Bussey Consulting added two “special advisors” to its team. The firm, run and founded by Russell Bussey, who has over 35 years of experience in the professional and financial markets, appointed Martyn Gowar as special advisor. He is senior council to McDermott Will & Emery, was the senior partner at LG and has also worked at Penningtons. It also appointed Nigel Bentley to a similar role. Bentley began his career in London in 1980 and moved to Jersey in 1984, where he became a partner of Galsworthy & Stones, a Jersey based firm of English solicitors. He was appointed as managing director of Rathbone Trust Company Jersey following the sale of Galsworthy & Stones’ trust company business to UK-listed Rathbone Brothers in 2003. In 2007, he led the management buyout of that business, now known as Hawksford. Bentley relinquished the role as managing director of Hawksford in November 2012 and retired from partnership in Galsworthy & Stones in July 2013.

Eaton Vance Management International, the London-based subsidiary of US investment manager Eaton Vance, hired Jeffrey Mueller as vice president, portfolio manager and global high-yield analyst. He was previously a high-yield portfolio manager and investment analyst at Threadneedle Asset Management, where he managed European high-yield credit portfolios, focused on the automobile, industrials and services sectors.

Investment research and consulting firm Asset Risk Consultants hired Phil Duffin and Andrew Ingram to its Jersey team. Duffin, who has 30 years' experience in financial services in both Jersey and the UK, leads the firm's reporting operations in London, Guernsey and Jersey. He previously supervised clients' investment portfolios at a Jersey-based trust company.

Boodle Hatfield hired former Baker & McKenzie partner Salpy Kouyoumjian to its private client and tax team. Kouyoumjian advised an ultra-high net worth clientèle in Russia, CIS and the Middle East. She brought to her new role as partner within the international team particular expertise in creating bespoke asset-holding and wealth management structures including private trust companies, limited partnerships and family offices.

Royal Bank of Canada's asset management arm, RBC Global Asset Management, hired Nicole Vettise as institutional portfolio manager in its expanding London-based business development team. Vettise's newly created role saw her become capability specialist for RBC GAM’s emerging market equities team, as well as RBC GAM’s London-based expert for global natural resources. She previously spent 10 years at JP Morgan Asset Management.

Global asset manager Fidelity Worldwide Investment hired Andrew Nickson as strategic account manager for Scotland and the North of England. Nickson is responsible for platforms, national IFA businesses and network relationships. He previously held sales positions at Argonaut Capital Partners and Neptune Investment Management. Nickson reports to Dennis Pellerito, who manages strategic accounts across the UK.

London-headquartered wealth manager Walker Crips hired Neal Stevens to the stockbroking division of its Birmingham office. Stevens joins as an investment manager from EFG Harris Allday. He specialises in advisory and discretionary private client stockbroking.

Insight Investment, the UK firm, hired David Hillier to its multi-asset strategy team. Hillier has 25 years' experience in the investment management sector and joins from the multi-asset team at Aviva, where he was an economist. In his new capacity as portfolio manager, Hillier reports to Matthew Merritt, head of the multi-asset strategy group.

Chris Hills, chief investment officer at Investec Wealth & Investment for the past 20 years, was elected to the board of the Association of Investment Companies, a UK body. Hills, who is also director of the Henderson Opportunities and Invesco Income Growth trusts, joins the AIC board with Rachel Beagles, director of BlackRock Emerging Europe, New India Investment Trust, Schroder UK Mid Cap Fund and Securities Trust of Scotland.

The London-based family law firm Camilla Baldwin hired solicitor Hazel McNaught to work across all segments of family and matrimonial law. McNaught joins after five years with the family practice division of Stevens & Bolton. She specialises in private children law, financial proceedings, pre-nuptial agreements and divorce.

TISA, or the Tax-Incentivised Savings Association, a UK body, hired David Dalton-Brown as its new director general. Dalton-Brown was previously a non-executive director at TISA. Prior to joining TISA, he held senior positions at Fidelity, KPMG Norwich Union and the Prudential. He also holds several non-executive posts at Barclays, where he was director of Barclays Funds until 2013.

London-headquartered Coutts appointed David Thompson to the newly-created role of head of fiduciary investments, to drive its flagship Jersey-based trust business. Thompson previously worked at Royal Bank of Canada, in Jersey, where he built up the firm's discretionary portfolio management solutions in the British Isles.

Old Mutual Wealth bolstered its pension specialist team with two new hires to cater to high advisor demand ahead of the UK pensions reform. Roddy Munro and Tim Mason support advisors covering northern regions through workshops, forums and one-to-one sessions focused on practical advice. Munro, a chartered financial planner and associate member of the Chartered Insurance Institute, previously spent 24 years at Scottish Widows, where he developed the retirement account proposition and responded to the Retail Distribution Review in individual and corporate pensions. Mason is a certified financial planner, fellow of the Personal Finance Society and associate of the Pension Management Institute. He joined from Just Retirement and has more than 14 years’ experience in the financial service market.

Swiss bank Julius Baer appointed Alan Edwards as a senior relationship manager in its London office. He formerly worked at the wealth arm of Barclays. Edwards focuses on developing the firm’s business in the North West region of the UK, and will report to David Durlacher, head of relationship management. Working in the wealth management field for more than 30 years, Edwards was regional centre head for Manchester and Liverpool, and previously also led the Leeds office at Barclays Wealth (as the wealth arm of Barclays used to be known), overseeing the teams of bankers in these locations.

Barclays hired Steve Renfrew as regional head of its wealth and investment management division in the North West region of the UK. Renfrew was previously head of specialist banking at Royal Bank of Scotland, where he managed a 200-strong team delivering investments and mortgages. He also sat on the RBS specialist banking executive committee and has over 27 years of experience in the financial services sector. He now leads offices in Liverpool and Manchester. Alongside director James Bailey, he is responsible for building relationships with new and existing high and ultra-high net worth clients.

Royal London Asset Management brought on board Fidelity Worldwide Investment’s asset allocation director Trevor Greetham. He assumes the newly-created role in April as head of multi-asset at RLAM, after almost a decade at Fidelity. He will lead a team that will manage and develop asset allocation solutions for institutional and retail clients.

UK-based investment manager Kames Capital appointed Peter Ball as director of its institutional business and head of business development at its parent, Aegon Asset Management. Ball reports to chief executive Martin Davis. He worked with Kames in March 2014 as a consultant, advising on strategic opportunities in the institutional market. In his new capacity, Ball focuses on business growth through Kames's absolute return, equity, ethical, fixed income, multi-asset and property capabilities, while seeking opportunities for the Aegon Asset Management group as it develops its businesses globally.

The head of equities at international investment management firm Barings, Jean-Louis Scandella, took on further responsibilities as co-manager on a number of funds. The mandates covered were previously run by Staffan Lindfeldt, who left in December 2014. They include Barings’ flagship global emerging markets fund, which he will manage alongside William Palmer and Isabelle Irish.

Wealth manager London & Capital hired Guy McGlashan as chief operating officer to drive growth in its key business areas. McGlashan was previously COO at Coutts & Co's international ultra-high net worth private client business.

