16 August 2012. Chan was previously an executive director at Goldman Sachs, where he led a team of bankers serving ultra high net worth clients in Hong Kong. He worked for 16 years at Goldman Sachs, most of which involved UHNW affairs. He will report to Pakorn Boonya-kurkul, head of wealth management for North Asia. 

John Wang, former global market manager for Taiwan at Citi Private Bank, landed a new role setting up the family office business of Fubon Bank (Hong Kong). Wang left Citi in February 2012 after spending just over a year at the company. His role at Citi was taken over by Steven Lo, head of private banking for Hong Kong and Taiwan, on an interim basis. 

Insurance Australia Group appointed David McClatchy as chief investment officer, succeeding John Stratton who had taken up a similar post at Brit Insurance. McClatchy was previously a business investment consultant at the company.

DBS Group appointed Neil Ge as its China CEO-designate, from his previous role as managing director of Credit Suisse's Chinese joint venture. Prior to Credit Suisse, Ge was a managing director and a member of the executive committee at BOC International Holdings. As a result, Melvin Teo, the incumbent DBS China CEO, is moving to a new posting within DBS Group, to be announced in due course.

Veco Group, the Swiss-headquartered investment management firm, opened its first office in Asia. Hong Kong-based Veco Invest (Asia) is now led by Peter Lee as managing director, bringing with him over 20 years of investment and banking experience. Chosen to lead the trust arm was George Pathmanathan, tasked to advise clients on asset protection, estate planning and wealth transfer.

Clearstream International, the Luxembourg-based central securities depository, announced the departure of Asia-Pacific client relations head Philippe Metoudi effective 31 July 2012. Metoudi leaves the firm after 20 years in service. In his announcement, he said he wanted to spend time with his family and will be taking a break for several months. He also noted that he has no interest to join a direct competitor to the firm. His old responsibilities will be shared by Robert Tabet as head of South Asia, Middle East and Africa based in Singapore and Dubai, and Alton Chan as head of North Asia based in Hong Kong and Tokyo. The dual leadership setup is a result of a revised organisational structure for the Asian business. Tabet and Chan will report directly to Jeffrey Tessler, CEO for Clearstream.

Bennelong Funds Management, the Australian investment manager, named Jeff Phillips as its new chief financial officer. Phillips joined from Antares, formerly Aviva Investors/Portfolio Partners, where he was CIO and chief financial officer for Asia-Pacific. Also hired were Hamish Wood as group finance manager reporting to Phillips, Nicole Hammond as senior fund accountant and Angela Cavuoto as assistant accountant.

Crescent Point Group, the Singapore-based private equity firm, partnered with investment management veteran Charles Stone to launch Crescent Hill Capital Management, a new hedge fund designed as a long/short equities offering with around 30 positions in the Asia-Pacific region. The company hired Arti Hatzirodos as chief operating officer and QiQi Shi as analyst. Hatzirodos used to be the managing director of investment software provider Tradar Asia, while Shi was a member of the Riley Paterson investment team in Singapore.

Friends Life, the parent company of investment manager Friends Provident International, appointed James Lai-Hing Tan as the new general manager for Asia and the Middle East. Tan is now based in the firm's Hong Kong branch. He reports directly to John van der Wielen, chief executive, international.

Sun Jie was named chairman of The China Fund Association, China's first dedicated self-regulatory organisation launched recently in Beijing. The organisation functions as an industry standards body specific to the fund management sector. Beneath him are two full-time vice-chairmen, Han Kang, who serves as deputy director of China Securities Regulatory Commission's Shanghai bureau, and Cao Dianyi, a former director of CSRC’s Heilongjiang bureau.

TORA, the Tokyo-based electronic trading, technology and financial services provider, hired Momoko Itoh as head of sales for Singapore. She joined from Goldman Sachs in Tokyo, where she had over 11 years of investment management experience, mostly in Japan. She now reports to Chris Jenkins, managing director for Asia-Pacific.

