WealthBriefing tracks last month's major executive moves around the globe in wealth management.

UK
Eva Castillo will be the new head of Merrill Lynch Global Private Client EMEA with responsibility for the bank's GPC business operations in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, including Merrill Lynch Bank (Suisse) and the international trust and wealth structuring business.

Ms Castillo will now report directly to Robert McCann, president of Global Private Client at Merrill and will join the GPC executive committee.

Ausaf Abbas, chief administrative officer for Merrill Lynch, Global Private Clients, EMEA Pacific and Head of GPC for Middle East and India, is now considering other positions within Merrill Lynch.

This promotion comes after Merrill Lynch has re-jigged its Asian management team by appointing Jason Brand, the Tokyo-based head of Asia, Japan and Australia global markets and investment banking, as Pacific Rim president and allowing regional chairman Raymundo Yu to focus on long-term strategy.

Damian Chunilal, Merrill’s head of investment banking for the Pacific Rim region, which includes Japan, Asia and Australia, will take on the expanded role of Pacific Rim chief operating officer, and will report to Mr Brand.

In his new role Mr Brand will report to Robert McCann, president of Merrill’s global private client business, and Greg Fleming and Dow Kim, presidents of global markets and investment banking.
London-based Ms Castillo previously reported to Mr Yu, and was head of Merrill Lynch’s Global Private Client Group in the UK and Europe.

Merrill Lynch’s Global Private Client group has also strengthened its pan-European discretionary business with the appointment of three portfolio managers from Cazenove Capital Management.

Annamaria Lovell, Tim Bailey and Andrea Di Nisio will join Merrill Lynch Portfolio Managers early next year, focusing UK clients and Continental Europe.

Annamaria Lovell was head of International Wealth Management at Cazenove Capital Management, which she joined in 2003. At Cazenove, Ms Lovell was responsible for a team of six relationship managers, overseeing the international asset allocation strategy for private clients. Prior to that she was an executive director in Private Banking at Schroders. Ms Lovell will lead the European business development efforts and will report to Andrew Clark, head of Merrill Lynch Portfolio Managers.

Tim Bailey worked from 2002 as a director in International Wealth Management at Cazenove Capital Management, where he had a diverse client base. Before that he was a director in International Wealth Management at Schroders Private Bank. Previously, Mr Bailey was head of Foreign Currency Bond Sales at Credit Suisse Private Banking.

Andrea Di Nisio was a fund director at Cazenove Capital Management since 2002, focusing primarily on Italian private clients. In 2001, he joined Cazenove from Schroders.

Rob Broedelet has been appointed ABN Amro country executive and head of private client in Jersey, starting on 1 February 2007.

Mr Broedelet will also be the deputy head of the private client business unit in the British Isles, and in this capacity will be reporting to Michael Wrede, head of PC British Isles.

Mr Broedelet has worked for ABN Amro in the Middle East, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Paraguay, The Netherlands and Switzerland, and is currently ABN Amro country executive in Monaco.

ABN Amro Asset Management has appointed Anne-Sophie Girault as a global product specialist.

Ms Girault, who joins ABN Amro Asset Management’s absolute return unit, will focus on delivering the absolute return team’s best capabilities to the most promising market opportunities.

She previously worked as investment director at Fidelity International and has also worked at LCF Rothschild Asset Management in Paris and at Eurovest in New York.

HSBC Private Bank has appointed Chris Allen as a director for Real Estate Asset Management. He joins in January 2007 from Ahli United Bank where he was head of real estate fund management.

HSBC Private Bank has also appointed Helena Bonsu to the UK and Far East team as associate director. She joined the private bank in October 2006, having been senior commercial manager in the Pall Mall branch of HSBC and project manager in the West End office.

Barrister Toby Marsh starts at HSBC Private Bank in January 2007 as an associate director of the Wealth and Investment Management Group. He joins from JP Morgan Private Bank where he was an internal business manager.

Kevin Stevenson has joined the Bristol Office of HSBC Private Bank as associate director. He previously worked as probate manager in Bristol.

International professional services firm Deloitte has appointed three new staff in its London office to improve investment management services for clients.

Matt Tombs joins the firm as a partner from Merrill Lynch, where he was responsible for tax in product development.

Tony Stitt joins as a director and was formerly head of tax at Deutsche.

Rothschild has made a number of senior appointments within the finance and operations teams of its Private Banking and Trust business.

Gary Powell has been appointed as global chief financial officer and a member of the global executive committee of the Private Banking & Trust business.