French asset manager Amundi appointed Jeannine Daniel as head of equity strategies at its London-based alternative investments arm. Daniel has 10 years' experience in the hedge fund space. She reports to François-Regis Bocqueraz, global head of hedge fund manager relations and selection.

Jonathan Sherlock returned to UK-based Brown Shipley Private Bank, where he worked before spending 11 years at UBS. During his tenure at UBS, Sherlock worked in wealth management advisory and managerial roles. He also headed the bank's Manchester office. He re-joined Brown Shipley to take on a newly-created position as head of its Manchester office to drive business development in the North West region.

Legal & General Investment Management, part of UK-listed financial services group L&G, restructured its leadership team, creating a new role of leadership head. Aaron Meder was appointed head of investment and will lead LGIM’s investment teams, excluding “real assets” such as property and infrastructure. Meanwhile, Roger Bartley was appointed vice chairman – investments, and works closely with Mark Zinkula, CEO of LGIM.

Bill Hughes took on the role of head of real assets, a new position bringing together LGIM’s direct investment capabilities in property and infrastructure into one team. Mike Craston was appointed vice chairman – Legal & General Investment Management America. Sarah Aitken became head of distribution, extending her responsibilities to lead all distribution in Europe, the Middle East and Asia, including institutional and retail. Ali Toutounchi, managing director for index funds, said he intended to retire at the end of this year. He will work with Zinkula and Meder to hire a successor.

Puma Investments, a provider of tax-mitigating investments such as venture capital trusts, created the new role of chief operating officer, naming investment industry figure Sam McArthur to the position. McArthur joined from MGL Distribution/McArthur Group, a distribution business. Before that, he worked at KBC Financial Products, managing the European sales of structured products to funds of hedge funds, family offices and private banks.

Mayfair Private, the private client advisory business launched in June last year by Mishcon de Reya and family office specialists Opus Private, appointed Alistair Morgan as chief executive, as the business evolves its structure. Morgan had been the head of the family office of Lord Jacob Rothschild since August 2012 and, prior to that, spent 16 years at the chartered accountancy firm Rawlinson & Hunter.

Old Mutual Global Investors, part of the UK’s Old Mutual Wealth, appointed Liam Nunn as an analyst for a European small-cap fund, joining from rival wealth manager Schroders. Nunn is an analyst for the Old Mutual Europe (ex UK) Smaller Companies fund, a sub-fund of the Old Mutual Global Investors Series, a Dublin-domiciled umbrella fund. The fund was launched in November last year and is managed by Ian Ormiston, who joined the business in October.

EFG International appointed John Reed to the board of its London-based subsidiary, EFG Private Bank. Reed has extensive experience of private banking and financial services more generally. He was CEO of Arbuthnot Latham from 2003-2007 and its vice chairman from 2007-2008. Prior to that, he held a number of senior positions at SG Hambros, which he joined in 1989, encompassing a range of business areas. These roles included group chief operating officer; group head of risk; and head of corporate banking, Hambros Bank. Reed began his career at Midland Bank.

Nucleus, the UK wrap platform business, appointed Adam Baker as its new client relations director. He joined from Transact, another platform business.

PricewaterhouseCoopers appointed Lachlan Roos as its new UK hedge fund leader, taking over from Rob Mellor, who stepped down after leading the hedge fund practice for five years. Roos is a partner in the firm’s financial services tax division and has been with PwC since 2005.

Former Ashcourt Rowan senior figure John Hutton-Attenborough was appointed by Arbuthnot Latham & Co, the UK private bank, as a chartered wealth manager in its media and international teams. At Ashcourt Rowan Financial Planning, Hutton-Attenborough was financial planning director.

Bordier (UK), formerly known as Berry Asset Management, appointed Roberto Islas as head of the international desk, a newly created role. He previously worked at HSBC Private Bank, where he was involved extensively in the international and resident non-domiciled markets. He also held positions in the international and resident non-dom markets formerly with both RBC and Citigroup. Bordier (UK),  also appointed David Muncaster as director of commercial activities, joining from Close Brothers, where he held a senior management role. He also formerly worked at UBS.

Kames Capital, the UK-based investment house, appointed Mark Benbow, formerly of Scottish Widows Investment Partnership, to its fixed income team.  Benbow joined as an investment analyst and works with the high yield part of the fixed income team. Benbow reports to Phil Milburn, the co-manager of the Kames High Yield Bond Fund and the Kames High Yield Global Bond Fund. Kames Capital appointed Stephen Adams as head of equities. Adams, who was previously head of UK equities, is responsible for leading Kames' 26-strong team of UK and global equity specialists. Adams has 27 years’ experience, 14 years of which have been at Kames Capital. He was appointed head of UK equities in April 2004.

The law firm Bircham Dyson Bell appointed Karl Woolley as a partner to its private wealth management department. He formerly was head of private wealth at Pinsent Masons.

Tilney Bestinvest re-hired Douglas Lockhart as an associate director. He is based in the Glasgow office and reports into Paul Frame, managing director. Douglas has 13 years’ experience in the investment management industry, having originally joined Tilney as a trainee in 2002 before moving to Barclays Wealth as a portfolio manager in 2010.

Hawksmoor Investment Management appointed Robin O'Grady as director of business development. He previously worked for Saltus Partners. O'Grady has 35 years of experience in marketing fund and investment management services and works alongside Hawksmoor’s head of business development, Dan Constable.

IRESS, a supplier of financial markets, wealth and mortgage management systems, appointed Paul Chedzey as head of key account management. In his new role Chedzey reports into Mark Loosmore, IRESS executive general manager (wealth). He joined from Intelliflo, where he was head of business transition.

Signia Wealth’s chief executive and founder Nathalie Dauriac-Stoebe, who has been one of the most high-profile women in the UK wealth management business, resigned, the firm confirmed. A statement from the firm gave no details on why she stood down or her future plans.

Chris Sullivan, the deputy chief executive of Royal Bank of Scotland, the UK bank which is seeking to sell its non-UK wealth management arm, left the bank.

Stanhope Capital, the investment office, appointed Charles Mesquita as a senior director in its charity team. He reports Jamie Korner, head of charities at the firm, and will be based in its London office. Mesquita has 25 years of experience in the investment sector and has worked for organisations including Rensburg Sheppards (now Investec) and Newton Investment Management. Mesquita also founded and launched the Charities Property Fund in 2000 with property firm Savills. Additionally, he set up, in partnership with Farrers and haysmacintyre, the first educational programme designed to assist charity trustees to keep abreast of issues of interest in the sector.

Dexion Capital, the alternative investment banking firm, hired industry luminary Magnus Spence to be head of asset management, a newly-minted role. He will be responsible for expanding the firm’s range of property and alternative credit fund offerings. Spence co-founded Dalton Strategic Partnership, an investment house with about $2 billion of client AuM, in 2002; he has also held senior roles at Mercury Asset Management (later known as Merrill Lynch Investment Managers).

Switzerland
EY, formerly known as Ernst & Young, said the mergers and acquisitions business inside its transactions advisory services arm in Switzerland hired a new leader and three additional team members. Ronald Sauser will head the M&A group, joined by Fabian Denneborg, Lars Frölich and Marco Hirsiger. Stefan Rösch-Rütsche was Sauser's predecessor. Rösch-Rütsche took over the lead for TAS (transaction advisory services) as a whole in Switzerland. Sauser was formerly chief executive of Leonardo & Co, the investment bank.