Indian conglomerate Kotak Mahindra announced two senior leadership changes in its international and asset management businesses. Gaurang Shah, president of asset management and life insurance, was given the added responsibility for overseeing various businesses of the Kota Group outside India. He has worked at the firm for the last 15 years. Paul Parambi, previously the head of international business, moved to become head of group strategy. Parambi replaced TV Raghunath, whose next step is as yet unconfirmed.

Michael Luo was chosen to lead the Putnam Investments' newly-opened Beijing branch as chief representative. Luo joined the US investment advisory firm from Invesco Great Wall in Shenzhen. Prior to that, he was an advisor at China Investment Corporation in Beijing.

Founder Fubon Fund, the first China-Taiwan asset management joint venture, announced that Song Yinong, general manager, has exited the firm. His position was filled on a temporary basis by the firm’s managing director, Lei Jei.

Eastspring Investments, the fund management subsidiary of Prudential Corporation Asia, launched two offices in the US. The Americas arm is now led by Jeffrey Smith, who is joined by Pamela Aurbach as senior vice-president of institutional sales. Smith was previously the head of distribution at Performance Trust Investment Advisors, while Aurbach stepped in from Jackson National Life Distributors.

US investment manager BlackRock hired Andrew Landman as head of alternatives in Australia. Landman was previously from Ascalon Capital where he served as chief executive.

Bradley Okita, the chief executive of asset management at the Asia-Pacific arm of Switzerland's EFG, left the company after 18 months on the role. It is not clear where he has gone. He was succeeded by Nigel Sze who was appointed head of Asia. Sze moved from being deputy CEO for EFG Bank Asia and head of private banking in Hong Kong. Harmen Overdijk was also promoted to the newly-created role of head of investments. Replacements to Overdijk's and Sze's old posts have yet to be named.

Executive search firms Global Sage and The Rose Partnership have signed an agreement aimed at creating one of the world's biggest financial services search firms. The deal will see the two firms co-locating their teams in London and Hong Kong.

Australian wealth manager IOOF Holdings appointed Graham Smith as investment specialist for its WealthBuilder investment bond unit. Smith joined from State Street Global Advisors, where he spent the last eight years with the firm's exchange traded and unlisted funds division.

HSBC Global Asset Management named Cecilia Chan, a veteran of HSBC for 18 years, to lead its newly-launched HSBC RMB Fixed Income Fund. The fund provides US investors access to China's bond market using Chinese currency.

Former Goldman Sachs Japan president Mark Schwartz was rehired as vice chairman of the firm and chairman of Goldman Sachs Asia-Pacific. Schwartz, now Beijing-based, succeeded Michael Evans, who was named vice chairman and global head of growth markets based in New York. Schwartz returned from MissionPoint Capital Partners which he co-founded in 2006.

Fidelity Worldwide Investment named Daniel Roberts as portfolio manager to the recently launched global dividend fund in Hong Kong. The fund is meant to produce income by investing in global equity securities. Roberts is supported by the firm's London-based global equity income team. 

Equity Trustees strengthened its Australian business with the creation of a new private wealth services division and the appointment of Geoff Rimmer as head. Rimmer was previously the chief executive of Financial Services Partners. In this new role, he is responsible for the firm's entire superannuation, trustee, wealth management and aged care operations. 

Manulife Asset Management hired Elka Leung as a managing director and head of product development for Asia, from UK investment manager Barclays Global Investors, based in Hong Kong.

AMP Capital rejigged its Asian equities team by cutting four staff, hiring three former BNP Paribas bankers in Hong Kong and relocating two existing team members to the region. Patrick Ho joined as head of Greater China equities based in Hong Kong from BNP Paribas Investment Partners where he was head of Greater China equities since 2005. Eugene So and Sam Ho joined as portfolio managers/analysts, also from BNP Paribas Investment Partners.The three will join AMP Capital in September 2012.

Meanwhile senior portfolio manager Jonathan Reoch will relocate from Sydney to Hong Kong in September, as head of Asia ex-Greater China.

