Merrill Lynch Wealth Management has appointed Kelvin Ho as market manager for Hong Kong, WealthBriefing Asia can confirm.

Ho was previously a portfolio counselor for the company's North Asia business, supporting private wealth managers in managed product sales and asset allocation advice. Prior to Merrill Lynch, he was a director of sales and marketing for alternative investment products for Deutsche Bank, where he worked with high net worth clients in the Asia-Pacific.

Merrill Lynch has been bulking up its Asian operations in a bid to obtain wider coverage of the fast-growing region. In February this year, the Bank of America subsidiary named Alison Chan as managing director and client solutions head for the Asia-Pacific.

The US-based firm, like many of its peers, has been expanding into Asia. More broadly, Merrill Lynch's fortunes have been improving since the turbulence of 2008 and early 2009. Sallie Krawcheck, head of the Global Wealth and Investment Management business at Bank of America - owner of Merrill Lynch - has forecast strong revenue growth for the unit, as well as an improvement in pre-tax profit margins. Krawcheck has said the unit's revenue would grow by 6 per cent to 7 per cent within an unspecified time frame; meanwhile, she expected pre-tax profit margins of 20 per cent compared to 14.6 per cent at the end of last year, due to falling merger expenses.