New International Private Wealth Management Boss At Kleinwort Benson

Max Skjönsberg

1 June 2012

Kleinwort Benson, the UK-based private bank, has hired Valentina Tacchino to the newly-created role of head of its international private wealth management arm.

Tacchino joins from the London office of the Swiss private bank Clariden Leu, where she was in charge of the 14-strong UK resident non-domiciled team. She joined Clariden Leu in December 2005 from Schroders Private Banking where she spent 11 years, becoming a director of the international team in 2003.

In her new job, Tacchino will be based in London and lead a team focused on developing the bank’s international client base. She will start in September and report to Stephen Rothwell, responsible for private wealth management at the firm.

This latest hire comes hot on the heels of Andrew Wheeler's appointment to the newly-created role of executive director for business development within private wealth management. Wheeler was most recently a partner at Absolute Fund Managers and has also worked in private bank at Deutsche Bank in London.

Meanwhile, UK media outlets have reported that the firm’s parent company faces pressure from activist shareholders to break itself up and spin off all its assets. Kleinwort was acquired in October 2009 by RHJ International, a Brussels-listed private equity fund, from Commerzbank, the German bank.

The reports have said that shareholders holding more than 3 per cent of RHJ have written to the company’s directors to demand an extraordinary dividend that would in effect abort its plan to create a larger banking franchise around Kleinwort. Separately, Equilibria Capital Management, a Bermuda-based hedge fund co-ordinating the shareholder revolt, demanded the board consider a break-up of RHJ and a spin-off of Kleinwort Benson, its biggest asset.

However, a spokesperson for RHJ pointed out to WealthBriefing that under Belgian company law, RHJ is not permitted to pay out a special dividend. Also, the group “has significant momentum in terms of its stated strategy of transforming itself from an industrial holding company into a focused financial services group”, the spokesperson said.