UK

Lloyds TSB Private Banking confirmed the departure of its chief executive, Mark Cheshire, who had led the business since 2005. Mr Cheshire, who had been with Lloyds for 29 years, left to pursue other opportunities.

London investment firm Jonathan Fry & Co recruited structured product and investment specialist James Scott from Citigroup. The firm is expanding its Fry Family Office investment and asset advisory service, with several other high profile appointments planned for the autumn.

Brooks Macdonald Asset Management, the UK investment boutique, appointed Mark Eyres to its intermediary sales team with immediate effect.  Mr Eyres joined from Principal Investment Management where he spent over eight years in a similar role.  

Jardine Lloyd Thompson Private Clients, part of JLT Benefit Solutions, appointed Paul Kiely as a senior consultant at its London office, effective immediately. Mr Kiely previously worked at Kleinwort Benson as a private banker and has a decade of financial advice experience.

Credit Suisse recruited Steve Griffiths to the new post of managing director, UK planning, joining from Zurich-listed rival, UBS, where he was head of UK wealth planning. Mr Griffiths will reports to Ian Marsh, chief executive for Credit Suisse’s UK private banking business.

Offshore law firm Ogier appointed Marcus Hawgood as head of Treasury Services, a role in which he focuses on enhancing the management of client cash assets. Mr Hawgood joined Ogier from Computer Patent Annuities, where he was group treasurer. Prior to this he spent a number of years in roles within the banking industry, including having held responsibility for the private client and corporate relationship teams at LloydsTSB Treasury in Jersey.

JO Hambro Investment Management, which is owned by Credit Suisse, appointed Hugh Grootenhuis as interim chief executive, following the departure of Andrew Steel. A permanent CEO will be appointed in due course.

JP Morgan Private Bank confirmed the departure of Samir Sayeed, head of international Indian business, after three years in this London-based role. Mr Sayeed joined JP Morgan Private Bank from Citigroup Private Bank in February 2006; he had previously been with Citigroup for 11 years. It is not yet known what Mr Sayeed’s next role will be, nor who will replace him at JP Morgan Private Bank.

Merrill Lynch Global Wealth Management recruited Keith Simpson, a senior private banker focusing on Greek clients, from EFG Private Bank, the London-based private banking arm of EFG International. In his new London-based role, Mr Simpson covers Greece and reports to Jean-Marie Deluermoz, head of emerging European markets within Merrill Lynch Global Wealth Management.

UK-based accountancy, tax and business advisory group Vantis appointed Peter Fairchild as private client tax director based in the firm’s London office. Mr Fairchild, who specialises in advising sports people, sports clubs and entrepreneurs in particular, along with non-UK domiciled clients, joined Vantis from Baker Tilly, the UK accountancy and business advisor.

Culliford Edmunds Associates, the UK-based private banking and wealth management search firm, appointed James Carmalt as a consultant. Mr Carmalt previously worked at IPS Group, a specialist insurance and financial services recruitment group; he was previously a stockbroker at Man Group and Charles Schwab before entering the recruitment sector.

City of London law firm Speechly Bircham promoted Sanjvee Shah and Richard Hogwood to the partnership in its private client department, bringing the firm’s total number of private client partners to 19.

Standard Chartered Private Bank appointed Clive Harrison as senior fiduciary specialist for Europe, based in London. He reports to Gary Tiernan, who is global head of investment advisory and fiduciary. Previously, Mr Harrison worked at HSBC as an associate director.

JM Finn, the UK private client wealth management firm, appointed Roy Hodges, previously investment director at rival private client firm Smith & Williamson, to a senior position that has yet to be finalised, according to a spokesperson for JM Finn. It is believed that two or three of Mr Hodges' colleagues at Smith & Williamson left to join him at his new company.

The UK’s Investment Management Association, the trade body for the country’s asset management industry, made several changes to its board following its AGM.  The following association members joined the board: Alain Dromer, chief executive of Aviva Investors; Hendrik du Toit, chief executive at Investec Asset Management; Robert Higginbotham, president of Fidelity International’s European business and David Semaya, chief executive of EMEA and Asia (ex-Japan) of Barclays Global Investors.

The following members stepped down from IMA's board: Matthew Annable, managing director of Barclays Global Investors; Edward Bonham Carter, chief executive at Jupiter Asset Management, and Simon Ellis, previously managing director and Multi-Manager at FIL Investments International. The IMA board also extended the appointment of the chairman, Robert Jenkins, for a further year and appointed Douglas Ferrans as vice-chair.

