UK

Canada Life, part of Canadian life insurance company Great-West Lifeco, appointed Anne Slater-Brooks and David Gregory to lead roles within its

UK wealth management business.

Anne Slater-Brooks was appointed head of the strategic accounts team, a role in which she focuses on supporting and promoting Canada Life’s offering for independent financial advisors; David Gregory now heads Canada Life’s institutional relationships team with responsibility for building and developing relationships with the UK wealth managers.

UK-listed Henderson Global Investors said that Richard Pease, manager of the New Star European fund, will join the firm, once Henderson’s acquisition of New Star Asset Management is complete.

Marsh, the international insurance broker and risk advisors, doubled its private client advisory team in

Edinburgh. The firm says the expansion is in response to growing demand in

Scotland and the North of England for specialist high net worth insurance and risk advice.

John Fraser leads the team as senior private client manager. He focuses on developing Marsh’s private client business in

Scotland and the North of England. Mr Fraser joined from Fortis Insurance and he has over 20 years’ experience in the insurance industry.

Wendy Brady joined the

Edinburgh office as a private client team leader, focusing on new business development and client servicing. Before joining Marsh, Ms Brady was employed by Prudential in nearby
Stirling for 17 years as a customer service manager specialising in corporate benefits schemes.

The final addition to the team was Gordon Baillie, who joined as a client advisor. He will manage client portfolios and account servicing. Mr Baillie joined Marsh from Perth-based broker Clark Thomson, where he dealt with a broad range of clients’ insurance needs.

As the latest move in its
UK regional growth drive, UBS Wealth Management transferred David Pegler, a senior client advisor, from
London to its
Brighton office.

In his new role Mr Pegler reports to Jonathan Brown, head of the regions; his appointment brought the UBS Brighton team to eight members.

UK advisor-owned and controlled online wrap based business platform Nucleus promoted Joanne Rutherford to the newly created role of client relations director within its operations and technology division. 

Ms Rutherford is responsible for maintaining the business’s standards in serving its advisor firms and their clients at a time of continued expansion for Nucleus.

PSigma Investment Management added to its business development team with the appointment of Steve Kirby. 

Mr Kirby’s role is to develop business in the north of

England. He joins forces with existing business development manager, Matthew Lonsdale, as PSigma look to develop and promote their range of bespoke investment products to private clients, professional practitioners and introducers across the

UK.

Shore Capital, the UK banking group focused on equity capital markets and alternative asset class funds is making Alex Abadie the chief executive officer of Shore Capital Limited, its asset management business.

Sesame, a

UK provider of support services to financial advisors, has appointed John Cowan as an independent non-executive director, subject to approval by the Financial Services Authority.

Principal Investment Management, the private client portfolio management specialist that is owned by South Africa’s Sanlam Group, appointed former Ansbacher chief executive, Hugh Titcomb as its new chief executive.

New Star Asset Management's head of fixed income James Gledhill is joining Henderson Global Investors when the firm acquires his current employer next month. Mr Gledhill will work alongside bond manager John Pattullo and his co-manager Jenna Barnard.

London asset manager LionTrust made four appointments to run the funds of Jeremy Lang and William Pattisson, who will leave on 15 April. The also poached a five-strong European fixed income team from Ilex Asset Management, according to a statement.

Gary West and James Inglis-Jones take over the management of the Liontrust First Income and First Large Cap Funds, while Anthony Cross and Julian Fosh will take over the management of the First Growth Fund. The appointments were from within the company and were effective from 25 March.

The Ilex team consists of Simon Thorp, chief investment officer, James Sclater, senior portfolio manager, Paul Owens and Quentin Peacock, co-heads of research, and Gareth Roblin, chief operating officer.

Collins Stewart Wealth Management, part of UK-listed financial services group Collins Stewart, appointed Oliver Tregoning as its head of investment marketing.

Mr Tregoning previously worked at Lehman Brothers. He takes up his new role in April.

Guernsey’s Attorney General Nik van Leuven will be the next director general of the offshore centre’s Financial Services Commission.

He will replace Peter Neville who retires in June.

St James's Place Wealth Management appointed Mark Chester and Brendan Utley, directors of a financial planning firm which was fined £28,000 ($40,734) for non-client specific documentation of advice in January, as practice principals.