Unigestion appointed Rudyard Ekindi as head of investment solutions in its equity team. He formerly worked as director of investment research at the National Employment Savings Trust. In his new role, Ekindi reports to Alexei Jourovski, managing director and head of equity.

Bank J Safra Sarasin created the new role of head of asset management for Switzerland, naming industry figure Serge Ledermann to the role. Ledermann has worked in asset management and in Swiss institutional business for more than 30 years. He previously worked at Retraites Populaires, where he was deputy chief executive and member of the management committee in charge of investments.

The managing partner at Lombard Odier, Bernard Droux, died, the firm announced. As a managing partner since 1 January 2001, Droux held various managerial responsibilities at the firm and his time at the bank included its change in legal structure more than a year ago, moving away from its former unlimited liability setup.

Mirabaud Asset Management, the Swiss-headquartered firm, appointed former Lombard Odier manager Patrick Huber as senior portfolio manager, responsible for Swiss large-cap companies. At Lombard Odier Investment Managers, Huber led the Swiss equities team.

Europe
Mirabaud Asset Management recruited André Broijl, Bert Hospers, Sai Kit Lam and George Luijkx from Syntrus Achmea Asset Management in the Netherlands to join its fixed income team. The team is led by Andrew Lake, in London.

The team reports to Lake and will be in charge of various mandates and fund solutions for Mirabaud’s clients in the investment-grade credit arena. Before joining Mirabaud, Broijl spent almost 10 years at Syntrus Achmea, where he managed various credit portfolios. Broijl started his career at Robeco and subsequently worked at ING Investment Management in the credit team. Hospers joined Syntrus Achmea in 2001, where he also managed various fixed income portfolios with a particular focus on credit since 2006. Lam joined Syntrus Achmea in 2006 and has been a dedicated credit portfolio manager since 2012, starting his career at Fortis Investments in 1998.

Luijkx has 15 years' experience in the investment industry. He spent almost four years as a credit portfolio manager at Syntrus Achmea. Before joining Syntrus Achmea, Luijkx was an investment analyst at Robeco, where he started his career.

Barclays Wealth and Investment Management, part of UK-listed Barclays, appointed one of its high-ranking figures, Francesco Grosoli, to the post of head of wealth management Europe, a newly created role as part of a restructuring of the firm’s senior wealth team. Grosoli reports to Akshaya Bhargava, chief executive of Barclays Wealth and Investment Management. Grosoli has been working in wealth management with high net worth clients since 1989 and joined Barclays in May 2007. Previously, he was managing director, Monaco country manager and market head for Switzerland and Monaco at Barclays Wealth and Investment Management. Prior to this, he worked at HSBC Private Bank Monaco where he was head of private banking. The UK firm also appointed Warren McRae as business chief operating officer for Europe, adding to his present responsibilities as COO for Switzerland and Monaco at Barclays. Grosoli took over some of the territory that had been previously covered by Henry Fischel-Bock, the head of wealth management UK and Europe at Barclays who stepped down last July.

Societe Generale Private Banking appointed Eric Verleyen to the newly-created role of global chief investment officer, having previously been group CIO at Societe Generale Private Banking Hambros, the French group’s UK business.

Mirabaud commenced Spanish banking operations, operating under its Mirabaud & Cie (Europe) SA, Sucursal en España name. The firm has already had offices operating in the country for over three years. The new entity is set up as a Luxembourg-based bank with a branch structure and a permanent presence in Spain. The Spanish business is led by Francisco Gómez-Trenor, president and chief executive. He is joined by Alvaro Lucas Javier Nieto as commercial director, Manuel Balanzat as business development director, Luis Pujol as chief financial officer and operations, and Marcelino Blanco as head of the legal department and wealth management.

Kleinwort Benson recruited Susan McCabe into its corporate secretarial team in Jersey. She has more than 30 years’ experience in financial services and has held a number of senior investment management and corporate secretarial positions.  

Julius Baer changed the leadership structure of its businesses in Monaco with its previous head departing from his roles to focus on serving clients, while a former Credit Suisse senior executive took the helm.

Bruno Dumitrescu, who has led both Bank Julius Baer (Monaco) and Julius Baer Wealth Management (Monaco) since 2010, decided to step down from his present management responsibilities to fully focus on acquiring and servicing key clients in the future. He was replaced by Alain Ucari, who joins Julius Baer from Credit Suisse Monaco, where he was chief executive.

Dumitrescu has been at Julius Baer since the Swiss bank’s acquisition of ING Bank (Switzerland) and its subsidiaries in 2010, after leading the latter's wealth management in Monaco as CEO for eight years, the statement said. Previously, he was commercial director at ABN AMRO Bank in in Monaco for seven years. Going forward, Dumitrescu will “fully focus on acquiring and servicing key clients in his new roles as senior relationship manager within the bank and vice-chairman of the wealth management unit in Monaco.” He will continue to report directly to Rémy Bersier, region head Southern Europe, Middle East and Africa.

Ucari had been CEO of Credit Suisse Monaco for more than 12 years. Prior to that, he worked in senior management functions for Credit Suisse in Lebanon, the United Arab Emirates and Switzerland.

The board of directors at Liechtensteinische Landesbank proposed that chairman Dr Hans-Werner Gassner and fellow members Markus Büchel, Markus Foser, and Roland Oehri be re-elected at the bank’s shareholder general meeting on 8 May.

The chairman’s term will be for two years; Dr Gassner was first elected to the post in 2006, and re-elected in 2009 and 2012. Büchel, Foser and Oehri were proposed to serve for three years. They have been members of the board of directors since 2009 and were re-elected in 2012.

Societe Generale Securities Services, a business division of France’s Societe Generale that recently broadened its wealth management offering, appointed Christophe Baurand as global head of commercial, marketing and liquidity management. Based in Paris, Baurand joins the SGSS executive committee and reports to Bruno Prigent, head of the division. Baurand replaced Massimo Cotella, who has left Societe Generale to pursue opportunities outside the group. His appointment took effect on 1 January. Baurand is responsible for the commercial development and marketing strategy of SGSS. His career at the bank began in 1993.

Andersen Tax, founded 12 years ago by a group of former Arthur Andersen partners, ramped up its presence in the European market through the addition of Alegis Gmbh Steuerberatungsgesellschaft in Düsseldorf as well as setting up a satellite in Luxembourg through Alegis S.a.r.l. A total of eight partners joined Andersen Tax’s global organisation including Sandra Behn, Frank Broßius, Michael Buder, Christian Burgardt, Carsten Feldmann, Christoph Freichel, Dr Peter Klein and Alessio Rossi.

VP Bank Group appointed Eduard von Kymmel to take charge of the strategic orientation of its entire fund business in Luxembourg and Liechtenstein. He also became chairman of the executive board of VPB Finance SA, Luxembourg. He is based at the group’s Luxembourg location, and has group-wide responsibility for the fund business, reporting directly to Christoph Mauchle, a member of executive management of VP Bank Group. He also heads the VP fund solutions competence centre.