Skandia Investment Group appointed Rupert Watson as asset allocation strategist. He will report to SIG's chief research officer, Tom Berger, and is responsible for the team providing strategic and tactical asset allocation advice. He also joins SIG's global asset allocation committee.

UK professional body the Securities and Investment Institute appointed David Coard as president of its west country branch. Mr Coard began his career with Rathbones in 1972 and, in 1982, moved to R A Coleman in Bangor, North Wales. In 1983 he became a partner and a member of the London Stock Exchange. In 1990 he moved to Devon to work for Westlakes which eventually became Gerrard. The Exeter office was bought out by Charles Stanley in 2007 where he is currently a director.

UK-based broker and wealth manager Eden Financial boosted its wealth management team with the appointment of Thomas Leah as global fixed income analyst. Mr Leah joined Eden Financial from Citi Alternative Investments, where he had been a credit analyst and portfolio manager. Prior to his time with Citi, he had been a risk analyst at Morgan Stanley.

UBS Wealth Management hired Tim Sedgwick as a discretionary investment director for its Manchester operation, strengthening its existing service offered to wealth management clients in the UK’s North West. Mr Sedgwick was most recently with Clarion in Knutsford, where he launched the firm's discretionary service and managed three sub funds in its OEIC.

London-based Vestra Wealth hired Heather Tibbo and Jeremy Proffitt from Newton Investment Management, where they were responsible for private client business development. Joining as partners, they will target the professional intermediaries market.

Rod Barker, the UK-based chief executive of Renaissance Investment Management, a firm focusing on high net worth clients is quitting the Russian fund manager at the end of the month, media reports said. Mr Barker's exit from Renaissance follows the departure of his Moscow-based co-chief executive, Andrei Movchan, in February following a disagreement with RIM's parent, over the firm's strategic direction.

UK financial services firm Smith & Williamson appointed Charles Deptford as lead manager for its UK Equity Growth and UK Special Situations Trusts at its investment management arm. He will also assist Rupert Fleming on the Enterprise Fund, a UK long/short offshore fund.

Mark Wilkinson left his head of wealth management development role at AXA to take charge of a leadership team at the UK firm’s distribution services arm. He assumed the newly created role of head of financial planning.

Sir Victor Blank will step down as chairman of UK-listed Lloyds Banking Group before June 2010, in what could be the first move to restoring the bank’s credibility among shareholders after its much-criticised takeover of UK banking rival HBOS.

Zurich-based asset manager Swisscanto confirmed that Robert Barrett joined the firm as head of UK institutional sales, an appointment which follows three recent senior hires from Pictet Asset Management, Union Investment Group and 47 Degrees North Capital.

UK accountancy firm Kingston Smith promoted Paul Spindler to partner in the tax and legal consultancy and head of the firm’s dedicated wealth advisory service.

Kingston Smith’s DWAS department provides tax and financial planning services to private clients through a team of tax specialists, lawyers, investment strategists, mortgage advisors and accountants.

Missouri-headquartered asset management firm American Century Investments has expanded its European client relationship team with the appointment of Tom Douie as vice president at its London office.

Mr Douie joins the team for which Peter Brackett, Sigrid Johann and Ben Williams were recently appointed. The European client relationship team, which reports to Michael Green, senior vice president of international, will target financial intermediaries and institutional investors across UK, Europe and the Middle East.

UK financial advisory and wealth management firm Hargreaves Lansdown has created a chief operating officer position for Ian Gorham, who is currently a partner and head of financial services at Grant Thornton.

Mr Gorham is one of three new appointments to the group’s executive committee, which he joins from 1 September. Ian Hunter was made investment marketing director while Nick Marson is the new director of the firm’s funds supermarket, Vantage, and broking operations. Both are internal appointments effective from 1 July.

UK-headquartered alternative asset manager Gartmore has appointed Kam Tugnait as head of high yield.

Mr Tugnait will join Gartmore later in the year, along with John Anderson, whose appointment as head of credit was announced in February.

UK-listed investment house Schroders said Thomas See, the firm’s head of structured fund management, has stepped in to manage its Income Maximiser fund, replacing John Teahan, who has left to pursue opportunities outside the finance industry.

The UK financial services group Legal & General appointed a new chief financial officer. Dr Nigel Wilson succeeds Andrew Palmer, group director of finance since 1996, who plans to retire from the role to pursue other interests. Mr Palmer further intends to present himself for re-election to the group’s board of directors at its AGM on 27 May.