Turcan Connell, a

UK law and asset management firm, made three promotions in preparation for what it calls a “multi national and multi-disciplinary future.”

New Star fund manager Tim Steer, who is moving to Artemis in June, will run the UK Growth Fund at the

London investment firm. Artemis says the fund’s current manager, Adrian Paterson, will return to his investment trust roots by joining John Dodd managing the Artemis Alpha Trust.  

Haig Bathgate was promoted to the newly-created role of investment director (principal), while Bob Hair became financial planning director (principal).

It was also announced that the managing director of Turcan Connell's international trust services office in
Guernsey, Alison MacKrill, became a partner.

UK insurance and financial services firm Prudential promoted Tidjane Thiam, chief financial officer, as chief executive following the resignation of Mark Tucker, the firm has announced. 

UBS promoted Michael Bishop to be team head in London of its high net worth team with immediate effect, replacing Philip Harris, who left for RBC Wealth Management.

UK wealth manager Ansbacher named Tony Trew as new chief executive, replacing Hugh Titcomb.

Mr Trew was the general manager,
Europe for Qatar National Bank, Ansbacher’s parent company, and continues in this role in addition to his new CEO responsibilities.

Collins Stewart Fund Management appointed Mike Murray as regional sales manager for the north of

England. He joined from Gartmore, where he was a senior sales manager in the retail discretionary sales team.

Working with Mike Brown, head of fund sales, Mr Murray promotes the Collins Stewart Fund Management fund range, which includes multi-manager, region specific equity, fixed income and fund of hedge fund products, to professional fund buyers.

Henderson Global Investors confirmed that multi-manager duo Craig Heron and Mark Harris agreed to join from New Star Asset Management when its acquisition is completed in early April.

Their commitment, which is presently only verbal, will be formalised when

Henderson’s acquisition of New Star is complete, a spokesperson for the former told WealthBriefing.

UK fund manager GAM, which is owned by Swiss bank Julius Baer, recruited Jonathan Colchester from Barclays Private Bank to lead its UK private client team.

Mr Colchester joined GAM’s
London office as

UK head of private clients on 22 May and will report to Graham Wainer, group head of private clients and portfolio management.

American Century Investments, an asset management firm headquartered in New York, made Peter Brackett and Sigrid Johann the vice presidents of its recently opened European operation. Ben Williams, existing vice president of Institutional Business Development, also joins the European team, which is based in

London.

Merrill Lynch Global Wealth Management appointed Tiffany Troxel as an advisor for its ultra high net worth private clients.

Ms Troxel was previously part of the key client team at UBS Wealth Management in

London and was recognised as one of the firm's top advisors. Her departure from UBS was exclusively revealed by WealthBriefing last May.

HSBC Private Bank has strengthened its London-based Saudi Team with the appointment of Richard Anooshian as joint co-head.

In his new role Mr Anooshian will work in partnership with Karen Boecker to service the private bank’s Saudi Arabian clients.

Alternative asset management group CQS has hired Grant Thompson from Barclays Capital to act as joint chief executive with Michael Hintze, the firm’s founder.

In this newly-created role Mr Thompson’s involvement in the management of the CQS group will focus on infrastructure and business development, in particular that in the

US. He will be based in
New York, dividing his time between the 
US and

London.

London-based Europe Arab Bank has appointed Ian Plenderleith to their board as a non-executive director.

Antoine Sreih, chief executive, said: “I am delighted that such a respected figure in the City of

London has agreed to join our board. His knowledge of the markets in which we operate will complement the wealth of experience we already have within our business”

UK AIM-listed hedge fund manager RAB Capital has changed the managers of its

UK fund after assets have fallen from more than $400 million two years ago to under $5 million, according to media reports.

RAB has now put its European team in charge of the fund, according to a letter to clients which said the

UK hedge fund "has experienced a period of difficult performance over the last 12 months. RAB Capital has recommended that, henceforth, the fund be managed by Simon Acton and Alex Codrington, managers of the RAB Europe fund".

Mark Darell-Brown and Steve Thompson, managers of the

UK fund, are leaving.

The chief executive of Syndicate Asset Management, the UK-based group of financial advisory and investment firms, said its chief executive, John Morton, has resigned.

Mr Morton has “resigned from the board with immediate effect”, Syndicate said in a statement. The statement did not elaborate on Mr Morton’s future plans and the firm did not immediately respond to calls from WealthBriefing.