Von Kymmel has occupied various positions at Credit Suisse in Luxembourg and Zurich since 2001, and was most recently its head of sales and fund solutions as well as a member of the board of directors at various investment companies.

Middle East
One of ABN AMRO’s senior managers, Jagdish Hirani, was appointed as country executive for United Arab Emirates, subject to regulatory approvals. Hirani was with the bank for over ten years and was previously head of global markets Asia and alternate chief executive for ABN AMRO in Hong Kong. He succeeds Rob Broedelet, who decided to step down after leading the bank’s UAE activities for the last five years.

Credit Suisse appointed former Citigroup luminary Muwaffak Bibi as a managing director and head of Middle East ultra-high net worth clients. The role is a newly-created position. Muwaffak Bibi is based in Geneva and reports directly to Bruno Daher, who is chief executive of the entire Middle East and North Africa region. At Citigroup, he had worked more than 35 years at the US bank. He has served as region head and chairman of the MENA region for Citi Private Bank since 1999.

International
A London-based art curator, writer and educator was chosen for the third curatorial residency of a global art programme run by organisations including UBS. Sara Raza took up the position at the Guggenheim UBS MAP Global Art Initiative, working in the Middle East and North Africa areas. She joined June Yap (South and Southeast Asia) and Pablo Leon de la Barra (Latin America) and Guggenheim staff for the annual programme. Raza was nominated by a committee of experts for the role. She holds a Masters in Art History and Theory (20th Century) from Goldsmiths College, University of London, and is a PhD candidate at the Royal College of Art. She is the desk editor for West and Central Asia of ArtAsiaPacific magazine, and head of education and public programmes and curator of the upcoming 2015 Public Art Festival, organised by Yarat Contemporary Art Space.

McLagan appointed former private banking figure Mark Miles as an associate partner. Miles leads the firm’s coverage of private banks and wealth management firms in Europe. His work includes driving the development and delivery of performance consulting, as well as facilitating the integration of Scorpio Partnership. Previously, Miles was director of Lloyds Bank's private banking board, and head of its high net worth private clients business.

RBC Wealth Management appointed Antony Johnson to the role of head of distribution, RBC Wealth Management – International, a newly-created position. He previously worked at RBC Investor & Treasury Services.

Citi Private Bank said David Poole, who formerly was head of the private bank for the UK and Ireland, took on the newly-created role of head of strategic client segments for Europe, Middle East and Africa. He joined Citi in 2006 with responsibility for business development in Citi Private Bank UK and was appointed to his most recent role in 2009. As a result of his new appointment, Jeremy Knowland took on Poole’s old position. Knowland, who is a qualified management accountant, affiliate member of CISI and CFA charterholder, joined Citi in 2005. He has been a UK banker team leader since 2011.

Global Prime Partners, which provides prime brokerage and trading services to clients such as hedge funds and family offices, appointed Andrew Bole as chief operating officer. He previously worked at IG Group Holdings where he was chief risk officer and member of its senior management team. He brings more than 15 years of management experience in the industry. The role is a newly-created one.

North America

Oppenheimer & Co named managing director Doron Barness as head of trading at its US equity division, succeeding Peter Feinberg. Barness will remain based in Oppenheimer's global headquarters in New York City, reporting to John Hellier, senior managing director and head of equities.

Before joining Oppenheimer, Barness was a founding partner at WP Asset Management, responsible for trading and operations, business development and asset raising. Prior to his stint on the buy-side, he spent 14 years at Goldman Sachs, and began his career on Wall Street as an analyst in the investment banking program at Salomon Brothers.

Manulife Asset Management named its inaugural president for Canada in the wake of its acquisition of Standard Life’s assets in the country. Roger Renaud will also help to integrate his old firm’s Canadian arm into Manulife’s offering, as well as developing its business model in the region.

At Standard Life Investments, Renaud spent the past ten years as president of its Canada business. During his tenure at the firm he also served as president of group savings and retirement at Standard Life Assurance Company of Canada as well as vice president of sales at Standard Life Mutual Funds. He will report to Kai Sotorp, president and chief executive of Manulife Asset Management, who also holds the post of executive vice president and global head for wealth and asset management at Manulife.

The wealth management cloud platform provider Advisor Software named Erik Jepson as chief customer officer, responsible for client-facing operations including sales, marketing and client support. Jepson will report to the firm's chief executive, Andrew Rudd. Prior to joining Advisor Software, he was chief marketing officer at Personal Capital, a Silicon Valley financial technology startup. He has also held senior leadership roles at Charles Schwab, TradeStation, Royal Bank of Scotland and E*TRADE.

The global tax firm Andersen Tax recruited the Financial Controllers Group, a multi-client family office specialising in back-office solutions, family planning and compliance, in Chicago, IL. Carole Cederstrom and John Snider were the owners of the Financial Controllers Group and joined Andersen Tax as directors.

Cederstrom has been providing financial advisory and accounting services to individuals and businesses for over 30 years and prior to founding the Financial Controllers Group worked at Arthur Andersen. Snider serves families and their related businesses, trusts, foundations and other entities, having spent his entire 40-year career in the financial services sector. He too began his career at Arthur Andersen in Chicago.

Wealth Management Marketing/Angie Herbers, a practice management consulting firm focused on the financial advisory sector, hired Rob Pascual as a business strategist. In his new role, Pascual will provide practice management consulting advice and implementation services to financial advisory firms on issues ranging from structuring for scalable growth to boosting business value for a potential sale. Pascual has 25 years of experience in the financial services, risk management and insurance industries. Before joining Wealth Management Marketing/Angie Herbers, he was a business and marketing consultant at a national field marketing organisation, working with over 100 financial advisors and RIAs across the US.

RBC Wealth Management (US) expanded its presence in the greater Dallas area, adding a three-member team in Plano. The Winkler Group joined from UBS Financial Services and is comprised of financial advisors James Winkler and Lauren Johnson, and Randi Richardson, client associate. The team has close to $200 million in assets under administration and $1.3 million in production. Winkler has 34 years of industry experience and Johnson has worked in the industry for 12 years.

The Atlanta, GA-headquartered wealth advisory firm SignatureFD promoted its director of operations, Heather Fortner, to chief operating officer - a new role at the firm. Fortner – who also serves as SignatureFD's chief compliance officer – oversees business strategy and projects that impact client experience, team performance and overall firm success.

Raymond James & Associates recruited financial advisor Rob Torrington in Palm Beach Gardens, FL, from UBS. At UBS, Torrington managed $103 million in client assets and had about $875,000 in annual production. Torrington started his career at Barnett Bank, working as a banker before transitioning into the company’s wealth management sector, Barnett Investments. He also worked as a financial advisor at First Union Brokerage Services (later Wachovia Securities) and UBS Financial Services before joining Raymond James.

Taylor Frigon Capital Management hired Jonathan Wornick to lead its San Francisco wealth management office. He joined the firm, based in San Luis Obispo, CA, from a family real estate business where he was managing partner. In his new capacity, Wornick will cover ultra-high net worth families in Northern California, introducing them to the firm's array of wealth planning, investment strategies and concierge services.