Citi appointed Jonathan Larsen as head of global retail banking, based in Asia. He is currently head of Asia-Pacific consumer banking, and will also keep his regional role.

BNP Paribas Wealth Management hired seven senior private bankers for its China and Hong Kong teams - most of whom are Credit Suisse alumni. These include Ivan Ching, Alex Xu, Maggie Zhang, Mandy Koo, Louisa Yau and Wincy Ching. On the products and services front, BNP appointed Garth Bregman as as regional head of discretionary portfolio management for Asia, based in Singapore.

Experian, the UK-listed information services firm named Ben Elliott as managing director, Experian Decision Analytics, Asia Pacific. He was previously network director for retail banking at Lloyds Banking Group.

Mercer Investments hired of a team of advisors from Sovereign Investment Research. Ray King, together with consultants Sarah Azzi and Scott McNally, will move to Mercer effective 2 July, taking with them their existing client base.

Fitzpatricks Private Wealth hired John McMurdo as managing director to oversee the firm's entire financial planning and wealth management business in Australia. Also newly appointed is Chris Cuffe as non-executive director. Cuffe used to be part of the wealth management units of Colonial First State and Challenger Financial Services Group.

Franklin Templeton Investments Australia appointed Jenine Hayman as business development manager for its retail advice distribution team, based in Sydney.

Bravura Solutions, the financial software specialist, hired Mani Kastellas as product consultant for wrap and investment. His appointment followed the promotion of Michelle Lusty to product manager for Sonata, the wealth management application suite.

Australian wealth manager Yellow Brick Road, hired Peter Daly as head for its financial services unit, from Australian Financial Services where he was a chief executive.

Australian wealth manager Perpetual will adjust its staff numbers in favor or a new and smaller leadership team and create a new division, the transformation office, to execute these changes. The asset sales and reorganisation program is expected to deliver ongoing annual cost savings of $50 million pre-tax by the full year 2015.

Premium China Funds Management, the funds management arm of Australian firm Simon Wu & Company, internally appointed Jonathan Wu, currently PCFM associate director and head of distribution and operations, to lead national key accounts and Western Australia. Wu's previous responsibilities, which focused on Queensland and South Australia, will be passed on to Derek Paas and Alexandra Roos, currently Asia investment specialist managers. In addition Lyn Su takes the role of marketing assistant to support national advisors, while Sucre Chen assumes the newly-created role of research assistant.

Plan B Wealth Management added Des Luplau and Scott Harvey to its team from Horizon Investment Solutions and Candor Financial Management, respectively.

Jasia Fabig returned to MLC Advice Solutions and Godfrey Pembroke, both subsidiaries of Australian wealth manager MLC, as head of practice management effective 16 July. She was most recently as head of sales and strategy at St George Wealth, before which she was also at MLC.

Wellington Management, the US-based investment advisory firm, hired James Crawford as investment director, joining from AllianceBernstein where he was a senior portfolio manager.

Towers Watson, the global consulting firm, hired Ben Trollip as an investment research consultant. He moves from Melville Jessup Weaver.

Russell Investments' chief executive for ASEAN Mahendran Nathan stepped down after two years.

Tullett Prebon, the UK broker-dealer, hired Adrien Geliot for its alternative investments team, from Lyxor Asset Management.

HSBC named Royal Bank of Scotland economist Su Sian Lim as its new ASEAN economist for the global research unit, with responsibility for macroeconomic research on Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand.

ING Investment India named a new chief executive. Nityanand Prabhu, currently chief operating officer, was elevated to acting CEO for the ASEAN, India, Hong Kong and Taiwan business, following the resignation of incumbent chief Navin Suri. Prabhu has been with the company for five years.

The Carlyle Group hired Neeraj Bharadwaj as a Mumbai-based managing director for its subsidiary Carlyle Asia Partners. He joins from Accel Partners in India.

Avendus Capital, the Indian financial services firm, hired economist Professor Eisuke Sakakibara for its advisory council. He is a key advisor to the Democractic Party of Japan and has been the country's vice minister of finance and international affairs.

