February was another busy month for wealth management moves.

UK Global investment manager and advisor BlackRock – 49 per cent owned by Merrill Lynch - has made two promotions within its UK retail team. Mark Elliott, director, will head Strategic Alliances, which provides asset management services to life companies, retail banks, building societies and other financial clients. Dorian Hughes, director, will lead BlackRock’s regional sales team, responsible for providing customer service to BlackRock’s intermediary clients, including IFAs (the fastest-growing area of BlackRock’s UK retail business). Jersey law firm BakerPlatt has appointed litigator David Wilson as partner. Mr Wilson joins from Mourant, where he was a partner in the disputes resolution team. A specialist commercial litigator, his expertise includes banking, trust and funds disputes, regulatory investigations, asset recovery, insolvency, professional negligence and partnership and shareholder disputes. In his new role at BakerPlatt, he will be responsible for developing the commercial side of the business. Mr Wilson started at Cameron Markby Hewitt (now CMS Cameron McKenna) in the City of London, practising banking, corporate, commercial property and litigation. During this time, he was also seconded to Brussels to advise on the competition law aspects of a hostile takeover. In 1993, he moved to Jersey to join Mourant, being promoted to senior associate in 1998 and to partner in 2000. Rothschild Private Banking and Trust has named James Fenwick as a client director. He is to focus on developing the bank's private banking business in the North of England. Mr Fenwick joins from Rothschild’s Investment Banking division, having joined as a graduate trainee in 1986. He has worked in both London and Leeds. Mr Powell joined Rothschild’s Private Banking business from the Investment Banking division in 2006. He was appointed head of the UK Private Banking business last October. Investec Private Bank has expanded its Manchester-based banking team with the appointment of Andrew Powell, who will work alongside James Featherstone on the treasury side, focusing on the banking needs of businesses in the north-west of England. Mr Powell joins Investec from Bank of Ireland, where he was a relationship director within the bank’s specialist deposit services division, responsible for growing their Manchester book. Merrill Lynch has appointed Larry Black to the newly created role of head of Lending for its Global Wealth Management EMEA business. Mr Black joins from Citigroup, where he spent over 20 years in Chicago, New York and London leading a variety of credit and lending teams. Until recently he was Head of Structured Lending for Citigroup’s Europe, Middle East and Africa wealth management business, where he led a team of 50 people and oversaw a credit portfolio of $10 billion in assets under management. Reporting to Eva Castillo, Head of Merrill Lynch GWM, EMEA, Mr Black will be responsible for leading the strategic development of the EMEA lending platform to meet regional and firm objectives in line with GWM growth plans. Newton Investment Management has appointed Pamela Cowling as business development manager for Scotland to its Private Investment Management division. She will report to Ruth Murphy, head of Business Development. In her new role Ms Cowling will drive the Scottish growth of Newton’s private client business, which manages investments on behalf of private clients, charities and individual pensions. Prior to joining Newton, she worked as a client relationship manager for a subsidiary of BNY Mellon’s Asset Servicing business, providing performance measurement and analytical services to financial institutions throughout Scotland, London, the Netherlands and the Nordic regions. Michele Soldati has joined Morgan Stanley as an investment advisor in London, as part of the US bank’s Italian coverage team. Mr Soldati joins as a vice president and will partner with Marco Di Cesaria, to help grow Morgan Stanley’s private wealth management business in Italy. He joins from Schroders Private Bank in London, where he was a client relationship manager with responsibility for European clients. He also managed portfolios across a range of asset classes, both traditional and alternative. Prior to Schroders, Mr Soldati worked for UBS Private Bank, initially in Zurich and latterly in Padua. Baring Asset Management has appointed Nicola Barber as investment manager in its private client team. She joined from Rothschild Private Management where she was a director of private clients, managing around £150 million ($292 million) comprising 111 portfolios on a discretionary basis. Santander Private Banking UK, the unit formed in January to integrate the Spanish bank's various UK wealth management subsidiaries, has restructured its sales and marketing team to provide a stronger focus on servicing IFAs and other intermediaries. SPB UK comprises pensions and asset management firm James Hay, Cater Allen Private Bank and the brokerage business Abbey Stockbrokers. Andy Pennie, previously head of sales development at James Hay, has been appointed director of marketing. He reports to Alvaro Morales, head of SPB UK. Damien Conway is appointed national sales director for James Hay. He was previously regional sales director with the business, covering the North of England. Kevin Garforth remains head of sales for Cater Allen, where he will be responsible for all volume and income drivers for the bank. Mr Garforth and Mr Conway both report to Richard Dunn, managing director of Cater Allen and commercial director of SBP UK. Shaun Sandiford and Richard Howes have also been appointed as national accounts directors at James Hay. Mr Sandiford was previously regional sales director for