Henderson Global Investors, which completed its acquisition of New Star Asset Management last month, appointed Simon Ward as chief economist, Mr Ward having formerly been New Star’s economist and strategist.

Standard Bank promoted Steven Bowen to managing director of its Jersey Trust Company and head of private client trust business. Mr Bowen was recruited from JP Morgan to lead Standard Bank’s Jersey private client trust business in July 2008

Coutts, the UK private bank, appointed Michael Morley as its new chief executive, joining from Singer & Friedlander. Mr Morley replaces Sarah Deaves, the outgoing CEO, who is moving to become managing director of Affluent Banking at RBS UK Retail. Mr Morley joined Coutts with over 29 years' experience in financial services, more recently at Singer and Friedlander where he was head of wealth management

Smith & Williamson, the Scottish financial services group with offices in Dublin and throughout the UK, made Steve Woods head of the broker desk at its pooled funds business.  Mr Woods has over ten years’ experience in the area, six of which were spent managing the broker desk at AXA Framlington.

Asset Risk Consultants hired investment advisor Lynne Duquemin from Credit Suisse. The appointment expands the firm's workforce to 30, entirely employed in Guernsey and Jersey.

Royal Bank of Scotland announced that Brian Hartzer is to join RBS from Australia’s ANZ to take responsibility for its UK retail, wealth and Ulster Bank business divisions.

In senior management changes announced in a statement today, RBS said Paul Geddes, currently CEO of UK retail, is to join the executive committee as CEO of RBS Insurance. Chris Sullivan, currently CEO of RBS Insurance, became CEO of UK corporate banking division.

LG, the London-based business law firm, promoted Alex Ruffel, Karima Hudson and John Reed to the partnership. Ms Ruffel is a private capital lawyer specialising in international succession structuring for UK non-domiciliaries, trust and estate planning for UK individuals and UK immigration and citizenship for non-UK nationals.

Senior UK-based advisor Scott Oliphant resigned from UBS in London and is thought to be joining Barclays Wealth.

Skandia Investment Group, part of European financial services firm Skandia, recruited Marc Bulstrode from Barclays Wealth to take up the post of chief commercial and finance officer. Mr Bulstrode had previously spent six years in various leadership roles with Barclays and was most recently a director within Barclays Wealth, the bank’s private client arm. Prior to Barclays, he held a number of senior finance roles with Aviva.

Towry Law, the UK private client and corporate wealth advisor, named Paul Wright as permanent finance director - a role which he has held on an interim basis since January this year. Prior to joining Towry Law, Mr Wright was chief financial officer for a company advising the Singapore government on part of its investment portfolio. He has also previously held financial director roles at hedge fund company Mars Investments and UK private bank Coutts.

Edward Chadwyck-Healey, co-head of the London and South-East Region of the UK & Ireland Private Bank at Barclays Wealth left the firm to pursue other interests outside the industry. Mr Chadwyck’s co-head, Rory Gilbert assumed the role of sole head of London and South-East Region of the UK & Ireland Private Bank, and will continue to report to Mark Kibblewhite.

Switzerland

UBS  confirmed the departure of Maximilian Martin, the bank’s global head of philanthropy services, along with Andreas Ernst, his deputy.  The pair are understood to have joined a Geneva-based family office, with Mr Martin assuming the role of head of strategy. Mr Martin had led UBS's philanthropy unit since its inception in 2004.

Citigroup saw the departure of Shawn Mofidi, one of its top private bankers focusing on Middle Eastern UHNW clients, who has left to join Geneva-based wealth manager and multi-family office GWM, according to media reports.

UBS appointed Andreas Höfert chief economist of Wealth Management & Swiss Bank, replacing Klaus Wellershoff, who is leaving the bank in order to concentrate on his ongoing projects as an independent economic expert. Mr Höfert’s previous role was that of head of macro and fixed income research for wealth management in the US. He has been with UBS since 1999, initially as a senior economist with the corporate centre and later as the head of Swiss macroeconomic research in the investment bank.

Deutsche Bank confirmed to WealthBriefing that Marco Bizzozero will be the new chief executive of the German bank’s Swiss subsidiary, retaining responsibility for private banking operations throughout much of Europe, Middle East and Africa.

Mr Bizzozero worked at Deutsche Bank since 2004 and will replace Hans-Jürgen Koch, who will head the Middle East and Africa regions.

North America

New York-based Signature Bank has appointed seven new private banking teams - all of whom join from Capital One Bank - adding 19 private bankers to its headcount and bringing the total number of teams hired this year to nine.