Motilal Oswal Financial Services, the Indian asset management group, hired AV Srikanth as a chief executive for its private wealth business, Purple, under the Motilal Oswal Wealth Management Private arm. He joins from Anand Rathi Private Wealth Management, where he was an executive director.

Kunihiko Nakao , the president of Northern Trust's Japanese asset management business has stepped down after nearly a decade at the US investment manager.

Grace Barki, the Singapore-based head of Southeast Asia at Sarasin, left the Swiss boutique and is on the verge of joining a larger rival. Her duties will be taken up by chief executive officer of Asia, Enid Yip, until a replacement is found.

Credit Suisse appointed Karla Borland as head of its Asian mutual funds business in charge of mutual funds and exchange traded funds Asia, in Singapore. She moves to the city-state from Australia, where she is part of Credit Suisse's fund analysis and advisory arm as vice president, private bank.

Rothschild Group, named Peter Wheeler as co-head of its Southeast Asian operations, and executive vice chairman of the group. Wheeler joins from Standard Chartered, where he was group head for wholesale banking for Africa, Middle East, Europe and the Americas.

ABN AMRO Private Banking appointed Hans-Peter Borgh as chief commercial officer for Asia and Middle East, having previously worked at Australia and New Zealand Banking Group.

Neuberger Berman, expanded its Asia-Pacific team with five major hires. Thomas Holzherr is now senior vice president for business development in Hong Kong. Mark Serocold is vice president for business development in Hong Kong, Vincent Lim is senior VP for business development in Singapore; Rebecca Schrage is vice president for client services in Hong Kong, while Johnny Wong is senior VP and country head for Taiwan.

PwC Singapore executive chairman Gautam Banerjee is to retire on 31 December this year, to be succeeded by Yeoh Oon Jin, who has been a senior manager in the firm, having spent 25 years there. Yeoh - currently leader of the firm's assurance service line - will become executive chairman designate with effect from 1 July, and executive chairman on Jan 1 next year. Banerjee, who is 58 this year, will retire.

Switzerland

Julius Baer hired Daniel Vegue Dominguez as boss for its external asset managers business for Latin America. Dominguez was joining along with his team from Credit Suisse where they held similar positions at the start of October.

Carlton Senior Appointments, the London-headquartered executive search firm, launched operations in Switzerland after having been granted a Swiss licence and officially becoming a legal entity there.

Christoph Ammann, chairman, and Peter Derendinger, board member, resigned from Bank Sarasin’s board after Safra’s purchase of Rabobank’s stake in the Swiss bank was complete.

Charles Smyth-Osbourne left his post as head of charities at Switzerland’s GAM.

Smyth-Osbourne had been at GAM since 1989 and spent six years as a portfolio manager at Kleinwort Benson before that.

Julius Baer named Daniel Savary - who recently joined the bank from Swiss rival Clariden Leu - as new head of Eastern Mediterranean and Middle East markets. Savary succeeded Edmond Carton, who became responsible for special projects for EMME markets. Since joining Julius Baer, Savary acted as deputy head of the EMME segment.

Valartis Bank appointed Vincenzo Di Pierri as its new chief executive. He replaced Daniel Reptsis, who served as interim CEO from 11 May of this year after the departure of Dr Stefan Holzer. Reptsis returned to focus on the management of finance and risk and banking operations as chief financial.

Julius Baer appointed Stephen Kamp as deputy head for Latin America, Spain and Israel. Kamp supports Gustavo Raitzin, member of the executive board of Bank Julius Baer, in general management and works on “various strategic projects”. He also manages and grows the Israeli and non-resident Israeli clients business.

Vontobel Asset Management appointed Adrian Spring as head of fixed income sales for Switzerland. Spring had over 15 years of experience in the Swiss investment fund market and was previously head of sales for investment funds and insurance products, as well as key account manager of wholesale funds, at Swisscanto.

Bank Sarasin appointed Lukas Stueckelberger as head of private banking in Basel. Stueckelberger returned to the Swiss bank in 2008 after two years in various functions at Swiss Bank Corporation and UBS. Before that, he worked for Sarasin and between 2003 and 2006.