South England. They will be responsible for a number of key accounts and co-ordinating a central view of existing national networks. Icelandic-owned investment bank Kaupthing Singer & Friedlander has recruited Toby Carpenter to lead a new wealth management service aimed at entrepreneurs and business heads in the Midlands. Based in Birmingham, Mr Carpenter joins Singers following three years at Coutts. Previously he operated as an independent financial advisor, specialising in managing the finances of high net worth individuals in the Midlands. Credit Suisse has hired Nick Keenan as vice president and relationship manager for the Midlands, further strengthening its regional private banking operations and underscoring the strategic importance of the region. In his new role, he will be based in Nottingham and report to Amrit Uppal, focusing on building new private client relationships in the Midlands region. Mr Keenan joins from Coutts where he was a senior financial planning specialist for clients based in the East Midlands. UK accountant and business advisor PKF has named Lisa Macpherson as its new national director of tax. She will head up PKF's tax technical team, which supports the mid-tier firm's tax units on policy and technical issues across its national network of 23 offices. Ms Macpherson joins from international professional services firm Deloitte, where she was employed in the tax policy group. She worked at the Big Four firm for nearly nine years, developing specialisms in IHT, trusts, pre-owned assets and capital gains tax. Andreas Tautscher has been appointed chief country officer for Deutsche Bank in the Channel Islands. He takes over the position from Mark Hirst, who has relocated to Switzerland to lead the Middle East and Africa team for the bank’s private wealth management group. Mr Tautscher joined Deutsche Bank in 1995, becoming a director in 2002. His role subsequently expanded to that of chief operating officer for the bank’s PWM offshore group, overseeing operations in Jersey, Guernsey, Cayman and Mauritius. In addition to his regional management responsibilities, Mr Tautscher is a member of various management committees and boards for the offshore group and also serves on the PWM global operating committee. Craig Wetton has left south-west UK-based wealth manager Chartwell Group. Mr Wetton, co-founder of Chartwell in 1995, has quit his role as chief investment officer and intends to take time out to think about his future. Noorie Sazen, private client taxation partner at professional services firm KPMG LLP has left the firm. Ms Sazen is joining BP as head of executive compensation. At KPMG she was head of people services in London and the Eastern Counties of the UK. As well as high net worth executives, entrepreneurs and both onshore and offshore trustees, she advised private equity and hedge fund clients, sports bodies and sports personalities. Fortis Private Banking has appointed Gary Hobbs and Guy Ellison as senior analysts within FPB’s London-based Research team. Both join from Rensburg Sheppards Investment Management. Prior to Rensburgs, Mr Hobbs also worked at Schroders and Bankers Trust. UK private wealth manager Cheviot Asset Management has added three new directors to its alternative investments team. Adam Tash, David Weller and Gregory Thompson will all report to David Miller, head of alternative investments. Mr Tash has specialised in derivatives for the last 12 years, most recently at Smith & Williamson. Mr Weller joins from RBC; he specialises in structured products, foreign exchange as an asset class and international markets. Mr Thompson also joins from RBC. Over the last eight years he has specialised in cash management strategies, equity trading and alternative asset allocation for high net worth UK and international clients. HSBC Multimanager has expanded its team with the hiring of Catherine Doyle as a senior product specialist for the EMEA region. She joins from Franklin Templeton, where she was a product specialist and institutional client service manager. She will report to James Hughes, global head of business development at HSBC Multimanager; he said, “Catherine will focus on product development as well as building client relationships.” Mr Hughes joined from AXA Investment Management late in January 2008 and there is speculation that there may be more hires to follow. UK-listed Absolute Capital Management Holdings has appointed Glenn Kennedy as director and company secretary with immediate effect. Mr Kennedy is currently General Counsel to the company, having joined in December 2006. Prior to this he worked as an attorney with law firms Ogier (Cayman Islands) and Aird & Berlis LLP (Toronto, Canada), where he practised in the areas of investment funds, mergers and acquisitions and competition/anti-trust. UK fund manager Gartmore has hired Jeff Lee for the newly-created role of regional sales manager for the north, Scotland and Northern Ireland. He joins from Scottish Widows Investment Partnership. Gartmore has also promoted Nick Thiem and Matt Frost from the existing asset manager team. Mr Thiem becomes regional sales manager for London and northern counties, and Mr Frost takes the role of regional sales manager for London and southern counties. EFG Private Bank, the London-based private banking arm of Swiss bank EFG International, has named a new chairman and managing director to its Birmingham-based financial advisor EFG Platts Flello. The move follows the retirement of Philip Platts, former regional head of Private Client Services at Arthur Andersen, who founded the Platts Flello business in 2000. It was acquired by EFG in October 2003. Peter London is made chairman of EFG Platts Flello. Mr London is also chairman of EFG Ashby London Financial Services, the