Peter Dew and Jonathan Freeman, both of whom are currently non-executive directors of Syndicate, have agreed to act as interim joint group chief executives, the statement added.

Collins Stewart Wealth Management has recruited Chris Colclough from HSBC Global Asset Management to boost its multi-manager team.

At HSBC Global Asset Management Mr Colclough was most recently a fund manager in the global equity team.

Philip Harris, one of the founders of the Scott Goodman Harris business bought by UBS five years ago, has joined RBC Wealth Management, the latter firm confirmed.

Mr Harris’ departure from UBS, where he was head of the high net worth client business for UBS in

London, was reported exclusively by WealthBriefing earlier today.

RBC Wealth Management, the wealth management arm of Royal Bank of Canada, has appointed Alison Creed and David McCrae joint heads of its corporate employee and executive services business.

UK-based Matrix Group, which has launched an investment management arm, has recruited four senior investment managers from Ansbacher, the wealth management firm.

Matrix Investment Management has appointed Ansbacher’s chief investment officer, Mike Hollings, along with Ansbacher colleagues Chris Woods, Neil Williams and Zoe Lito, Matrix said in a statement. Mr Hollings will be chief investment officer at the new firm, while his colleagues will hold investment management roles.

Collins Stewart Wealth Management has strengthened its dedicated treasury function with the appointment of Tracey Carter as treasury and fixed interest trader.

Ms Carter most recently worked for Royal Bank of Scotland International, where she handled the treasury needs of clients including high net worth individuals, hedge funds and trust companies. She had also previously been the bank’s proprietary foreign exchange trader.

Blue Sky Asset Management, the London-based structured investment specialist, has recruited Chris Gillam from Cazenove Capital Management as business development manager.

Mr Gillam had been a

UK key account manager within Cazenove’s specialist investment division since 2005. Prior to this he worked at both Morley Fund Management and HSBC Asset Management in business development and intermediary support roles.

London-based asset manager Cazenove Capital Management has appointed Alex Baily as a fund director in its charities team.

In his new role Mr Baily will manage Cazenove Capital’s existing charity portfolios as well as contributing to new business development.

F&C Asset Management appointed Michael Heemelaar as head of global credit, a role in which he will lead a team of five portfolio managers and one analyst.

Mr Heemelaar joined from Dutch firm Aegon Asset Management where he was most recently head of investment grade credit, having joined the firm as a portfolio manager with the fixed income team.

In his new role at F&C Mr Heemelaar is based in

Amsterdam, reporting to head of credit, Patrick Hendrikx.

UK financial services firm AWD Chase de Vere's chief executive Mike Kirsch announced he would leave the firm, following a recent restructure. The firm has just completed the sale of its Moneyextra business, Read Independent Financial Advisers and AWD Home Finance subsidiaries and is now focusing on its wealth management and consulting operations. 

Offshore law firm Ogier, which launched a private wealth unit last year, is making Matthew Thompson a managing partner at its
Jersey office. Mr Thompson replaces Nick Kershaw who was promoted to group chief executive last month. The firm said the former would continue with his client work as well as his role as cross-jurisdictional lead for the firm's litigation practice.

Architas, the UK multi-manager investment company which is part of the AXA Group, appointed Duncan Freestone head of operations, a role which includes the overseeing of middle and back office processes, and the coordination of IT activities.

Architas, the UK multi-manager investment company which is part of the AXA Group appointed Etienne Rougier as director of business development covering both the UK and continental European markets.

Morgan Stanley appointed Andy Mack as the new head of its EMEA investment management arm following the resignation of Jim Dilworth.

Standard Life Wealth, the discretionary investment and wealth management subsidiary of Standard Life, appointed Douglas Spence as a senior client portfolio manager.

RBS International confirmed to WealthBriefing that 90 jobs are to go across its businesses in Jersey, Guernsey, the Isle of Man and
Gibraltar. The bank employs more than 1000 workers across the
Channel Islands.

UK private bank Kleinwort Benson appointed Chris Burton from RBS Group as new head of private wealth management international.

This newly-created role carries overall responsibility for private wealth management in Kleinwort Benson across the
Channel Islands. Mr Burton reports to Mark Hussein, head of private wealth management.