Mariner Holdings, an independent financial services firm and the parent company of Mariner Wealth Advisors and Montage Investments, expanded its tax advisory affiliate, Mariner Consulting, into the Kansas City area. The firm hired Scott Voss to lead the local expansion as well as Ryan Drake and Megan Deay. They will be based in Mariner Holdings’ Leawood, KS, headquarters. Voss was previously a partner at RubinBrown and has also held leadership roles at PricewaterhouseCoopers, KPMG, Embarq Corporation and Compass Minerals International.

Snowden Lane Partners, the advisor-owned wealth advisory firm, added a new group in the shape of Robert Feldman and Donna Bowler at its new office in Pittsburg, PA. Operating as The Feldman Group – formerly of Merrill Lynch - Feldman is a partner and managing director, while Bowler serves as a private wealth advisor. The Feldman Group works with high net worth individuals, families and institutions. Snowden's managing partner and president, Greg Franks, said Pennsylvania is a “key market” for the firm and it is therefore focused on building its advisor base there.

Houston, TX-based Sentinel Trust Company, a multi-family office, made two executive promotions and a new hire. Lissa Gangjee, who joined in 2012, was promoted to president and will be responsible for the delivery of all Sentinel services to clients. Gangjee joined as senior vice president and senior relationship officer before being promoted to senior managing director and head of client service in 2013. Before Sentinel, she was managing director of wealth planning, senior relationship manager, and Portland, OR, office head at Threshold Group.

Meanwhile, Anne-Lise Wiegand was promoted to senior vice president and senior relationship officer. She will continue to lead the investment, planning, fiduciary, administrative and family office services delivered to certain clients. Prior to joining Sentinel, Wiegand was associate director of wealth planning and advisory at Threshold Group, starting her career at Albina Community Bank. Sentinel also hired Angela Caraway as vice president and senior relationship officer from Bank of America/US Trust, where she has worked since 1993 and was most recently vice president and trust officer in the private wealth management division.

Dynasty Financial Partners brought in Paul Landaiche from Merrill Lynch Wealth Management as director of RIA growth – a new role at the firm - reporting to Tim Bello, partner and director of network development. Landaiche will work with Dynasty’s current network advisors to assist them with inorganic growth opportunities such as acquisitions and advisor tuck-ins. He will also assist Dynasty’s relationship managers with overall business development.

In his former role at Merrill Lynch Wealth Management, Landaiche was director of the Oklahoma complex, having worked there for 14 years. Meanwhile, Dynasty Financial Partners also hired Gordon Ross as a member of the relationship management team, reporting to senior vice president John Sullivan. Ross will focus on the transition of new advisor teams and the ongoing practice development and servicing of existing network firms. Ross has over ten years of experience in the US and UK wealth management industries.

He worked for seven years at Bestinvest Brokers in London and then spent two years at Atlantic Trust Private Wealth Management, where he helped manage the personal client book of the COO. Prior to joining Dynasty, Ross was a relationship manager at BBR Partners in New York, a multi-family office.

Incapital named John DesPrez – the former chief executive of John Hancock Financial Services and COO of Manulife Financial – as its new chief executive. The firm confirmed that DesPrez succeeded Phil Johnson, president of Incapital, who served as acting CEO. DesPrez will lead Incapital in its efforts to provide a wider range of financial products by expanding the firm’s presence in the dealer, advisor and institutional communities.

As CEO and president of John Hancock Financial Services, DesPrez oversaw an operation focusing on wealth management business lines such as annuities, mutual funds, group pensions, college savings plans, structured financial products and managed accounts.

He also oversaw the US operations of Manulife for ten years, during which time the company purchased John Hancock. Two years later, in addition to the US operations, he was also given responsibility for Canada. A year later, he also began overseeing operations in Asia, earning the title of COO with oversight of all the firm’s operating businesses globally.

Dan Farley was promoted to regional investment director at US Bank's Private Client Reserve, which serves clients with at least $3 million in net worth. Farley, who joined the PCR in 2010 as a senior portfolio manager, will support the PCR's leadership and investment professionals in primarily the eastern region, based in Minneapolis. He will also remain involved in overseeing the Twin Cities investment team. Prior to joining US Bank, Farley was a vice president at Dougherty Commercial Properties, having also worked as a management consultant within Deloitte Consulting’s strategy practice.

The family-owned wealth management firm Threshold Group added Ruben Ortega - a former executive at Amazon.com, Google and Nordstrom - to its board of directors. Ortega is an innovator in online search and scaling in e-commerce businesses, holding over three dozen patents focused on improving customer experience in searching and browsing.

First Republic Bank recruited portfolio managers and managing directors Hugh Beecher and Rick Gordon from Barclays in San Francisco, CA. Beecher and Gordon joined First Republic Private Wealth Management, which provides trust, investment management and brokerage services to high net worth individuals and families, foundations and endowments. They both previously worked at Barclays' wealth management group in San Francisco.

BNY Mellon hired Colleen Murphy as a senior wealth director in Naples, reporting to Lisa Simington, regional president for the west coast of Florida. Over the past two years, BNY Mellon has rapidly added staff in Florida, which it remarked is one of the nation’s highest-growth wealth markets. Throughout western Florida, Simington expects to add several more wealth directors this year, along with portfolio managers and support staff.

Before joining BNY Mellon, Murphy was a development and capital campaign consultant to non-profits and family businesses. Before that, she was president and chief executive of the Community Foundation of Collier County in Naples. Earlier in her 35-year career, she was managing director at Gibraltar Private Bank & Trust in Naples, and Florida district president at Key Private Bank.

The global investment management firm PIMCO named Gene Sperling – a former principal economic advisor to two US presidents – as a consultant to the firm on US economic policy issues. Sperling will participate in PIMCO’s cyclical and secular economic forums, provide input to the firm’s investment committee and work with the firm’s portfolio management group. She was the director of the US National Economic Council and assistant to the president for economic policy in both the Clinton and Obama administrations.

TIGER 21, the North American peer-to-peer learning network for wealthy investors, made three administrative promotions at its New York headquarters. Wendy Gartenberg was named as chief financial officer, Alison Smith was promoted to vice president of marketing and membership, and Kristyn Comei is now manager of membership. These are all new roles at the organization.
Gartenberg joined TIGER 21 in 2012 as controller and now manages all aspects of financial controls, budgets, cash flows, projections and analytics. She previously worked as controller for seven years at Marie Chantal, a UK-based wholesale, retail and e-commerce company.

Smith, vice president of marketing, joined TIGER 21 in 2007 and her team oversees around 350 member events annually. Before TIGER 21, she worked at Marina Maher Communications, a marketing and public relations company. Earlier, she worked at the United Nations Association.

Comei, who joined TIGER 21 in 2013 as a membership assistant, is now the point person for the more than 300 members across North America, while managing 28 group meetings around the country each month. Before joining the network, Comei worked at Unum Group as a senior disability benefits specialist, handling individual disability claims.