Wolverhampton-based financial advisor acquired by EFG Private Bank last August. Mike Knott, formerly executive director, is promoted to managing director of EFG Platts Flello. Mr Knott joined the firm in 2002, together with John Male, who now acts as chief operating officer of the combined EFG Platts Flello and EFG Ashby London businesses. Edinburgh-based fund manager Standard Life Investments has appointed David Millar as investment director of multi-asset investing. He joins from Scottish Widows Investment Partnership, where he was head of bond strategy and chair of the bond policy group. Mr Millar will report to Euan Munro, head of multi-asset investing, taking responsibility for overseeing the investment strategy for some of the fund manager’s key insurance funds. In addition, he will take a leading role in turning bond market views and themes into effective investment positions within SLI’s suite of absolute return and liability-driven investment funds. Specialist UK investment manager Dawnay Day Quantum has hired Alistair Hewit as product manager. He will be responsible for the development of new structured products and mutual funds, as well as managing the existing fund range. He joins from Barclays Private Bank, where he was product manager of liquidity management in the UK, responsible for the private bank’s cash investment services to high net worth investors. Jim Roberts, former group investment director at Skandia, has joined London-based specialist investment manager Sarasin & Partners as a non-executive director. Mr Roberts, who departed Skandia in July 2006 following its acquisition by South African insurer Old Mutual, has since accepted a number of consultancy roles. UK-based private bank Ansbacher has appointed Tony Burke as head of Product Development. Mr Burke joins Ansbacher from Citigroup where he had the role of product director for the International Personal Bank. Previously, he worked in Qatar for the Commercial Bank of Qatar’s Investment Department. Prior to these roles, he spent ten years at Natwest in the UK as a Senior Personal Financial Advisor. Mr Burke will have responsibility for developing Ansbacher’s product range including Investment funds. He will report to Nader Goodarzi, group head of Wealth Management. New Philanthropy Capital chief executive, Nigel Harris, is standing down after six years at the organisation. He will be succeeded by Martin Brookes, currently NPC’s research director. Mr Harris, who was chief executive since 2004, will be leaving to focus on international development and social investment. Mr Brookes, who before joining NPC in 2001 worked at the Bank of England, Goldman Sachs and Amnesty International, will formally take over at the end of March, with Mr Harris remaining with NPC until the end of April. The Stonehage Group, an international wealth management advisor to high net worth families, with combined assets under administration of $24 billion, has appointed private client lawyer, John Rhodes, as a consultant to its Private Client Division starting in March. Mr Rhodes was previously at London private client law firm Macfarlanes, where he was head of the Private Client Department from 2000 to 2005 before retiring in 2006. His main area of practice has been estate planning for wealthy UK and international families, with particular emphasis on the use and restructuring of trusts and other vehicles, the law of domicile and UK inheritance and capital gains tax. Switzerland Rothschild Private Banking and Trust has hired Marco Jäger as managing director of Rothschild Trust in Geneva. He will focus on client acquisition, relationship management and the continued expansion of Rothschild’s trust business. He joins from Credit Suisse Trust, where he held a number of senior managerial positions. The most recent of these was global market head for Europe, which included responsibility for sales and trust management teams in Zurich, Guernsey, Lugano and Geneva. The current managing director in Geneva, Matthew Le Flocq, will now focus solely on running the operational side of Rothschild’s global trust business. Rothschild Private Banking and Trust has also appointed Dirk Wiedmann as its new head of Investments. He will be a member of the executive board and chairman of the Group’s Global Asset Allocation Committee. As head of Investments, Mr Wiedmann will be responsible for global investment policy and its implementation. This includes all portfolio management and research activities, as well as the selection of investment products. Mr Wiedmann will also have responsibility for strategic marketing. Mr Wiedmann will join Rothschild from Bank Julius Baer, where he was global head of Research and head of the Advisory Business. Prior to this, he spent 12 years with UBS, where he held a number of different managerial positions including head of Market Development and head of the Active Advisory Team. Mr Wiedmann’s marketing responsibilities follow a decision by Alison Petit, the current marketing director, to leave the firm to establish a marketing consultancy. Rothschild will be retaining her services on a consultancy basis. Ms Petit, a marketing award winner, was previously business director of investment services at Barclays Wealth. Hyposwiss Private Bank, a subsidiary of St Galler Kantonalbank, has tapped HSBC Guyerzeller to appoint Siegfried Peyer as its new chief executive. Mr Peyer was formerly deputy chief executive at Zurich-based HSBC Guyerzeller. He will start his new job in September. Marcel Schmid resigned as chief executive of St Gallen-based Hyposwiss last November after St Galler Kantonalbank announced that it was to split the division which he headed and make Hyposwiss independent under a separate chief executive. Mr Peyer will take over from Theodore