Simon Fraser, a former chief investment officer at Fidelity International, was added to the board of Barclays bank as a non-executive director, with effect from 10 March 2009. 

Jupiter Asset Management appointed Patrick Harrington as manager of its undervalued assets fund.

Mr Harrington joined Jupiter last week and will take over management of the £122 million ($170 million) fund from Edward Bonham Carter at the end of March 2009.

Hotbed, the UK-based investment firm, appointed Steve Howard from Credit Suisse as head of business development.

Mr Howard was previously responsible for business development within Credit Suisse’s

UK private banking unit. Prior to Credit Suisse, Mr Howard led the

Oxford office of private bank Coutts for seven years.

Brewin Dolphin, the UK-listed wealth manager and brokerage, announced that executive directors Simon Still and Christopher Legge are to retire in September 2009.

Switzerland

Credit Suisse hired UBS banker Rolf Boegli to head its domestic Private Banking division in

Switzerland, the Zurich-listed bank said.

UBS announced that Josef Stadler will return to the Zurich-listed bank as head, key clients for its Wealth Management Global division from the start of April. He had previously been senior country officer in

Switzerland for JP Morgan.

Swiss Bank Julius Baer appointed Dr Venkatraman Anantha-Nageswaran as new chief investment officer. Dr Anantha-Nageswaran is now responsible for the investment policy of Bank Julius Baer in addition to his existing role as the bank’s regional chief investment officer in the Asia-Pacific region.

Fortis Intertrust, part of Dutch-Belgian financial services group Fortis, named David de Buck as its new chief executive, replacing Bas Schreuders at the helm of the private client trust business.

Mr de Buck was previously chief executive of Fortis Lease, the group’s Luxembourg-based leasing arm.

Credit Suisse has announced a number of changes to its top management team, with Hans-Ulrich Doerig, currently vice chairman, proposed as chairman of the Zurich-listed group.

Mr Doerig’s appointment will be subject to shareholder approval at the bank’s annual general meeting on 24 April. Mr Doerig will replace Walter Kielholz, who has decided to step down and focus on his new role as chairman of Swiss Re.

Lloyds TSB International Private Banking made a number of senior management changes, including the departure of executives from its

Geneva operations, WealthBriefing can exclusively report.

The bank has appointed Nicholas Boys-Smith as wealth director for the group, according to a statement emailed to WealthBriefing by the bank. Mr Boys-Smith currently holds a senior position in Lloyds TSB’s corporate markets division.

Switzerland’s Banque Cantonale Vaudoise appointed Gérard Haeberli as head of its new private banking division following a reorganisation of the bank that was  announced last November.

Mr Haeberli was previously head of Credit Suisse's private banking business in the French-speaking region of

Switzerland. He takes up his position on 1 July this year, BCV said in a statement.

Following the announcement of the early retirement of Jean-Pierre Roth as president of the Swiss National Bank at the end of the year, many names are being suggested as candidates to replace his role as director. There is an assumption that the presidency will pass to Philipp Hildebrand, the bank's current number two.

UBS, beset by heavy losses and a protracted tax evasion case in the US, said its chairman, Peter Kurer, will not stand for re-election on 15 April this year and is to be replaced by former Swiss politician Kaspar Villiger.

Mr Kurer, a lawyer, was appointed to the chairmanship of the Swiss bank a year ago. The UBS board have proposed to replace him with Mr Villiger, who was a member of the Swiss Federal Council between 1989 and 2003 and in the last 8 years, as finance minister.

Michael Kuenzi, former head of the UBS onshore wealth management operation in Russia, joined Geneva-based private bank Lombard Odier to focus on wealth management in Russia and the neighbouring Central Independent States.

In an announcement that surprised the Swiss financial industry, Jean-Pierre Roth, who has headed up the Swiss National Bank for nine years, stated that he will be standing down at the end of the year.

Mr Roth, 63, is retiring early at a testing time for central bankers although he is one of the longest serving presidents that the institution has known.

US

US group Washington Trust hired Kent Gladding, former senior vice president and chief investment officer of RBS-owned east coast focused Citizens Bank, as vice president and investment officer of Washington Trust Investors.

Based in

Providence,
Rhode Island, Mr Gladding is responsible for managing investment portfolios for Washington Trust Wealth Management's clients.