US Trust, part of Bank of America's global wealth and investment management division, made 15 appointments across eight states from rivals including JP Morgan, Citi and Wells Fargo. In the Northeast, the firm made five private client advisor hires in New York, as well as two in Massachusetts and one each in Connecticut and Rhode Island. In NY, Unaizah Moonis, Robert Eberley, Youn Lee, John Duaneand Kathryn Turner joined from Citi, JP Morgan, JP Morgan, Wells Fargo and Town Real Estate respectively. In Massachusetts, Dian Quinn joined in Boston, MA, as a senior philanthropic relationship manager from Bank of the West while Rick Tyson was hired as a private client advisor from Boston Private Bank & Trust Company.

Rounding out the northeastern hires were Alex Ramos in Greenwich, CT, as a private client advisor from Deutsche Bank, while Kristin MacMannis – formerly a marketing strategist with US Trust – assumed a new role as a private client advisor in Providence, RI.

Meanwhile, in Texas Shantel Butler joined in San Antonio as a senior philanthropic relationship manager from The Boeing Company and in Minnesota Phillip Ebner joined in Minneapolis as a private client advisor from North Sky Capital. To the west, in Denver, CO, Kimberly Eilber was recruited as senior trust officer; Frederick Fischer joined as a private client manager; and Wesley Weise joined as a private client advisor – all of whom are latterly of Northern Trust.Lastly, in California Amy Ko was added in San Francisco as a private client advisor from Fiduciary Trust Company.

Aequitas Capital, the alternative investments specialist, shook up its executive team with two promotions and one external appointment. The management structure reorganization was undertaken to allow Aequitas’ chief executive and chief investment officer, Bob Jesenik, to focus on business development and opportunities by streamlining responsibilities.

Scott Gillis, an already-standing member of the firm’s advisory board since 2014, became partner and chief operating officer. He took charge of Aequitas’ financial planning and analysis, capital markets, legal, and information technology/business operations groups. Current executive vice president and president of Aequitas Wealth Management, Brian Rice, took over Portland, OR-headquartered Aequitas Capital’s marketing, human resources and client service operations. Finally, the firm appointed Edward Tezeria as senior vice president and chief accounting officer, reporting to Olaf Janke, executive vice president and chief financial officer.

Tezeria moved from American International Group, where he was senior vice president of AIG Life and Retirement. He spent 13 years at the firm, most recently heading its internal and external reporting efforts. During his time at AIG Life he worked with Gillis, who was latterly chief financial officer of AIG Retirement Services, leading the growth of five annuity insurers and six business groups to $240 billion in assets.

Scott Diamond was hired as a vice president and senior advisor at Birmingham, MI-headquartered-based Schechter Wealth, an independent investment advisory and life insurance firm. Based in Los Angeles, CA, Diamond will promote the firm's life insurance strategies to CPAs, attorneys, and personal advisors of high net worth individuals, families and business owners. The firm also has an office in New York, which it launched in 2013.

Diamond latterly served as president of Roxbury Consultants, where he designed executive benefits programs. He also has significant experience working in the individual life insurance market, including traditional life products and private placement variable life contracts.

Raymond James recruited financial advisor Joel Feldman to the existing Conshohocken, PA, office of Raymond James & Associates, the firm's traditional employee broker-dealer of Raymond James Financial. The branch is led by Rick Hartman.

Feldman, senior vice president of investments, joined with senior registered sales associated, Ann Bender. The pair operate as Feldman Wealth Management of Raymond James and are latterly of UBS, where they managed over $188 million in client assets and had annual fees and commissions in excess of $1.28 million. Feldman has been a financial advisor since 1982, moving in 1997 to UBS Financial Services before joining Raymond James.

Bender began her career working as an administrative assistant at US Trust Company in 1978.  Nine years later she joined UBS Financial Services and worked at branch offices in New York City and later in the Philadelphia area, working with high net worth clients.

Alternative investments was in the limelight at Rothschild Asset Management, with the appointment of a head and managing director for the division. Set to join the team in April are Shakil Riaz, who will become head of US alternative portfolio management and global chief investment officer, and Anthony Marzigliano, who will serve as managing director.

The pair were hired to develop Rothschild’s capabilities across the spectrum of alternative products across the globe, the firm said. They will join from Arden Asset Management, where they have worked since 2009. Riaz was managing director and member of the investment committee, where he oversaw the creation of portfolios for state, corporate and union pension plans. Marzigliano was managing director and member of the working investment committee, heading the team’s global macro and credit sectors research. Prior to Arden, Riaz was chief investment officer for JP Morgan’s internal hedge fund investment program.

Deutsche Asset & Wealth Management brought in Mihir Meswani and Nicolas Laporte as portfolio managers to strengthen the firm’s hedge fund advisory business, which is led by Tim Gascoigne. Both will incorporate liquid alternatives such as managed accounts, UCITS and ’40 Act funds into clients' portfolios.

New York-based Meswani was most recently a consultant to Mount Yale Capital Group, having previously served as chief investment strategist at Sandalwood Securities. Earlier in his career, Meswani was director of public investments at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, having also worked at Bank of America, JP Morgan and Bankers Trust.

Meanwhile, London-based Laporte was most recently a senior portfolio manager of alternative investments for the British Airways Pension Fund. Previously, he held positions at Novartis’ pension fund, and at HSBC Private Bank. He started his career in the investment analysis and advice group of Citi Private Bank.

Boston Private Bank & Trust Company hired Patrick Patterson as vice president of commercial lending. Patterson’s primary focus is on developing new commercial and private banking relationships, managing a portfolio of existing clients and expanding client engagement across the bank. He previously held relationship manager roles at JP Morgan and Citi, as well as business development roles at Bank of America. In October 2014, Boston Private Bank & Trust Company completed its previously-announced acquisition of the registered investment advisory firm Banyan Partners, while unveiling the identity of the combined entity: BP Wealth Management.

Barclays brought in industry executive Gary Domoracki as managing director and regional manager at its wealth and investment management office in Boston, MA. Domoracki was latterly chief executive of two prominent multi-billion-dollar family offices in Boston. Other roles he has held previously include managing director and regional executive at Deutsche Bank - responsible for wealth management in New England – and regional manager at the private bank of Credit Suisse. At Barclays, Domoracki now reports to Michael Burke, managing director and head of the Eastern region.

RBC Wealth Management promoted Brewster Sears to branch director of its Syracuse, NY, office. Sears joined RBC Wealth Management’s Syracuse office as a financial advisor in 2004 and has spent 27 years in the financial services industry. He is now responsible for the oversight of six financial advisors in the Syracuse office, which is one of five RBC Wealth Management offices in the Rochester, NY, complex. Others include Buffalo, Capital Region, Rochester and Watertown.

Fiduciary Trust Company International recruited Claudia Reithauser from Northern Trust as managing director and business development officer of Fiduciary Trust International of the South, based in Miami, FL. Reithauser spent almost a decade at Northern Trust as a vice president and senior trust advisor, focused on ultra high net worth individuals and families.

Bethesda, MD-based Bridgewater Wealth & Financial Management, a Focus Financial firm, appointed Nina Mitchell as a principal. Mitchell's client roster of professional athletes and corporate executives adds close to $200 million in assets to the firm, increasing Bridgewater’s total client assets to over $700 million. Prior to joining Bridgewater Wealth, she co-founded MTX Wealth Management, another Bethesda-based RIA, where she was a principal advisor and co-managed the company’s overall investment process.