Horat who has been acting chief executive at Hyposwiss since Mr Schmid's departure and now moves to a role on the supervisory board. Prior to HSBC Guyerzeller, Mr Peyer was at Pictet where he was responsible for the private banking business in Asia and Australia, as well as various positions in investment management. The board of UBS has also appointed Sergio Marchionne, chief executive at Italian car maker Fiat, as a non-executive vice chairman. From 24 April 2008, the chairman’s office will therefore consist of Marcel Ospel, Stephan Haeringer as executive vice chairman and Sergio Marchionne as non-executive vice chairman. Larry Weinbach, who had asked to hand over the chairmanship of the audit committee, will remain a member of this committee but will be succeeded as its chairman by Peter Voser, chief financial officer at Royal Dutch Shell. JPMorgan Private Bank has appointed Margaret Dobak as a banker serving Polish and Central European clients. Ms Dobak was previously with Citi Private Bank in London. She will join JPMorgan in April and will be based in Geneva. Claude Demole, a partner in Pictet & Cie since 1982, will stand down at the end of June 2008 to concentrate on humanitarian work in Asia and within Switzerland. Whilst he will cease to be active in the management of the Swiss based private bank, he will maintain a client facing role. Zurich-based alternatives advisor, Harcourt Investment Consulting has promoted David Keel to managing partner and head of business development effective from 1 April 2008. Prior to joining Harcourt in 2002 as director business development, responsible for the Swiss market, Mr Keel worked several years as a financial advisor at Merrill Lynch. He started his career at PricewaterhouseCoopers in Zurich as a corporate tax consultant. Peter Sami has been appointed to take over as head of the Logistics Division at Bank Sarasin. He joins Bank Sarasin from Swiss Financial Market Services AG, where he was chief executive of the Securities Services Division (formerly known as SIS Swiss Financial Services Group AG). Joachim Straehle, chief executive officer of Bank Sarasin, has been acting as temporary head since September 2007. Mr Sami will also sit on Sarasin's executive committee. In a statement, the bank said that his main task in his new post will be to continuously develop its logistical organisation and processes to provide full and effective support for its growth strategy. The appointment is effective from 1 May 2008. US JPMorgan Private Client Services has promoted Joe Kenney to chief executive. He succeeds Steve MacLellan who recently retired from the firm. Mr Kenney will be responsible for overseeing more than $120 billion in client assets and nearly 900 wealth advisors to high net worth US clients. He will report to Mary Callahan Erdoes, chairman of JPMorgan's Wealth Management segment. He is also is a member of the Private Bank and Private Client Services Investment Committee for Alternative Investments, and a member of the Global Investor Leadership Committee. Mr Kenney joined JPMorgan Private Client Services in April 2006 as the national investment practice leader, responsible for the execution and implementation of investment strategy and solutions for private clients. Previously he led the West Area Investment Practice for JPMorgan Private Bank, in which capacity he was responsible for the investment management and self-directed platforms for Seattle, Denver, Los Angeles and San Francisco. Morgan Stanley has hired three teams of financial advisors from Citigroup's Smith Barney to bolster its US global wealth management units. The Wall Street bank hired Mark Allison, William Despard and Mark Eberle from Smith Barney to work in the Bellevue office in Washington state. The team, which will report to office manager Curtis Hammond. Messrs Allison and Despard joined Smith Barney in 1988, while Mr Eberle joined in 1990. Morgan Stanley also hired John and Kenneth Gatto, Matthew Hughes, Alan Friedman and Irwin Kabat from Smith Barney, to work out of its North Shore office in Long Island, New York. They will report to Jeffrey Reiss, the complex manager. Mr Hughes had worked at Smith Barney since 2000, while the remaining four joined in 1993. Morgan Stanley has also hired Scott Franklin and Steve Dimino from Smith Barney to work in its Third Avenue office in New York City, where they will report to manager Ben Firestein. Morgan Stanley has hired four new financial advisors into its US Global Wealth Management unit. Michael Klein, David Sonnenschein, Lawrence Berke and Robert Krut have all joined from UBS to work in the Franklin, Michigan branch, reporting to Seth Barnes, the Detroit Metro manager. Morgan Stanley is also reported to have hired Arnold Lederkramer and Jeffrey Wang from Citigroup's Smith Barney business into the Long Island North Shore branch to report to Jeffrey Reiss, the complex manager; they had earned combined commissions and fees over the previous year of $1.78 million and managed assets of about $215 million. Dennis Hersch, chairman of mergers and acquisitions at JP Morgan, is leaving to work for the family office of billionaire Les Wexner. Mr Hersch has been with JPM since January 2006, when he was hired from law firm Davis Polk & Wardwell, where he had been for 35 years, by Robert Kindler. Mr Kindler left JPM for Morgan Stanley shortly after hiring Mr Hersch. Morgan Stanley has expanded its global wealth management unit with multiple hires in California. Morgan Stanley tapped UBS to recruit a team comprising Michael Murphy, Cami Hennis and James Hennis to join its Napa branch. They will report to the branch manager, George Shick.. The Wall Street bank has also recruited Dayna Sumiyoshi and Paul Kim from Wells Fargo to work in its Silicon Valley Centre