New York-based bank Signature recruited a new private client banking team from Capital One Bank (formerly North Fork Bank), where they worked at an
Upper East Side branch.

Matthew Weltman was named group director and senior vice president; joining Mr Weltman are Lorraine Quinlan, Scott Fenton and Mayra Rios. Mr Weltman and most of the team have worked together in different capacities for the past eight years, specialising in serving real estate management companies, among others

US-based IDB Bank expanded its

US private banking team to serve the New York Metro area with a series of appointments.

James LoGatto, director of
US private banking, joined from Wells Fargo, where he was

New York regional private banking manager. Other recruits include Dennis O’Connor, who joins from Republic National Bank/HSBC where he worked for more than 20 years. George Colonias, who holds the post of senior vice president, previously worked at Wachovia’s wealth management arm. Denney Teets, a vice president, previously worked at Sovereign Bank.

Other appointments included Dominick Lombard, senior vice president, who previously worked for Sovereign Bank.

London-headquartered international and offshore law firm Withers opened a new office in the
British Virgin Islands focusing on international litigation and corporate restructuring.

The office is being launched, the firm says, in response to the trend for such work to include an offshore element, in particular relating to the BVI.  In 2007, over 370 commercial actions were started in the jurisdiction, many of which were connected to proceedings in
London,
Switzerland,
Hong Kong or the CIS.

Jeremy Scott, a partner in the litigation team and John Greenwood, a partner in the funds, investment, tax and trusts team, relocated to the BVI office from

London. They will be supported by over 70 Withers litigators and funds lawyers onshore in the firm’s offices in the
US, Europe and
Asia. 

RBC Wealth Management, part of Royal Bank of Canada, recruited financial consultant Joseph Di Vito and two of his colleagues from UBS.

Mr DiVito, along with his brother David Di Vito, a financial consultant trainee, and Michelle Cunningham, a senior registered client associate, have joined RBC’s Pheonix, Arizona office. They now report to Tim Rannow, complex director.

Paul James, head of international trusts business for Citi, is leaving the

US banking giant, WealthBriefing can exclusively report.

Mr James, who holds the post of managing director, is to leave the bank after working at Citi for six years. Citi is expected to announce a replacement in a matter of days, a spokeswoman for the bank, said.

Merrill Lynch Global Wealth Management, now a unit of Bank of America, has shed some business manager jobs, letting some employees go and retaining others in new roles, according to people familiar with the situation, Dow Jones reported.

The move, which affected about 150 employees, is the latest effort by the wealth manager to cut costs following layoffs of less than 10 per cent of its branch support staff and several hundred rookie brokers in December and February, respectively.

Chief North American economist David Rosenberg and chief stock market strategist Richard Bernstein are leaving Merrill Lynch in May and April respectively, according to media reports.

The pair are the latest respected and long-serving figures to go since the acquisition by Bank of America in January, following wealth management head Bob McCann and chief executive John Thain.

Citi is making two senior management changes as part of its business realignment into Citicorp and Citi Holdings. Gary Crittenden, previously chief financial officer, has been placed in the newly created role of chairman of Citi Holdings, and Edward Kelly, previously the head of Global Banking, will assume the role of chief financial officer at Citigroup.

Denver-based wealth manager First Western Financial hired John Shope and Melissa Montgomery-Fitzsimmons to fill two new leadership roles.

Mr Shope is executive vice president, sales and marketing, responsible for overseeing the firm's expanding sales and service infrastructure as well as managing the bank's marketing efforts. His background includes senior positions with Wachovia, BNY Mellon, Bank of America and AllianceBernstein.

US asset manager Legg Mason has appointed Jeffrey Nattans as senior vice president, head of specialised managers - a role which carries responsibility for the company’s wealth management division.

Citigroup's board of directors said it had nominated four new members, including Anthony Santomero, former president of the Federal Reserve Bank of

Philadelphia.

The bank, once the largest in the world, is struggling to regain its position after posting $37.5 billion of net losses in the last five quarters.

Richard Parsons, who became Citigroup chairman on 23 February, reconstituted the board after a series of directors decided to retire. Among the new nominees are former US Bancorp chief executive Jerry Grundhofer, former Bank of America chief financial officer Michael O'Neill, and former PIMCO chief executive William Thompson.