Jaime Eichen – former chief accountant at the SEC's Division of Investment Management – rejoined EY as a partner in the professional practice group, focused on the wealth and asset management sector. At the SEC, which she joined in 2008,  Eichen interpreted new accounting and auditing regulations while also directing the financial reporting, accounting and auditing practices of investment companies. She also spent three years as an assistant chief accountant in that division. Prior to working at the SEC, Eichen provided assurance services to asset management clients - including mutual funds, hedge funds, private equity funds, investment advisors and general partners - as a senior manager at EY.

Laura Pierson was promoted to managing director of Peak Advisor Alliance, the financial advisor coaching and resources firm which is part of Omaha, NE-based Carson Wealth Management Group. Pierson, who joined Peak Advisor Alliance in 2006, previously served as vice president and general manager, tasked with directing the day-to-day operations of the organization. In her new role, she will lead all aspects of the business including the development and execution of strategic initiatives and staffing. Pierson took over the mantle from Paul West, who took on a new enterprise-wide role at Carson Wealth Management Group as managing director of business development. West will be responsible for the growth of new business and relationships for its Carson Institutional Alliance, Carson Wealth and Peak Advisor Alliance subsidiaries.

A financial advisory firm was added to Raymond James Financial Services’ ranks in Brea, CA. Joining was Danielle Blunt, leader of the independent firm Blunt Wealth Management, alongside branch assistants Veronica Ortiz and Meredith Gauck. The trio moved from Edward Jones, where Blunt managed over $114 million in client assets with an annual production of just under $900,000. Blunt spent the past 14 years at Edward Jones, initially joining in 2000 as a financial advisor. Through this recruitment Blunt will be able to offer her clients resources such as financial planning tools and equity research from Raymond James, as well as initiating the firm’s goal planning and monitoring technology platforms.

Wilmington Trust hired Luke Tilley as its new chief economist, tasked with overseeing the firm’s efforts in the macroeconomic forecasting area. Based at the firm's headquarters in Wilmington, DE, he is also responsible for communicating the firm's economic outlook and investment strategy to clients and the public.Tilley was previously an officer and economic advisor at the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia. Before that, he spent around four years as a senior economist at IHS Global Insight and earlier was an economist at the US Department of Housing and Urban Development.

The Carlyle Group, a global asset manager, named Georgette Kiser as managing director and chief information officer, effective February 2. Based in Washington, DC, Kiser will report to co-presidents and co-chief operating officers Mike Cavanagh and Glenn Youngkin. She joined from T Rowe Price, where she was vice president and director of enterprise solutions and capabilities for services and technology.

In her new role at Carlyle, she will develop the firm's global IT strategy including its application development, data, digital, infrastructure, and program management and outsourcing activities.
Bessemer Trust appointed Ron Ferrari as a principal and senior wealth advisor in southern California. Before joining Bessemer, Ferrari was a private client advisor at Bernstein Global Wealth Management and has also held similar roles at Wells Fargo Bank and HSBC North America. In his new role he reports to Jeff Glowacki, managing director and western region head.

TIGER 21, the US learning group for high net worth investors, brought in Laird Cagan as chair of its San Francisco, CA, group, replacing Julie Garella. Cagan is managing director and co-founder of Cagan McAfee Capital Partners, which since 2002 has founded, funded and taken public ten companies – primarily in industries with a focus on energy, alternative renewable energy and cleantech. He previously worked in M&A at Goldman, Sachs & Co and at the investment banking firm Drexel Burnham Lambert.

Baird named Tina Schlichting as branch manager of the firm’s Sheboygan, WI, wealth management office. Paul Stenklyft, who has managed the office since 1980, will continue to serve clients as a financial advisor, as will Schlichting in her new role. Schlichting began her career in 1993 with the former brokerage firm A G Edwards, joining Baird in 1997 as a sales assistant and becoming a financial advisor in 2001.

Two former BNY Mellon employees created REI Wealth Management, a Tampa, FL-based independent advisory firm, by affiliating with Raymond James' investment advisors division. The team consists of president and chief executive, Raymond Ifert, and Lorraine Faedo, vice president. In his previous role at BNY Mellon, Ifert managed the Tampa office and its $850 million in client assets. He has worked in the financial services sector for over 32 years, having built a corporate trust business and held roles at NationsBank (now Bank of America), AmSouth Bank (now Regions Bank) and BNY Mellon before establishing his own firm and affiliating with Raymond James’ RIA division. Faedo - latterly an assistant portfolio officer at BNY Mellon Wealth Management - has also worked at Bank of America as an assistant vice president in the wealth management group.

Wells Fargo Advisors  made three hires in California, in the shape of Dennis Shapses and David Cuellar in Palo Alto, and Shahmir Moussavi in Pleasanton. Shapses and Cuellar joined from Morgan Stanley where they managed over $240 million in combined client assets. They will continue to focus their practice on personal retirement planning.

New York City-based TC Wealth Management, which oversees $550 million in client assets, has joined the HighTower Partnership.TC Wealth Management marked the first team of 2015 for HighTower, which completed a total of 13 transitions in 2014 and is “on track to exceed that number this year,” the firm said.

J Emmett Towey and J Michael Cantore joined as partners and managing directors. Most recently of UBS, Towey was a senior vice president of investments and a corporate stock benefit consultant. Cantore served as senior vice president of investments, portfolio manager and corporate stock benefit consultant. The team also includes director Michael Tobin and operations director Jennifer Doran from the Towey Cantore Group at UBS Wealth Management.

Wilmington Trust appointed a new head of trust administration of its advisor solutions group in Wilmington, DE. Also taking up the mantle of managing director, Timothy Powers will set the fiduciary strategic direction of the advisor solutions group, with a focus on best practice and industry regulations. Powers brings to the firm a history of regulatory experience, having moved most recently from Morgan Stanley where he served as chief fiduciary officer. In this role he led a team of 50 trust professionals in areas such as tax and special assets; he also was the lead bank representative to the OCC. Prior to this Powers was a senior trust officer at UBS Trust Company and chief trust officer at Citi Trust.

Catherine Arnold was appointed as a vice president and wealth management advisor at US Bank’s Private Client Reserve in Seattle. Arnold will provide clients with investment management, private banking, trust and estate, and wealth planning services. Prior to joining the PCR, she was a vice president and senior director at BNY Mellon Wealth Management and previously a vice president and private client advisor at The Private Bank of Union Bank.

Babylon, NY-based Blue Water Advisors, an independent wealth management firm and SEC-registered investment advisor, brought in Matthew Rapoport as a wealth management advisor. The news came after the firm named Jeff Wund as its first ever chief operating officer and chief compliance officer last month. Rapoport will serve as the lead advisor for some 50 client relationships and will be the in-house thought leader on tax and estate planning.

Prior to joining BWA, Rapoport was a director for Joel Isaacson & Co, an independent wealth management firm based in Manhattan. Previously, he was a vice president at BNY Wealth Management and a senior financial planner at The Ayco Company (now a division of Goldman Sachs).