branch. They will report to Clifton Santikul, the branch manager. Morgan Stanley further tapped Wachovia's A G Edwards unit to hire Larry Watts, Rob Thompson and Brian Wilkinson for its Stockton branch. The three will report to Steven Stahlberg, district manager for Northern California/East Bay and Central Valley/Northern Nevada. Boston Private Financial Holdings has announced major changes at its Los Angeles-based private banking and wealth management affiliate First Private Bank & Trust. James Dawson, the newly-named chief executive of Boston Private's private banking unit and current president and chief operating officer of Boston Private Bank & Trust Company, takes over as First Private's interim chief executive officer. In addition, Mary Fischer, chief operating officer of First Private, was elected to the board of directors. The board also named Bruce Farrell, executive vice president and chief credit officer of Boston Private's San Francisco-based private banking affiliate Borel Private Bank & Trust, as interim chief credit officer for First Private. Mr Dawson and Mr Farrell will both retain their respective current positions. The First Private board also announced the retirement of its president and chief executive, Richard Taylor, and accepted the resignations of chief credit officer Wayne Lewis and construction loan/credit originator Robert Franks. The Wall Street Access Group has hired Charles McCollough Wright as managing director. He will spearhead the sales efforts to small financial institutions, family offices and high net worth individuals. He will focus on new business development in the private wealth management group, its Advanced Strategies fund of hedge funds and its separately-managed account products. Mr Wright joins from Pax World Management, an investment advisor and mutual fund company. Connecticut-based financial services provider, Hartford Financial Services Group, has promoted internally to fill senior roles at the firm. Lizabeth Zlatkus, currently co-chief operating officer of life operations and president of International Wealth Management and Group Benefits, has been promoted to serve as executive vice president and chief financial officer from 1 May. In her new role, Ms Zlatkus will be responsible for the corporate strategy, finance, capital and enterprise risk management, investor relations, real estate and corporate information systems functions. She will report to Hartford chairman and chief executive Ramani Ayer. Ms Zlatkus replaces David Johnson, who earlier announced that he would leave the company this year. Henry Nevstad has joined Cayman-based Solutions for Wealth Capital Management, the parent company of Private Banking Index, as a partner and director. Based in London, will be involved in the roll out of the firm’s trading and sales offices in key strategic locations across Europe, Asia and the US. The firm is planning to hire a sales team to support the launch of its funds and its structured products arrangements with leading investment banks. Mr Nevstad was a managing director and head of Credit Flow Products and previously a managing director and global head of Structured Notes & Private Placements at Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein. Prior to that, he held executive positions at Deutsche Bank and Merrill Lynch, and was a director and board member of International Index Company. Chicago-based investment firm William Blair & Company has appointed John Brennan, former president of Bank of America's Illinois unit, as its new head of private wealth management. He will report to Michelle Seitz, head of William Blair Investment Management, who previously held the role. Blair manages $58 billion in assets – of which $17 billion belong to affluent investors, families and entrepreneurs – and ranks as one of the top 30 US wealth managers. Mr Brennan's most recent role at Bank of America included heading its private bank in the central region, responsible for a $52 billion portfolio in 15 states and a staff of 700 professionals. LPL Financial, America’s largest independent broker dealer, poached former managing director of Citigroup/Smith Barney’s Private Wealth Management Unit, Chris Poch, who will start immediately as chief executive officer of LPL’s trust subsidiary, The Private Trust Company. Mr Poch spent nearly twenty-five years at Smith Barney/Citigroup in various executive positions of increasing responsibility starting as an advisor. He most recently served as managing director of Smith Barney’s Private Wealth Management unit, which tripled its assets under management and grew revenues under his leadership, according to LPL. At LPL Poch is an executive vice president and will report to Bill Dwyer, president, LPL Financial Independent Advisor Services. California-based Salient Wealth Management has named former Guardian chief investment officer Dr Frank Jones as the chairman of its investment committee. While at Guardian, Dr Jones was president of The Park Avenue Portfolio, a $10 billion family of eight mutual funds. His international experience includes senior executive and strategic positions with Merrill Lynch and Kidder, Peabody. Dr Jones was also a senior vice president at the New York Stock Exchange where he initiated the NYSE stock options programme and a founding board member of the International Securities Exchange, where he served as chairman. Currently, he is a professor of accounting and finance at San Jose State University. Dr Jones will head the firm’s five-person investment committee, which includes founder Richard Stone and chief investment officer, Theo Gallier. Wachovia Wealth Management has hired Lucy Leatherwood as a private banking regional director. Before coming on board at Wachovia, Ms Leatherwood was at Compass