Wilmington Trust, a provider of wealth management and family office services with offices across the US and in Europe and offshore, hired Henry Gissel, Thomas Sweeney and Leonard Togman as fiduciary consultants in the company’s wealth advisory services business.

The trio help develop wealth and estate plans for the company’s clients; all three are lawyers with extensive experience in tax, trusts and estate planning.

BlackRock, the

US asset manager part-owned by Merrill Lynch, appointed Daniel Sontag, president of Merrill Lynch Global Wealth Management, to its board of directors.

Mr Sontag filled the remaining board seat left vacant by the resignations of John Thain and Gregory Fleming, Merrill’s former chief executive and president respectively; Brian Moynihan, president of Global Banking and Wealth Management for Bank of America, was previously selected to fill the other seat.

JP Morgan appointed a four banking veterans to its

Chicago private wealth management unit. The team, which consisted of Jennifer Balestrery, David Marion, Douglas Elliott, and Alan Loewy, was brought in by JP Morgan to advise high net worth clients in the Midwest on areas such as investment management, financial planning, and trusts and estate planning.

Decisions involving leadership roles at Wells Fargo Wealth Management Group in the wake of the merger of US banks Wells Fargo and Wachovia “should be implemented and in place by the end of the second quarter,” according to Jay Welker.

Credit Suisse appointed Michael McVicker to its private banking division in
New York as managing director and branch manager of PB

USA’s new office to be located in Midtown Manhattan. The office is scheduled to open in April 2009.

Mr McVicker previously worked for 15 years at Morgan Stanley in its private wealth management operations in the
US and
Latin America.

UBS’ wealth management division recruited former Barclays Wealth manager Michael Ferconio for its Chicago office, where he will handle accounts of ultra high net-worth clients.

Mr Ferconio, who has the title of senior vice president, is joining a team that runs money for 15 “significant families throughout the
Midwest and the rest of the country”, a person familiar with the matter said. A UBS spokeswoman later confirmed that Mr Ferconio had joined the Swiss-listed wealth management firm.

Union Bank of California, recently acquired by the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, is appointing Candice Nakagawa and John Sinnema to vice presidential positions in the Los Angeles office of its private bank division.

Ms Nakagawa currently serves as a private banking relationship manager, specialising in assisting Japanese American customers. With a foundation in banking and investment services, she has developed expertise in creating and implementing strategies to serve the Asian American markets.

US financial services firm KeyCorp appointed Timothy Lathe as executive vice president and head of its wealth management group. In overseeing KeyCorp’s wealth management group, Mr Lathe focuses on two principal businesses: Key Private Bank and Key Wealth Management.

RBC Wealth Management in

Minneapolis took another team from UBS. The Johnson Karels wealth management group joined RBC’s

Minneapolis office, bringing with it a reported $200 million in assets of high net worth clients and small businesses.

The group included Roger Johnson, senior vice president, Mike Karels, vice president, Greg Johnson, vice president and Pam Marti, client associate.

The Flock Group, which includes financial consultants Shane Flock and his brother Tony Flock, their father Larry Flock, a financial senior associate, and Mary Malencore, a registered senior associate, joined RBC's Edmonds office in Washington State.

Paul Reilly will join Florida-headquartered investment and wealth manager and advisor Raymond James Financial as president on 1 May and take over from current chairman and chief executive Thomas James as chief executive officer one year on. After that point, Mr James will continue to work for the firm full time as executive chairman of the board.

Mr Reilly has been on the Raymond James Financial board since 2005 and has served as chair of the audit committee for the past year.

Morgan Stanley said Hassan Elmasry, a fund manager who manages portfolios worth about $9.66 billion, is leaving to start his own asset management company.Mr Elmasry will remain at his London-based office until the end of April in order to oversee the transfer of his portfolios to new management, a spokesperson was quoted as saying.

Asia-Pacific

EFG, the Swiss-based private bank, reorganised senior management at its

Singapore office by shrinking its leadership of operations in the city-state from three to two top managers.

Kees Stoute, a managing director, was made branch manager in

Singapore in addition to his existing responsibilities. George So, the second senior manager in the

Singapore office, retains his role as chief executive. A third senior manager, Jessie Tan, is leaving the bank, according to a person familiar with the matter.

National Australia Bank appointed Richard Nunn to head up its key wealth management divisions.