Mr Powell joined Rothschild's investment banking division in 1994 and has latterly been a director in its Financial Institutions Group. Prior to joining Rothschild, he was a solicitor specialising in corporate law at Linklaters & Paines.

Matthias Montani has been appointed as head of finance and risk, based in Zurich. Mr Montani previously worked at PwC Zurich, mainly serving private banks.

Olivia Ho has been appointed financial controller in London. Ms Ho previously worked at Barclays Wealth where she was responsible for the performance and planning for several business areas and development of management information models. She also worked as an accountant at Abbey and as a business analyst at Macquarie Bank.

Paul Hunt has been appointed head of IT, operations and services in Zurich. He previously worked as general manager of Investec Bank (Switzerland) where he contributed to the development of its wealth management service.

Daniel Arnold has been appointed as global head of strategy and project management. Mr Arnold previously worked at Credit Suisse where he was the chief financial officer at Credit Suisse Trust.
Independent investment management, financial advisory and accounting group, Smith & Williamson, has appointed Ian Grant as a private client tax director.

Mr Grant joins Smith & Williamson from an offshore corporate service provider and was previously a tax partner at UK accountants PKF.

Andrew Tailby-Faulkes has joined the private client services team at Ernst & Young in London as a partner.

Mr Tailby-Faulkes was previously a private client director at the Royal Bank of Canada subsidiary Abacus Financial Services Group. Before that, he was at Smith & Williamson - as a director in the personal tax and trust unit - and at the London office of professional services firm KPMG.

Ian MacDonald has been promoted to head the Dundee office of Bell Lawrie, Brewin Dolphin’s Scottish private client investment manager, taking over from David Stewart, who is retiring in January, and reporting to David MacCorkell, regional managing director for Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Still in the Dundee office, Brian Rice in financial services and David Chalmers in investment management have been promoted to divisional directors.

UK-based absolute return equity investment company Bedlam Asset Management has appointed James Osborne as a non-executive director from January 2007.

Mr Osbourne was managing partner of A & L Goodbody solicitors, and continues to serve as a consultant to the firm.

Investec Trust in Jersey has appointed Mike Spittal as its new managing director.

Mr Spittal will also represent the Jersey business on the Investec Trust group board, taking a key role in the future direction of the broader trust business.

Investec Asset Management has appointed Celia Duncan to its contrarian team. Based in London, she will report to Alastair Mundy, head of contrarian equities. Her appointment enlarges the team to six investment professionals.

Ms Duncan joins from Metis Asset Management where she worked for three years as a fund manager.

Rothschild has appointed three new members of its investment team in its private banking and trust business.

Rosy Rathbone joins as a director to support the investment needs of the trust business. Ms Rathbone was previously with Barclays where she was a director leading an international team of portfolio managers in the private bank and then head of portfolio management for Gerrard.

In her latter role she was responsible for the delivery of Gerrard's investment proposition, the management of investment teams and providing advice to large and complex clients.

Scott Ingham has joined Rothschild as a director focusing on strategic asset allocation and structuring individual client portfolios. Mr Ingham was most recently at Barclays Wealth where he was responsible for formulating and implementing strategic asset allocation for wealthy individuals and families.

Mark Wallace has joined as an assistant director and portfolio manager. Mr Wallace worked as an investment manager with Robert Fleming and JP Morgan before joining and subsequently running a small investment boutique.

Ansbacher & Co has appointed Bob Bates as head of specialist lending.

Mr Bates will be based in London and will report to Hugh Titcomb, chief executive officer. He was previously a senior vice president of Gulf International Bank.

Ansbacher Channel Islands has appointed Tim Joyce as managing director of the bank’s yacht administration arm Sarnia Yachts. He joins from Fortis Private Bank, where he was director of business development.

Guernsey-based, Mr Joyce is also responsible for developing the bank’s business on the island, representing Ansbacher Guernsey on the Channel Islands Management Committee. He will report to Mark Bright, managing director of Ansbacher Channel Islands.

Horizon Financial Services have taken on James Nicholls as an associate director to support the continuing development of their trust business.

He joins the Jersey-based independent financial services provider from Coutts Offshore Europe, where he was technical manager, advising on the creation, management and administration of trusts and companies. In this new role, he will be responsible for a number of Horizon’s high net worth private and corporate clients.

Barclays Wealth has appointed Laurent Degabriel as segment director for its international private client businesses. Mr Degabriel will report to Kevin Lecocq, chief investment officer for Barclays Wealth.