Europe

Van Lanschot, the Dutch private bank, appointed Karl Guha as chairman of its board of managing directors. Guha, had been on the executive management committee of the Italian UniCredit group. He was to take up his new role on 1 January 2013, providing the appointment was approved by the Dutch central bank.

Accountancy firm Saffery Champness promoted Jeremy Ellis to audit partner in Guernsey to reinforce its professional services offering. As audit partner Ellistook overall responsibility for the Guernsey quality control reviews for those clients with listings on stock exchanges including London, Johannesburg, Bermuda and the Channel Islands.

Appleby, the offshore law firm, formed a team dedicated to providing regulatory advice in Jersey. The team will help local and global clients with regulatory and investigatory matters in areas such as financial services, anti-money laundering, e-gaming, data protection and competition laws on the Channel Island.

JP Morgan boosted its private banking team in Paris with the addition of senior investor Pierre-Alain Dana. Dana joined from MontanaPartners, an independent capital markets advisory firm and fund promotion agent, where he was a partner.

LGT, the Liechtenstein-based private banking group, combined its asset management activities under the brand of LGT Capital Partners. Dr Roberto Paganoni was put in charge of the new structure. Torsten de Santos, who led LGT Capital Management through the build-up phase, took on a new challenge outside the group.

Channel Islands law firm Collas Crill reinforced its fiduciary practice, appointing Mason Birbeck as a partner at its Jersey office. Birbeck joined from Bedell Cristin and is a Jersey advocate specialising in trusts, foundations and related corporate law.  

Carmignac Gestion, the French asset management firm that recently launched an office in London, appointed David Park as co-manager of its Emerging Discovery fund. Park, who has spent the past five years as an Asia analyst with Carmignac Gestion, replaced Simon Pickard as co-manager of the Emerging Discovery fund. Continuing as its other co-manager is Xavier Hovasse.

France’s Crédit Agricole named Xavier Musca as executive vice president, responsible for the firm's international retail banking, asset management and insurance business lines. Musca’s appointment was to be confirmed following a meeting with the board of directors and the compliance committee on 17 July. Musca started his career at the Inspection Générale des Finances and the French Treasury.

Sal Oppenheim, the German-based private bank, appointed Dr Martin Moryson as its new chief economist. He replaced Norbert Braems, who stepped down from the position on 1 July; he stayed at the bank in an advisory role. Dr Moryson was most recently responsible for the conceptual design, structure and specialist management of the corporate advisory business area at HSH Nordbank, a commercial bank in northern Germany.

Reyl & Cie, part of Switzerland's REYL Group, boosted its commitment to the French wealth management market, hiring Virginie Robert as senior portfolio manager.

Thomas Miller Investment hired Andrew Herberts as deputy head of private investment management; he launched its UK private client investment business with Harry Morgan, who was recently appointed head of private investment management.

The new private client business complemented the firm’s existing private client operation on the Isle of Man. Herberts has over 13 years of fund management experience, most recently as an investment director for Adam & Company. At Thomas Miller, he is based in Edinburgh.

Georg Wohlwend was to leave Liechtenstein’s VP Bank Group at the end of 2012 after serving at the private bank for 18 years, 14 of which he spent in group executive management.

Kleinwort Benson appointed former Deutsche Bank senior manager Clive Wright to the newly-created role of head of private wealth management offshore, continuing a run of recent senior hires in the company. He is based in Jersey and reports to Stephen Rothwell, head of private wealth management at the firm. Wright had been at Kleinwort Benson since January after leaving Deutsche Bank in Jersey, where he was head and managing director of its private wealth management business in the Channel Islands, Turkey, Israel and Africa.

Speechly Bircham, the law firm, appointed David Louis, a specialist fund lawyer, as a new partner of its newly-opened office in Luxembourg. Louis previously worked for the international law firm Loyens & Loeff in Luxembourg. He was joined by associate Aurélien Favier.