Mr Nunn was selected for the role of executive general manager, Advice & Marketing for MLC and NAB and will take over leadership of NAB Financial Planning, MLC Advice Solutions, MLC Sales and MLC Marketing in May.

Steve Tucker, MLC & NAB wealth group executive, said that the current heads of these divisions - Geoff Rogers, Greg Miller, Peter Greenaway and Scott Graham respectively - would continue to run their existing portfolios.

Deutsche Bank Private Wealth Management brought two senior staff into its
Singapore office from the
US and

Geneva.

Anil Venuturupalli will be chief operating officer Asia Pacific; Mark Smallwood takes the newly-created role of head of wealth management solutions Asia Pacific.

Jimmy Lee, the previous DB head of wealth management in the region, left Deutsche and to join Clariden Leu, the Swiss private bank owned by Credit Suisse, as head of Asia Pacific. 

MLC & NAB Wealth set up a new executive committee. Group executive Steve Tucker said: "We have made some structural changes to ensure we are focused on our customers' needs and continue to grow our business."

The new executive committee includes National Australia Bank's former private and institutional wealth business executive general manager Andrew Hagger, who took responsibility for MLC's insurance business.

Current nabInvest chief executive Garry Mulcahy takes up MLC's investment management division and its "manager of managers" element.

MLC's former investment management division general manager Michael Clancy will now run MLC & NAB Wealth's investment platforms.

New York hedge fund manager Millennium Management has hired at least 15 people in
Asia since last year. Recent hires include Singapore-based portfolio managers James Sullivan, David Bijaoui and Thierry Choffel.

UBS shed a team of six private bankers in

Singapore who were managing wealth for Turkish clients. The

Singapore team for the Swiss wealth management giant was managing clients' assets worth between $200 million to $300 million and was hired from Swiss rival Credit Suisse two years ago, a source briefed on the situation told the news service.

Offshore law firm Walkers expanded its team in
Singapore by transferring senior funds attorney Laura Rogers from its
Hong Kong office - a move which the firm says anticipates increased offshore legal work in the city-state, particularly with regard to distressed hedge funds, debt restructuring, and public-to-private deals.

Nomura Holdings, the Japanese brokerage and investment bank, announced a raft of changes to its line-up of executive officers and the management of its international subsidiaries.

Yugo Ishida, currently chairman of Nomura Europe Holdings, Nomura Asia Holding and Nomura Holding America, will return to

Japan to take up the position of executive vice president at Nomura Asset Management.

In addition, Tsukasa Miyachi, previously head of Singapore Wealth Management, was appointed regional head of wealth management based in

Singapore. Kunio Watanabe, previously head of wealth management in the region, moved to Nomura Asset Management in

Tokyo as senior managing director in charge of advisory fund management.

UBS moved Tee Fong Seng, head of Southeast Asia wealth management, to a position in Hong Kong, as part of its restructuring in
Asia.

Mr Tee, who was previously based in

Singapore, heads UBS’s new key clients competency centre for Asia Pacific. In Hong Kong Mr Tee “will dedicate his time to client-facing activities," a spokesperson said.

Allen Lo, Christine Ong and Graham Francis were appointed chief executives for UBS Wealth Management in Hong Kong, Singapore and APAC Hub, respectively.

US investment manager Franklin Templeton made senior management appointments in its central and eastern Europe, Middle East, Africa and

India operations.

Vivek Kudva took up the role of managing director for

India and CEEMEA. Prior to taking on this role, Mr Kudva served as president for Franklin Templeton in

India.

Harshendu Bindal takes over as president of the firm's Indian asset management business today. In his new role, Mr Bindal will focus on successfully positioning the Indian business for growth and will relocate to Mumbai. Previously, Mr Bindal served

Deutsche Bank Private Wealth Management appointed Christian Nolting as regional head of portfolio management and lead strategist Asia-Pacific and Peter Pfister as director of private equity investments.

Middle East

The Johannesburg-based Nedbank Group, majority-owned by UK insurer Old Mutual, appointed Mike Brown, its chief financial officer, as chief executive officer designate.

Barclays appointed Izzat Nuseibeh as chief executive of its investment banking and investment management arm in

Qatar.

In his new role Mr Nuseibeh is responsible for coordinating all of Barclay’s investment banking and investment management activities for the Qatari market.