Bank. JPMorgan has appointed three vice presidents in wealth management: Clifford Bandy, Justin Ramsey and Bill Winters. Mr Bandy was previously at Bank of America, Mr Ramsey at the Carlyle Group and Ewing Management; Mr Winters moves up from credit executive. Deutsche Bank Alex. Brown, the US Private Client Services division of Deutsche Bank Securities and Deutsche Bank Private Wealth Management, has tapped AG Edwards to add three client advisors to its Dallas office. Greg Galbraith, a senior vice president at AG Edwards, joins the firm as a managing director. Wayne McCullough, a vice president at AG Edwards, joins as a director, and Dan Delp, an investment broker and institutional salesman at AG Edwards, joins as a vice president. The three will report to Leslie Greco-Pool, a director of Deutsche Bank Alex. Brown and Dallas regional executive. In addition, Scott Grenert has joined the firm's Boston office as a director and client advisor and will report to Gary Domoracki, a managing director and Boston regional executive. Mr Grenert joins from RBC Dain Rauscher where he was a senior vice president and financial consultant and a member of the chairman's council. Prior to joining RBC in 2003, he was a senior vice president at UBS Financial Services. Columbia Management has announced four key appointments in its distribution and portfolio management areas. Jeffrey Peters joins as head of institutional distribution of the Bank of America-owned Columbia, reporting to president Michael Jones. Mr Peters will oversee Columbia Management's institutional sales, client service, consultant relations and international functions. He was most recently with Putnam Investments, where he oversaw that firm's international business operations. David Feldman and Beth Ann Brown were named heads of intermediary distribution, also reporting to Mr Jones. Feldman will serve as head of intermediary sales, responsible for all external and internal wholesale distribution of Columbia Management products through financial advisors, and Ms Brown will serve as strategic relations executive, responsible for strategic partnering and broadening relationships with intermediary firms. Both have previously held senior distribution roles for the organisation, following similar leadership roles at predecessor firms. Robert McConnaughey was named head of equity, reporting to Colin Moore, Columbia Management chief investment officer and head of alternative investments. Mr McConnaughey joined Columbia Management in 2002. South Florida-based Singer Xenos Wealth Management has taken on lawyer Ana Cela Harris as partner and senior advisor. She will assist high net worth clients in all aspects of their financial lives, from investment management to implementation of their estate tax and retirement planning strategies. Europe Goldman Sachs has announced that Doug Grip, co-head of Private Wealth Management EMEA has decided to retire from the firm. The US bank also confirmed that Michael Covell, head of Goldman’s wealth services group is to leave the firm after seven years to set up an independent wealth management boutique. Mr Grip joined Goldman Sachs Asset Management in 1996 as president and member of the Board of Trustees of Goldman Sachs Mutual Funds and head of GSAM’s Third Party Distribution business. He became a managing director in 1997 and a partner in 2000. Chris French will now become sole head of PWM EMEA at Goldman. Credit Suisse has appointed Michael Rüdiger as chief executive officer of Credit Suisse in Germany, Austria, Luxembourg and Central Europe. Mr Rüdiger will be based in Frankfurt and assumes his new role on 1 March 2008. He is currently head of market area Germany, Austria and Luxembourg and head of UHNWI in EMEA for the Private Banking division. In this newly created role, Mr Rüdiger will be responsible for the Private Banking, Investment Banking and Asset Management divisions in his area. Eurobank EFG, the third largest bank in Greece, has promoted Demosthenes Arhontidis to head of private banking activities, with responsibility for expanding group activities in Greece, Luxembourg and new European markets. The Athens-based bank also promoted Daniel Manainoglou to head of private banking in Greece and Paul-Marie Majerus to head of private banking Luxembourg. Eurobank EFG is part of Spiro Latsis' group of companies and is a member company of the EFG Bank European Financial Group based in Geneva. IFOS Internationale Fonds Service, a wholly owned subsidiary of Liechtenstein's VP Bank Group, has named Natalie Flatz as the second member of the firm’s management board. Ms Flatz, previously a lawyer at the Liechtenstein Bankers' Association, has been working as a relationship manager for fund establishment and a specialised advisor in fund-related law at IFOS Internationale Fonds Service since January 2006. GlobalCapital, the Malta-based financial services provider, has appointed John Rusher as head of its Private Clients Division to grow the services available for high net worth Maltese and international clients. Mr Rusher, a UK-qualified independent financial advisor, specialises in wealth management, business leadership and taxation. He was formerly national development manager for Royal Bank of Scotland in various regions and cities, including London, Manchester, Nottingham and Birmingham. February 7, 2008 Asia Pacific BNP Paribas Investment Partners has promoted Vincent Trouillard-Perrot as chief executive for Asia (ex-Japan). He was previously representative director and president of BNP Paribas Asset Management Japan, which he joined in 2003. Based in Hong Kong, Mr Trouillard-Perrot will be responsible for the French bank's asset management capabilities in Asia, particularly in the Chinese and Indian markets, as well as in the countries