The Carlyle Group, a global asset manager, promoted its interim chief financial officer, Curtis Buser, to CFO. Washington, DC-based Buser has served as Carlyle’s interim CFO since May 2014 and is a member of the firm’s management committee. He has around 30 years of experience in accounting and financial management. He was a partner at Arthur Andersen and Ernst & Young for 19 years prior to serving as Carlyle's chief accounting officer for ten years.

Asia-Pacific

Fairview Equity Partners, a partner of NAB Asset Management, appointed Leo Barry as senior investment manager. Previously, Barry was a small- and mid-cap broker and member of the institutional equity team for Merrill Lynch. He has worked in the financial market sector for around eight years.

ANZ appointed Carole Berndt, formerly global head of transaction services for Royal Bank of Scotland in the UK, to a similar role in Hong Kong. Berndt held her UK-based role at RBS since October 2013. Prior to this, she was head of global transaction services for Europe, Middle East and Africa at Bank of America Merrill Lynch. An Australian, Berndt has also worked at Citigroup in New York and Hong Kong.

Global risk advisor Willis Group Holdings added to its China leadership team with three internal promotions. Mitchell Ma, chief executive of Willis China since its founding in 2004, assumed the role of chairman. Lincoln Pan, executive director of Willis Hong Kong, took over as chief executive. One of Willis China's founding members, Wise Xu, stepped in as deputy CEO to lead the specialist business units and Beijing operations.

Union Bancaire Privée, the Geneva-headquartered private bank which operates in regions including Asia, created a new company in China to carry out asset management. It is working with a senior Chinese asset management figure, Hong Chen, and seven other people, to form the new Shanghai-based company, called UBP Investment Management (Shanghai). Chen most recently was chief investment officer of HFT Investment Management. He holds the role of CIO at the new business and it is anticipated that more people will be brought in to the business.

Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft, the law firm working with global financial firms such as banks, appointed a team of three partners and four as counsel to its Greater China practice, based in Hong Kong.

The team is led by partner Michael Liu, who has 30 years of experience advising on a range of corporate transactions in Hong Kong and London. The group includes partners Jane Ng and Stephen Chan, counsel Simon Berry, Olivia Wong, Terris Tang and Eva Tam, and several associates. Liu and his team joined Cadwalader from Latham & Watkins in Hong Kong, where Liu was co-chair of the firm’s Greater China practice and was previously the managing partner of its Hong Kong office.

Standard Chartered Private Bank said Nitin Birla, a banker working in the non-resident Indian space, joined the firm in Hong Kong. Birla had been executive director and team head at Bank of China International in Hong Kong and also had spells with both RBS Coutts and Barclays Wealth (as the wealth arm of Barclays used to be known).

Hong Kong’s financial regulator appointed an executive director in the risk and compliance area, a newly-created post. Grace Lau took up her role at the Hong Kong Monetary Authority in early January. She had been a division head responsible for the risk management and compliance function of the Exchange Fund’s investment activities. Lau joined the HKMA as a manager in 1994 and was promoted to the rank of division head in 2000.

Canada-headquartered Manulife, the financial services group which recently named a new Asia head, appointed three senior executives in Hong Kong. Selina Ko took on the new role of chief human resources officer; she joined the firm last year, holding the role of assistance vice president, human resources, Asia. Prior to this, she held a number of HR positions in Hong Kong, Mainland China and Japan at country, regional and group levels.

Sushmita Munshi was appointed AVP, distribution technology and strategic projects. She has extensive experience in digital strategies and user-experience formulation. In her previous positions with several major digital consulting firms, she worked with a number of Fortune 500 companies.

Paul Wong, in the newly created position of AVP, accident and health insurance, individual financial products, is responsible for developing Manulife’s accident and health capabilities. Before joining Manulife, he worked at several major insurance companies with responsibilities spanning operations, marketing and distribution.

Fairview Equity Partners, a partner of NAB Asset Management, appointed Leo Barry as senior investment manager. Previously, Barry was a small- and mid-cap broker and member of the institutional equity team for Merrill Lynch. He has worked in the financial market sector for around eight years.

ANZ appointed Carole Berndt, formerly global head of transaction services for Royal Bank of Scotland in the UK, to a similar role in Hong Kong. Berndt held her UK-based role at RBS since October 2013. Prior to this, she was head of global transaction services for Europe, Middle East and Africa at Bank of America Merrill Lynch. An Australian, Berndt has also worked at Citigroup in New York and Hong Kong.

Global risk advisor Willis Group Holdings added to its China leadership team with three internal promotions. Mitchell Ma, chief executive of Willis China since its founding in 2004, assumed the role of chairman. Lincoln Pan, executive director of Willis Hong Kong, took over as chief executive. One of Willis China's founding members, Wise Xu, stepped in as deputy CEO to lead the specialist business units and Beijing operations.

Union Bancaire Privée, the Geneva-headquartered private bank which operates in regions including Asia, created a new company in China to carry out asset management. It is working with a senior Chinese asset management figure, Hong Chen, and seven other people, to form the new Shanghai-based company, called UBP Investment Management (Shanghai). Chen most recently was chief investment officer of HFT Investment Management. He holds the role of CIO at the new business and it is anticipated that more people will be brought in to the business.

Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft, the law firm working with global financial firms such as banks, appointed a team of three partners and four as counsel to its Greater China practice, based in Hong Kong.

The team is led by partner Michael Liu, who has 30 years of experience advising on a range of corporate transactions in Hong Kong and London. The group includes partners Jane Ng and Stephen Chan, counsel Simon Berry, Olivia Wong, Terris Tang and Eva Tam, and several associates. Liu and his team joined Cadwalader from Latham & Watkins in Hong Kong, where Liu was co-chair of the firm’s Greater China practice and was previously the managing partner of its Hong Kong office.

Standard Chartered Private Bank said Nitin Birla, a banker working in the non-resident Indian space, joined the firm in Hong Kong. Birla had been executive director and team head at Bank of China International in Hong Kong and also had spells with both RBS Coutts and Barclays Wealth (as the wealth arm of Barclays used to be known).

Hong Kong’s financial regulator appointed an executive director in the risk and compliance area, a newly-created post. Grace Lau took up her role at the Hong Kong Monetary Authority in early January. She had been a division head responsible for the risk management and compliance function of the Exchange Fund’s investment activities. Lau joined the HKMA as a manager in 1994 and was promoted to the rank of division head in 2000.

Canada-headquartered Manulife, the financial services group which recently named a new Asia head, appointed three senior executives in Hong Kong. Selina Ko took on the new role of chief human resources officer; she joined the firm last year, holding the role of assistance vice president, human resources, Asia. Prior to this, she held a number of HR positions in Hong Kong, Mainland China and Japan at country, regional and group levels.

Sushmita Munshi was appointed AVP, distribution technology and strategic projects. She has extensive experience in digital strategies and user-experience formulation. In her previous positions with several major digital consulting firms, she worked with a number of Fortune 500 companies.

Paul Wong, in the newly created position of AVP, accident and health insurance, individual financial products, is responsible for developing Manulife’s accident and health capabilities. Before joining Manulife, he worked at several major insurance companies with responsibilities spanning operations, marketing and distribution.