RBC Wealth Management has named William Thompson as the new branch director of its Casper, Wyoming office.

Mr Thompson joins RBC Wealth Management from UBS, having been branch manager of the Swiss bank’s Casper office since 1997.

UBS confirmed that four municipal bond experts have voluntarily left its US fixed income business in asset management in New York.UBS Wealth Management US recently hired Charles Crystal and Christine Finocchio, a financial advisor team, from Citigroup’s Smith Barney retail brokerage.

Morgan Stanley appointed Wayne Chrebet, a National Football League veteran who played with the New York Jets, to the firm’s global wealth management group office in Red Bank, New Jersey. He works as a financial advisor, according to a statement from the bank. 

John Bottomley was named a senior vice president at Rockefeller Group Investment Management in New York. RGIM is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Rockefeller group, created in 2007 to coordinate its investment activities.

Before taking on this leadership position within RGIM, Mr Bottomley was managing director and global product specialist for Citi Property Investors, where he launched three first time regional opportunity funds, a global real estate securities platform and two multi-manager real estate funds.

Baird, the US wealth management, capital markets, private equity and asset management firm, announced a raft of new hires, along with the launch of a new office, as part of its continued mid-Atlantic expansion. Baird has launched operations in Easton, Maryland with a team of seven, including a four-strong team known as the Satchell group, which is comprised of vice presidents Steve Satchell and Jack Anthony, and financial advisors Cheryl Palumbo and Darin Roser.

San Francisco-basedUnion Bank has named Rex Ramsey as vice president and senior wealth advisor for its private banking unit, which offers wealth management services to individuals, families and businesses. He will be responsible for helping clients with banking, investment, estate planning and trust services.

RBC Wealth Management, part of Royal Bank of Canada, has hired the Galli investment team – which has more than $3 billion in assets under management – for its San Francisco office.

The Galli team, which joined from Credit Suisse, was comprised of Marina Galli, senior vice president – financial consultant; Jennifer Seidler, senior financial associate; Jennifer Cai, senior registered client associate, and Bonafe De Mayo, registered client associate. The team manages taxable and tax-exempt short-term bond portfolios and now reports to Chuck Evans, San Francisco complex director.

Ohio-based KeyBank hired Anthony Goheen as vice president and relationship manager in its private bank unit in the Dayton area, targeting the high net worth market. Mr Goheen joined from National City’s private client group in Dayton where he was a financial advisor and relationship manager.

San Francisco’s Union Bank recruited Linda Phu from First Republic Bank as a vice president and relationship manager for its private bank.  Prior to joining Union Bank, Ms Phu had been a managing director for First Republic Bank and a vice president for Wells Fargo Private Client Services, serving as a relationship manager for high net worth clients with both firms.

Merrill Lynch Global Wealth Management recruited financial advisor Floyd Jordan from Smith Barney for its Stuart, Florida office. While at Smith Barney, Citigroup’s retail brokerage arm, Mr Jordan and his team managed $500 million in client assets and had $3 million in trailing 12-month production.

Veteran tax and estate planning lawyer James Ellis has become a partner at San Francisco-based Sideman & Bancroft.  He comes to the firm following 12 years as managing director at JP Morgan Private Bank.

Wachovia Wealth Management recruited Bank of America veteran Danielle Lares-Bouharoun, along with two other senior bankers, for its newly formed entertainment group based in Nashville, Tennessee.

Merrill Lynch Global Wealth Management, now a unit of Bank of America, recruited a raft of advisors from Smith Barney, Wells Fargo and UBS. News of the hires comes amid media reports that Merrill is stepping up recruitment, luring big-hitting advisors with one of the highest remuneration packages in the industry.

Smith Barney, Citigroup’s brokerage arm, was hardest hit by Merrill’s hiring spree, losing eight advisors to its rival.

Bruce Micheel, a Citigroup veteran of 16 years, and Marc Gamberdella, who had been with the firm 11 years, joined Merrill’s Santa Barbara, California office. Together they had $250 million in assets under management and $1.9 million in production.

Merrill’s Towson, Maryland office was boosted by the addition of William Boykin, Robin Smith, and Matthew Margolies from Smith Barney. Having spent six, fourteen and seven years with Citigroup respectively, the trio had $214 million in client assets and $1.5 million in production.

Smith Barney also saw the departure of Jeff Sweers, who had $127 million in client assets and $1.2 million in production, for Merrill’s Santa Fe, New Mexico office. He had been with Citigroup for eight years.