Mr Degabriel joins from BNP Paribas where he was most recently head of structured, derivatives and financing products for the Private Bank.

Paul Turtle, managing director of Butterfield Bank (UK), will retire at the end of December 2006 but will remain a member of the board of directors in a non-executive capacity.

George Bogucki will replace Mr Turtle as managing director of Butterfield Bank (UK). Mr Bogucki was most recently UK general manager for Arab Bank, based in London. Previously, he was with Barclays Bank for twenty years and four years with Riyad Bank in Saudi Arabia.

Lehman Brothers in the UK has appointed Alan Dorsey as co-head of portfolio strategy in the bank's investment management division for high net worth clients. He will work alongside Aaron Gurwitz.

Mr Dorsey joins Lehman from CRA Rogers Casey, a pension funds consulting firm, where he was head of alternative investments.

Switzerland
Dresdner Bank (Switzerland) has appointed Dr Jean-Pierre Hunziker to its executive board.

Taking the rank of managing director, he will head up the bank's investment operations and will be responsible for launching and distributing innovative products and solutions, as well as defining and implementing the investment strategy. His remit will also cover selected private wealth management markets.

Dr Hunziker was previously head of investment clients and investment products at the cantonal bank of Schwyz.

MilleniumAssociates, the Swiss-based independent international M&A advisory firm to the global financial services industry, has appointed Erik Wetter as a senior international advisor.

Mr Wetter, a Swedish/Venezuelan national was formerly a senior member of the Financial Institutions Group at Schroders and Lazard's where he was involved in major M&A transactions in the financial services industry across Europe.

Daniel Sauter, currently chairman of the board of directors of Alpine Select and a board member of several other Swiss companies, is to be elected to the board of Julius Baer at the bank’s annual general meeting in April.

Separately, Daniel Borel will not stand for re-election to the Julius Baer board when his second term ends. He has been a member of the bank’s board since 2001.
Dr Jürgen Plum has been appointed as the new chief operating officer of Coutts Bank von Ernst as of 1 December 2006.

Dr Plum joins from the Julius Baer Group where he served as a member of the extended group executive board and chief information officer.

Previously, Dr Plum has been responsible for significant IT operations and finance units in the wealth management divisions of Deutsche Bank and Credit Suisse.

Europe
Yves de Vos, chairman of the executive board of VP Bank (Luxembourg) will take charge of the private clients unit in Luxembourg with effect from 1 January 2007.

Pol Kenens is to leave the executive board of the bank on 1 January 2007 to take responsibility for the private banking activity of the new VP Bank Group unit in Singapore.

American Express Private Bank has appointed Kirsten Fuchs as marketing director for Europe, Middle East, Africa and Greater India.

Based in the Private Bank’s London office, Ms Fuchs will direct the strategy for the marketing activities in the EMEA, and Greater India regions and report to Jacqui Brabazon, senior director and head of global marketing at American Express Private Bank.

Asia
Daniel Truchi, the Singapore-based chief executive officer of SG Private Banking Asia-Pacific, is to become head of the bank's global private banking operations next year.

Mr Truchi will continue to oversee the Asia-Pacific region.

Mr Truchi will take over from Pierre Mathe, SG’s Paris-based global head of private banking who is expected to retire next year.

Pierre Baer, who joined the French bank in 2003 from Credit Suisse as an executive director, is expected to become the head of private banking in Southeast Asia.

Alex Fung, currently chief executive officer of Societe Generale Bank and Trust Hong Kong, is expected to oversee private banking in North Asia.
After a short stint as director of investments at UBS, Leslie Phang will rejoin Commonwealth Private Bank as head of investments Asia, in January 2007.

Mr Phang, who had been with the original CPB Group since the inception of the asset management and advisory business, will head up the investment division in Singapore and Hong Kong. He will report to Khing Go, chief executive of Private Banking, Asia.

Edna Leong joins Commonwealth Private Bank from LGT Bank, where she was a director of sales. Ms Leong will be senior vice president, marketing and will be based in Singapore.

Previously to LGT Ms Leong headed up a team at Lloyds Private Bank in Singapore. She will be responsible for sales and marketing and will also start in January 2007.

Australia’s Commonwealth Bank has also appointed Richard Nunn as the new head of the Commonwealth Private Bank. He will report to Edward Tait, executive general manager Private Client Services.