of South-East Asia, which have seen unprecedented growth in recent years with massive inflow of foreign capital. Prior to his Japan posting, Mr Trouillard-Perrot worked in Hong Kong for four years at the BNP Paribas Private Bank Hong Kong branch as chief operating officer for Hong Kong and North Asia and deputy head of Private Banking. BNP Paribas has appointed Eddie Chang as head of Wealth Management at its Taipei branch. He succeeds Jean-Louis Tourne, who is relocating to BNP’s private banking arm in Europe. Mr Chang joins BNP Paribas from Fortis Wealth Management Taiwan, where he was senior executive. Prior to that, he worked in major investment houses in Taiwan including Merrill Lynch and AIG Securities Investment Consulting Enterprise. Mr Chang will be based in Taipei and will report to Claude Haberer, chief executive of BNP Paribas Private Bank, Hong Kong and North Asia. Basel-based Bank Sarasin has hired Conrad Lim as head of Legal, Asia and the Middle East as it gears up to upgrade and expand its operations in Singapore, Hong Kong and the Middle East. Mr Lim will be based in Singapore and will report to Sarasin's general counsel Dr Markus Affolter. He joins from Credit Suisse Private Banking, where he was co-head of Legal, Asia Pacific. Prior to Credit Suisse, he was the regional compliance director at Barclays Private Bank. Macquarie Private Wealth has hired Mark Fisher, AXA’s former state manager for Queensland, as its new head of strategic financial planning in Brisbane. The Australian investment bank is gearing up to expand its financial planning arm and has its sights set on a range of niche markets. Hans Schuettler, Morgan Stanley's chief executive for Asia, has resigned less than two years after his appointment in April 2006. He is returning from Hong Kong to Germany. Morgan Stanley Asia chairman, Stephen Roach, who has been with the Wall Street bank since 1982, becomes acting chief executive for Asia. Michael de Santiesteban and a team of five colleagues has joined Julius Baer as team head and managing director, Marketing South East Asia, reporting to Heinz Puth, head of Marketing South East Asia. Mr de Santiesteban was desk head for the South Asian market for UBS in Singapore. Prior to that, he worked as a senior banker at Citi Private Bank. He began his career in investment banking in Asia, focusing on capital markets and research, where he also founded and managed his own investment banking financial services advisory firm that focused on debt and private equity investments. Thitima Chuntamongkol has also joined the bank’s Marketing South East Asia team. She has over 20 years experience in the financial services industry. Prior to joining Julius Baer, she was with UBS for six years and before that, she was in the asset management and investment banking business. Jan Philip Dirkman and Theekaroj Piampongsarn will join the Marketing South East Asia team later this year from UBS. Jeffrey Chiam has joined Julius Baer as head of HR and member of the Singapore Management Committee. He is responsible for leading the bank’s HR function. He reports to Markus Kobler, chief operating officer. He was previously regional HR manager at ING Asia Private Bank covering Asia and Middle East; and country HR manager at JP Morgan. Christina Ng has joined the bank’s Marketing South East Asia team. She too reports to Mr Puth. Prior to this, she was with Premium Group at BNP Paribas Private Bank where she managed ultra high net worth clients who have investible assets of more than $50 million. Before that, she was acting desk head for Thailand at BNP Paribas. UBS Wealth Management has hired George Boubouras from Macquarie Group as its new head of investment, strategy and consulting in Australia. Mr Boubouras will be based in Melbourne and report to Andrew Williamson, executive director for Australia and New Zealand, in Sydney. HSBC has poached Gary Hung from Merrill Lynch in Hong Kong to be managing director and head of intermediaries, North Asia in wealth management sales. At Merrill, Mr Hung was a director of equity structured solutions. Mr Hung’s position at HSBC is a newly created one in which he will be responsible for managing the intermediaries business for Greater China and Korea. He will be based in Hong Kong and will report to Ken Sue, managing director and head of wealth management sales, Asia-Pacific. International In March 2008 Curt Custard will join UBS Global Asset Management as head of global investment solutions. He will be based in London, reporting to John Fraser, chairman and chief executive of UBS Global Asset Management. Mr Custard joins from Schroders, where he was global head of multi-asset solutions, a position he has held since 2004. Before that, he was chief investment officer of the multi-asset and balanced business of Allianz Global Investors in London; before that he headed up global fixed income at Dresdner RCM, which was merged into AGI. Barclays Wealth has appointed Nathan Dawes as head of marketing and communications for its direct brokerage business, Barclays Stockbrokers. Mr Dawes joins Barclays Wealth from ninemsn, where as group marketing manager he was responsible across a portfolio of brands including Hotmail and MSN Messenger in Australia and New Zealand. He will report to Tom Ryan, director of marketing and proposition, who has responsibility for strategy and planning across the Barclays Stockbrokers business. Mourant du Feu & Jeune, part of Mourant, has hired two partners, Richard de Basto and Matthew Feargrieve, for its Cayman funds and finance practice groups. Mr de Basto joins from Allen & Overy, where he was a partner for close to eight years in the firm's London, Hong Kong and Amsterdam offices. His current practice includes Islamic finance, restructuring and