Meanwhile, Jonathan Markoe and Mark Finelli, who had $100 million in assets and $1 million in production, have also been recruited for Merrill's Marlton, New Jersey office; both had spent four years at Smith Barney.

Also among the hires, David Harris and Christopher Buccheri joined Merrill's office in Bel Air, Maryland from Wells Fargo Advisors (formerly known as Wachovia Securities). While at the firm the pair had $151 million in assets under management and $1.8 million in production; respectively they had spent 13 and 16 years at Wachovia and its predecessor firm.

Finally, Merrill’s Houston Galleria, Texas office was boosted with the addition of Victor Barrionuevo and Roman Reed from UBS. Messrs Barrionuevo and Reed, who had been with the Swiss firm for nine and seven years, managed $168 million in assets and had $2.6 million in combined production.

David Jacobson, trust and estates consultant for UBS’s Private Wealth Management Group, left the firm to run his own trust and estate law office in New York. Mr Jacobson had been with UBS for four years. UBS confirmed that Mr Jacobson had left the firm but was unable to provide further details.

Wisconsin-headquartered Associated Wealth Management hired James Hansberry to fill the new role of senior vice president, private banking director. Mr Hansberry provides managerial guidance and strategic direction for the private banking business.

UBS appointed Paul Knight as chairman and chief executive of its Canadian operation. In this role, Mr Knight reports to Robert Wolf, chairman and chief executive of UBS Americas. He also continues in his current role as joint head of metals and mining for the investment banking division.

Wichita-based Emprise Bank hired three former Bank of America executives to join its wealth management unit, according to a report in Wichita Business Journal. Douglas Greenwood serves as senior vice president, Janeen Hughes as vice president and Diana Hand as private banking officer.

RBC Wealth Management boosted its Albuquerque, New Mexico office with the recruitment of two large high net worth teams - which combined have $550 million in assets under management - from Smith Barney.

HighTower, the Chicago-headquartered, advisor-owned financial services firm, furthered its expansion with the recruitment of a raft of advisors from high-profile rivals, along with several new office launches.

Larry Gilbert, formerly of Goldman Sachs joined HighTower’s Chicago team, while in Michigan, Blair Anderson joined from UBS. HighTower’ s new office in Manhattan, New York is lead by Richard Saperstein, formerly of Bear Stearns, and Michael Bapis, who had been with Morgan Stanley. Nick Bapis, who was also previously at Morgan Stanley, leads HighTower’s Salt Lake City, Utah office along with Alethia Bapis Chatzis.

Chicago-based SmithAmundsen  hired Elizabeth Garlovsky to join its Waukegan, Illinois office as a partner focusing on clients in the estate planning and wealth transfer and preservation arenas. 

Merrill Lynch Global Wealth Management hired nine financial advisors who had more than $16 million in trailing 12-month production and managed more than $1.5 billion in client assets.

Atlanta-based SunTrust Banks recruited BNP Paribas veteran Seno Bril to lead its international wealth management operations.

As head of international wealth management, and a managing director, Mr Bril is responsible for overseeing the strategic direction and operations of the group.

San Francisco-based Union Bank recruited Mark Stevenson and Rebecca Nelson for its Private Bank division. Mr Stevenson was appointed regional director for Palo Alto and the greater South Bay region, while Ms Nelson has joined as a senior wealth advisor.

GenSpring Family Offices, a US wealth management firm for ultra high net worth families, hired Phoebe Venable as a family investment officer based in Nashville, Tennessee.

Asia Pacific

Deutsche Bank hired Robert Rankin as chief executive officer, Asia Pacific (ex Japan). He will start on 10 June, replacing Colin Grassie, who is returning to Europe. Mr Rankin will be based in Hong Kong and report to Juergen Fitschen, a member of Deutsche Bank’s management board and global head of regional management.

Tokio Marine Asset Management, which recently launched its European business out of London, announced that Akiyoshi Oba will replace Yoichiro Iwama as president of the company, pending approval by the annual shareholders meeting in late June.

Australia’s AMP Capital Investors recruited Andrew Lill from Russell Investments to head its listed assets investments team. On taking up his new role on 1 July, Mr Lill will head a team of six investment specialists across listed assets and will also be the primary investment specialist for fixed interest.

American Century Investments named Tony Archer business head of its Asia Pacific operation, an appointment which coincided with the opening of the asset manager’s Hong Kong sales office.