The wealth management division of Morgan Stanley hired a senior investment advisor from UBS. The bank hired Jamal Al-Dabbagh as an executive director and investment advisor, based in

Riyadh. He came from UBS Wealth Management in

Dubai, where he was an executive director focused on the Saudi market.

Europe

Mourant International Finance Administration, part of management services firm Mourant, strengthened its client services team in Jersey with the appointment of Francois Chesnay as a director of corporate services.

Mr Chesnay, who focuses primarily on client relationship management, has 10 years’ experience in capital markets. He joined Mourant from Ogier where he spent nearly four years administering structured finance vehicles.

Société Generale Private Banking cut between 40 and 50 of about 600 staff in Asia, excluding

Japan.

Peter Zwart is to leave the board of managing directors of Van Lanschot bank with effect from 1 January 2010, the end-date of his current four-year term of appointment.

Deutsche Bank denied media speculation that Rainer Neske is set to take over as head of its private wealth management unit.

Skandia, the European financial services and investment firm that recently opened two Spanish offices to facilitate private banking activities, is recruiting advisors and planning to expand in the region. The company said it employs 30 independent advisors and plans to take on another 70 in the next three years.

Dutch banking group ING, which includes a European private banking operation appointed two new members to its supervisory board, Tineke Bahlmann and Jeroen van der Veer as chairman of the supervisory board.

Deutsche Bank announced a raft of senior boardroom and executive appointments yesterday, including a new head of private and business clients.

The German bank’s supervisory board said the following people will take up their posts from today:  Michael Cohrs, head of global banking; Jürgen Fitschen, global head of regional management; Anshu Jain, head of global markets, and Rainer Neske, head of private & business clients. These individuals are members of the bank's group executive committee, which will remain in place, Deutsche said in a statement.

Liechtensteinische Landesbank elected three new boardroom members and to re-elect its chairman.

Markus Foser, Markus Büchel and Roland Oehri are new members, and Dr Hans-Werner Gassner was given a further term of office.

Dr Michael Ritter (vice chairman of the board of directors), Helmuth Elkuch and Peter Harald Frommelt stepped down from the board.

Sweden’s Nordea Bank promoted Jukka Perttula to the role of head of private banking

Finland.

Mr Perttula, who takes up his new position today, has been Nordea’s Nordic head of marketing for the past three years. Previously he was regional bank head for Eastern and
Northern Finland and the Ostrobothnia region for six years.

Employee-owned investment banking, private equity, wealth and asset management firm Baird strengthened its business services sector coverage in Europe with the hire of Jonathan Harrison as a director.  Mr Harrison was formerly EMEA head of business services at Deutsche Bank.  

BNP Paribas Investment Partners, part of French bank BNP Paribas, revamped its general management with three appointments. The division is headed up by new chief executive Gilles Glicenstein and his two deputy chief executives, Philippe Marchessaux and Pascal Biville.

International

The chief executive of South African-based Investec Trust, which comprises businesses in the Channel Islands,
Mauritius,
Switzerland and

London, stepped down, the firm announced.

Robert Clifford left his post to “pursue other professional and personal interests”, Investec Trust said. He has worked at Investec since 2000. Mr Clifford is a lawyer by training.

Andrea Orcel, Bank of America’s head of International Global Banking and Wealth Management and International Corporate & Investment Banking is making several leadership changes in the group’s EMEA Corporate & Investment Banking division.

Carlo Calabria, previously Merrill Lynch's top European mergers and acquisitions banker, leads its M&A business outside the

Americas.

Merrill bankers Matthew Greenburgh and Jim O'Neil, who both advised the Royal Bank of Scotland-led consortium on its €70 billion takeover of ABN AMRO, will assume other key roles outside the

Americas.

Mr Greenburgh leads Financial Institutions Corporate and Investment Banking while Mr O'Neil heads up Corporate Finance and Restructuring.

In EMEA, Amir Hoveyda leads debt capital markets, Luc Remont will lead corporate and investment banking for
France and the
Benelux region, and Jean-Eudes Renier will head up Industrials. All report to Mr Orcel and Mr Hoveyda also reports to Bruce Thompson, head of global capital markets.

Offshore law firm Maitland hired former Walkers attorney David Pytches as partner in its Cayman operation. The firm says the business has experienced a surge in client demand.