insolvency, leveraged finance, global loans, securitisation and real estate finance. Based in the Cayman Islands, he will focus on further advancing Mourant du Feu & Jeune’s Cayman finance practice. Mr Feargrieve joins from Maples and Calder, where he was senior associate in the London office, advising on Cayman and BVI investment fund structures for hedge and private equity funds. In his current practice, he works with onshore counsel in the US, EU and MENA on multi-jurisdictional transactions. Working from Mourant du Feu & Jeune’s London offices, he will advise on Cayman law alongside the Cayman-based funds team as headed by partner Neal Lomax. HSBC Investments has appointed Deepak Sathe to the position of head of global distributors. In this newly-created role, Mr Sathe will develop and manage relationships with the top tier of global and multinational distributors of third-party asset management products, including private banks, insurers, retail banks and asset managers. Ali Homayoun has joined GAM as a client director, reporting to Craig Wallis, head of institutional and fund distribution. Mr Homayoun will specialise in marketing GAM’s developing single manager hedge fund range with primary responsibility for fund-of-hedge-fund clients. He joins from Phylon Investment Advisers where he had been a trading and investment analyst since 2005. He was previously director of hedge fund research sales (equities) at Lehman Brothers. London-based Andrew Pitt has been promoted to global director of research at Citigroup Wealth Management. Mr Pitt has been head of research at the US bank’s Europe, Middle East and Africa operation for five years and replaces Bill Kennedy who is leaving the bank. Standard Chartered Private Bank has tapped Barclays Capital to hire Ben de Beyer as head of Organisation Effectiveness. Based in Singapore, Mr de Beyer will provide strategic oversight of the unit’s organisational strategy covering structure, resourcing, talent management and reward. He will also assume responsibility for training and development strategies. Mr de Beyer will report to both Peter Flavel, StanChart Private Bank’s global head, and Dominic White, group head of Organisational Effectiveness in StanChart’s Consumer Banking business. Baltimore-based asset manager Legg Mason has appointed Ronald Dewhurst as a senior managing director and head of international asset management. He joins from Australian investment manager IOOF and will become a senior member of Legg Mason's management team. Jersey-based investment manager Ashburton has promoted Gavin Fraser to global sales director. Currently a director of Ashburton, based in Dubai, Mr Fraser has been responsible for driving the firm’s business development strategy in the Gulf region since 2005. He joined Ashburton in 1997 in Jersey and was initially involved in the development of the firm’s South African business. Prior to that he worked for Abbey Life Assurance and Midland Bank Offshore. Middle East HSBC Bank Middle East has appointed Walid Boustany to the role of executive director, Strategic Investments, Middle East & Noarth Africa. He will be responsible for HSBC’s strategic planning across the region, and will join the HSBC Bank Middle East Board and will relocate to Dubai. Prior to his latest appointment, Mr Boustany was global head of Wealth Advisory Services at HSBC Private Bank, where he held responsibilities in Corporate Finance Solutions, Private Equity and Family Office Advisory, Global Wealth Solutions and Tax Advisory. Goldman Sachs has appointed Fadi Abuali as co-head of its Middle East private wealth management business, alongside current head Farid Pasha. Mr Abuali was previously Goldman’s head of institutional wealth management for the EMEA region, based in London. The Central Bank of Bahrain has approved Douglas Hansen-Luke as Robeco's new chief executive for the Middle East. He formerly worked in senior positions for ABN Amro Asset Management in Asia, Europe and Saudi Arabia. The Dutch pure-play asset manager has also transferred Ali Enayati, previously head of International Structuring at Robeco Alternative Investments in Rotterdam, as general manager and to cover international private banks. Robeco is planning to serve institutional clients from its Bahrain representative office and meet demand from private banks through partnerships in key markets. David Gibson-Moore, Robeco's former country manager in Bahrain, is to stay in the Kingdom and has been appointed to the Robeco Middle East Advisory Board. Zarina Bassa has been appointed vice chairperson of South African Absa Retail Bank. Ms Bassa will represent Barclays-owned Absa as a non-executive director on the boards of some of Absa’s strategic joint ventures and partnerships, she will serve on selected internal Absa boards and will continue with her empowerment initiatives to promote capacity development and the role of women, both in Absa and in general. Merrill Lynch has appointed Mazin Al-Shakarchi as a financial advisor covering Qatar from the Bahrain office. He will report to Jonty Crosse, resident director for the Middle East, Global Wealth Management EMEA. Before joining Merrill Lynch, he held several senior positions at leading Qatari banks, including assistant general manager, Investment Department at Qatar National Bank. International specialist services firm Mourant, has beefed up its Middle East offering by appointing private client specialist Wendy Scott-Hamilton who joins Mourant Private Wealth from UBS Jersey, where she managed bespoke financial solutions for private clients. Ms Scott-Hamilton, who will be based in Dubai, will join Mourant's first Middle East representative, Brian Williams, in offering the trustee and other services of Mourant Private Wealth, across the region.