WealthBriefing learnt that Carlo Grigioni has been appointed as head of Key Clients, Asia Pacific at UBS in Singapore. Mr Grigioni relocated to Singapore in 2007 from Switzerland, but had previously spent 12 years in the region between 1981 and 1993 at UBS. Joining Mr Grigioni on the team is Kurt Kumschick, a senior advisor and managing director, who is a UBS veteran of 28 years, 16 of which were in Asia.

Julius Baer, the Swiss private bank, announced that Thomas Meier, its chief executive for the Asia, Middle East and Eastern Europe regions and a member of the bank’s executive board, is to relocate from Zurich to Singapore, effective 1 July 2009.

Europe

The private banking arm of Credit Suisse confirmed to WealthBriefing that it appointed Mark Hirst, the former head of wealth management in the Middle East and Africa, to take responsibility for heading the market area for the UK and International. He joined from Deutsche Bank.

Dutch bank ABN Amro and Fortis Bank Netherlands, which were bought by the Dutch state last year, said they are to cut up to 5,000 jobs over the next three years as the two businesses are merged.

ETF Securities, providers of Exchange Traded Commodities and Exchange Traded Funds, strengthened its team with two appointments: Scott Thompson heads up sales in the UK and Irish markets and Townsend Lansing joined the product development and structuring team as a senior manager.

The Bank of New York Mellon appointed Timothy Keaney as head of global client management and chairman of Europe, in addition to his current role as co-chief executive of BNY Mellon Asset Servicing.

Fortis, the Dutch-Belgian banking group that was bought by Paris-listed BNP Paribas in a deal that will create the euro-zone’s biggest wealth manager, announced its new board of directors and senior management.

The 11-member executive committee included Camille Fohl, head of international retail banking and investment solutions, with responsibilities that include asset management and international private banking, Fortis said in a statement.

Other appointments included: Jean-Laurent Bonnafé, chairman of the board and executive committee; Filip Dierckx, vice chairman of the board and committee; Thomas Mennicken, chief risk officer; Eric Raynaud, chief operating officer, head of merchant banking; Michel Deboeck, human resources; Maxime Jadot, public, corporate and commercial banking in Belgium; Lars Machenil, chief financial officer; Lieve Mostrey, IT and operations; Peter Vandekerckhove, retail and private banking in Belgium and Frédérick Van Gheluwe, capital markets.

Eurobank EFG Private Bank Luxembourg appointed two senior executives from ABN AMRO while also recruiting four bankers from Citi Private Bank. Robert Berbee and Michel Oosterhaven, both of whom worked for ABN AMRO in Luxembourg, joined EFG Private Bank as head of international wealth management and head of advisory and dealing respectively.

In other hires, George Korliras, Manos Karathanasis, Costas Babalis and Costas Metaxas have joined from Citi Private Bank. The four appointees had each spent between three and 13 years at Citigroup’s private banking division.

Swedish banking group Swedbank appointed Lars Friberg as its new head of private banking, a position he will take up after the summer. Mr Friberg joined Swedbank from SEB in Luxembourg, where he had been a managing director since 2004, having formerly headed trading & capital markets, foreign exchange and emerging markets trading.

Deutsche Bank said it remained fully supportive of its chairman after sources told Reuters he lost a power struggle with Josef Ackermann for the role of chief executive earlier this week.

International

Rina Bijur, who was reported in February to be leaving Citi to work with non-resident Indian clients at Standard Chartered, joined the UK-listed bank. Ms Bijur's new role is that of team leader for the global Indian client relationship management. She took up her post on 15 May.

UK-listed Standard Chartered, which is rapidly expanding its relationship management headcount, hired five veteran bankers from institutions such as Citi and Hartford Financial Services Group to strengthen its businesses, including private banking.

Marianne Hay, former chief executive of Citi Global Wealth Management, heads Standard Chartered's private banking business in Europe, Americas, Middle East and North Africa.

In other appointments, Reuters reported that Michael Pratt, most recently a KPMG consultant and former chief executive at Bank of Melbourne, joins Standard Chartered in June as Northeast Asia head of consumer banking, Reuters said. Mr Pratt will also become head of consumer banking China, replacing Wilson Chia, who will leave the bank. WealthBriefing was unable to get immediate confirmation of these other moves.

Another former Citi banker T.S. Anil will head the bank's cards and personal loans division. Standard Chartered has also hired former Hartford Group chief financial officer as its head of insurance.

Pearl Wang, who played a key role in major mergers and acquisitions at GE Money, joined Standard Chartered's consumer banking division as head of business development, responsible for driving growth through strategic alliances and acquisitions.