Cordea Savills, the UK-based international property investment manager, named Lionel Nicolas as director of investment in Paris. Nicolas’ appointment followed the addition of Clement Pigott, who joined as head of investment for France and Benelux in March.

DPZ Capital, the Jersey-based independent investment firm, hired Joe Donohoe - latterly of Royal Bank of Canada - as principal. Donohue left his position as Jersey-based private client director at RBC Wealth Management in April. He moved to the island in the English Channel in 1986 to join the offshore trust and company department at Coopers & Lybrand, which later became Abacus Financial Services.

Vienna-headquartered Raiffeisen Bank International appointed Dieter Habersack to lead its tax management division. Before joining the Austrian bank in April, Habersack had been a partner at PwC Austria since 1997 with financial services and tax as his areas of responsibility.

Liechtensteinische Landesbank appointed Professor Heinz Knecht, former chief executive of LLB subsidiary Bank Linth, as head of the retail and corporate banking division and a member of the bank’s executive management board.

International Asset Monitor appointed Andrew Whelan as managing director to set up a Jersey office. Whelan, who has worked in the investment industry for 26 years, was a founding partner of the Ermitage Group following its management buyout in 2006 from Liberty Life, later leaving Ermitage when it was sold to Nexar Capital Group in July last year.

Middle East

RBC Wealth Management appointed former Credit Suisse man Yousif Banayoti as a director for its London-based Middle East & Levant desk. His role has a specific focus on the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Qatar. He moved to London from the United Arab Emirates, where he established a book of high and ultra high net worth clients in the UAE, Egypt and Kuwait for Credit Suisse Private Banking.

Barclays bolstered its wealth and investment management team in the Middle East and North Africa with two hires. Chris Cocker and Nicholas Koutsoukos were appointed as directors covering the Lower Gulf region with the objective of extending the bank’s wealth and investment management financial solutions to the region.

International

Bermuda-headquartered Butterfield created a new legal team; it appointed Shaun Morris as general counsel and group chief legal officer, and Benjamin Dyer as deputy general counsel. Morris served as a non-executive director on the bank’s board since 2007 and was due to retire as director when he starts his new roles on 13 August. Additionally, Morris was due to retire from Appleby, the offshore law and fiduciary group, where he is currently a partner within the banking and asset finance team in Bermuda. Dyer spent over 10 years at Conyers Dill & Pearman, the offshore law firm, practicing Bermuda corporate and commercial law.

London- and South Africa-listed Old Mutual named Warren Tonkinson as global head of distribution for its newly-formed business combining Skandia Investment Group and Old Mutual Asset Managers (UK).

Switzerland’s GAM restructured its private client division. Christian Flackett and Joe McLoughlin were appointed to co-head the UK private clients business, responsible for the management and development of its high net worth direct client and professional intermediary channels in the UK, Channel Islands and designated European centres. At the same time, Andrew Jenkins was appointed to head the international private client business. Prior to joining GAM in October 2010, Jenkins was a director/desk head for Barclays Wealth and Investment Management (Barclays Wealth at the time), focusing primarily on HNW client acquisition, structuring and asset management.

Nicholas Denny, a senior manager, resigned from Credit Suisse in Moscow, to join Swiss rival Julius Baer to enhance its FSU presence. Denny held the post of director.

Offshore law firm Conyers Dill & Pearman appointed six lawyers for a range of its services in the Cayman Islands, Mauritius, Moscow, the British Virgin Islands and Hong Kong. Ben Hobden joined Conyers’ Cayman Islands litigation team, while the firm hired corporate lawyers Ashvan Luckraz in Mauritius, Alexandra Karaganova in Moscow, Patrick Ormond in the British Virgin Islands, and Felicity Lee and Anna Barreira in Hong Kong.

William Rego, a senior executive at the global Indian team at Standard Chartered’s private bank, resigned from the firm. Rego held the post of executive director. He had been an employee at UK-listed Standard Chartered for several years and reported to Rina Bijur, who had left Citi Private Bank in February 2009 to join StanChart.