Mr Nunn joins the Commonwealth Private Bank from Colonial First State, where he was general manager of distribution, overseeing third party relationships, direct distribution, superannuation, and the management of the advice businesses.

Global risk manager Aon has poached a key executive for its Australian wealth management arm from MLC, part of the NAB Group.

Aon Australia has recruited Pierre Kraft to head up its Aon Wealth Management and Aon Financial Planning and Protection Businesses.

Mr Kraft was formerly the head of MLC advice platforms, and was the driving force behind one of the company’s largest projects, the AdviserCentral project.

Kenneth Sit is to become the new chief executive officer of Bank Sarasin-Rabo (Asia).

Mr Sit was previously chief executive of HSBC Private Bank (Swiss) in Singapore. He replaces Marc Tomchek.

Mr Sit will be joined by Tony Wang as managing director, products, and Timothy Yu as managing director, marketing.

Mr Wang previously worked as head of foreign exchange and structured products at HSBC Private Bank, in the Hong Kong office. Mr Yu headed the offshore Hong Kong team for HSBC Private Banking at its Singapore office.

Bank Sarasin also appointed Fidelis Goetz to its executive committee as of 1 December 2006 and at the same time made him head of the International division as of 1 January 2007. Mr Sit will report directly to Mr Goetz.

The Americas
Goldman Sachs has appointed Marc Spilker as new leader for its alternative management business.

Mr Spilker will leave the firm's securities division, where he was co-head of US equities trading and global head of volatility trading, to lead its global alternative asset management business, which includes hedge funds and private equity investments.

He will report to Eric Schwartz and Peter Kraus, co-heads of Goldman Sachs Asset Management.

Goldman Sachs wealth management division has seen the departure of Nick Spencer, US chief investment officer and Paul Marson, international chief investment officer.

The pair had disagreed on strategy with global investment chief Sharmin Mossavar-Rahmani, although the bank declined to comment.

The departures follow the restructuring of Goldman’s wealth division in which 10 country and regional divisions in Europe and the Middle East have been created.

The changes have led to several high-profile departures, including distribution co-head Sameer Sain, who resigned to set up his own venture in India and Alexander Classen, former head of Switzerland, who is now head of Morgan Stanley’s high net worth business.

US West Coast private bank First Republic has appointed Juliet Alexander as a managing director. She will work with high net worth individuals and families, providing private banking and wealth management services at the bank's Rockefeller Centre office in New York.

Before joining First Republic, Ms Alexander was at US Trust as a vice president and relationship manager.

She will be joining two other ex-US Trust staff at First Republic: Randy Peterson and Brett Berry were both recently appointed managing directors at its investment management firm, Trainer Wortham & Co.

First Republic Bank has also appointed Linda Phu as a managing director.

Ms Phu will work with high net worth individuals and families, providing private banking, private business banking, investment management and trust services, and real estate lending in Walnut Creek, California.

Ms Phu was previously at Wells Fargo as a vice president and served clients in the East Bay area. Prior to that, she worked for Citibank in Pleasanton and Costa Mesa California, Hong Kong, and Singapore.

The New York-based Dreyfus Corporation, a subsidiary of Mellon Financial Corporation and part of Mellon Asset Management, has named its president and chief operating officer Thomas Eggers as chief executive officer.

Jon Little, chief executive officer of Mellon Global Investments, will be named Dreyfus chairman and Steve Canter, who held titles of both chairman and chief executive officer for Dreyfus, is to retire.

Douglas Regan has been appointed head of wealth management for US institutional investment management and banking firm, Northern Trust.

Mr Regan, a 21-year veteran with Northern Trust and formerly head of personal financial services for Northern Trust's Florida operation, is now responsible for the strategic direction of the group, which serves 352 family relationships in 15 countries.

Northern Trust Wealth Management Group, formed in 1982, provides financial services to affluent individuals and families who generally have assets exceeding $75 million including 22 per cent of the Forbes 400 Richest Americans.

Northern Trust has also appointed Steven Bell as president of its Northern California region.

Mr Bell, who is now responsible for overseeing all aspects of the Northern California region, was head of the Northern Trust Wealth Management Group that serves ultra high net worth individuals and family offices.

In his new role Mr Bell will report to Kevin Rochford, president of Northern Trust's Western Region. He succeeds Dennis Mitchell who has been appointed head of business development for the company's Boston office.

Mr Bell was appointed head of the Wealth Management Group in 2003 after running its client servicing group and serving as group's sales and marketing head from 1997 to 2001.