Michael Jones has been appointed president of Columbia Management, Bank of America's investment management business, which had $378 billion in assets under management at 30 September 2007. He will report to Keith Banks, president of global wealth and investment management for the company.

Mr Jones most recently served as head of distribution for Columbia, responsible for all sales channels. He joined Bank of America in 2006 having previously served as co-president and senior managing director at Robeco Investment Management.

This move follows other recent major announcements from Columbia, including the appointment of Colin Moore as its chief investment officer and the launch of its largest-ever marketing and advertising campaign. A new head of distribution for the business will be named at a later date.