Barclays boosted its coverage of the African market, naming Francis Esem Wood as managing director in wealth and investment management. Covering the West African market, Wood is based in London and reports to Henry Fischel-Bock, managing director and head of Central and Eastern Europe and offshore Africa. Wood was latterly managing director at JHX Management, where he was responsible for establishing key relationships to drive business in Africa.

Canaccord Financial appointed former Lazard and Lehman Brothers manager Alexis de Rosnay as chief executive of Canaccord Genuity Limited, the company’s UK and European operations that was renamed after buying Collins Stewart Hawkpoint.

De Rosnay took the post left vacant by Mark Brown, who resigned from the role; Brown continues working with Canaccord Genuity Limited, as a consultant, until March 2013.

AWD Chase de Vere appointed Chris Copley as advice team manager in London; Copley was most recently a regional director with Prudential, having previously worked in a similar role at Barclays Financial Planning.

Barclays bolstered the corporate wealth advisory team within its corporate and employer solutions unit with the addition of James Wood and Liam Fearon.

Wood, who is now based in Ipswich, was latterly a commercial financial planning advisor at HSBC. Fearon, who is now based in Birmingham, joins from RBS, where he had specialised in corporate financial planning.

Ignis Asset Management hired Simon Cowan as fund sales director, responsible for wealth manager and discretionary accounts in London. Prior to joining Ignis, Cowan served as regional sales manager at Old Mutual Asset Managers.

Schroder Investment Management added to its multi-asset investment and portfolio solutions team with the hire of two new senior analysts, Matthew Joyce and Jingjing Cui. Joyce was latterly a European equities analyst at Occam Asset Management, having previously been an analyst on the Paragon Global Opportunities hedge fund desk for Polar Capital. Cui was previously vice president, senior quantitative research analyst, responsible for quantitative modelling of fixed income and currency portfolios at JP Morgan.

Martin Currie hired Phil Raby as sales manager to develop its UK intermediary business in the north of England, Midlands and South West. Raby reports to Alan Burnett, director of UK intermediary business. He spent the last six years at JO Hambro Capital Management.

Switzerland

Bank Sarasin named Frédéric Luyet as head of private banking for the Swiss Romande region of the Alpine state. Luyet joined Sarasin from Credit Suisse, where he was most recently deputy head of private banking for the Geneva region.

Basler Kantonalbank named Rene Burgisser as the new head of its private banking business in Zurich. Burgisser is taking over management of BKB Private Banking Zurich by the start of April 2013. Roman Seiler was serving in the role on an interim basis and continued to do so until Burgisser took up the position. Burgisser previously worked for Credit Suisse for 17 years, but was most recently head of Bank CIAL in Zurich for seven years. He is currently vice-chairman of the board of AKB Private Bank Zurich, a subsidiary of Aargau Cantonal Bank.

Geneva-based Mirabaud & Cie hired Pierre Pinel as chief investment officer for balanced mandates and asset allocation funds in its asset management division. He will also be head strategist for private management. Pinel started his career with the Swiss banks UBS and Credit Suisse. From 1993, he was at BNP Paribas in the asset management business in various roles.

Carmignac Gestion named Katja Wiechers and Alexander Bischoff as managers in its Swiss sales team. They focus on the distribution of Carmignac’s investment funds through IFAs, family offices, banks, insurance companies and other third-party channels. They report to Marco Fiorini, head of professional clients in Switzerland.

Wiechers has over eight years of experience in the fund management industry, including four years at BNP Paribas Asset Management in Vienna as senior sales director. Before joining Carmignac, Bischoff's four-year sales experience included time spent at Fisch Asset Management in Zurich as deputy head of Swiss clients and at Falcon Private Bank.

Credit Suisse appointed managing director Serge Fehr as head of the Geneva region, with responsibility for the firm’s private banking activities in that area and in the district of Nyon. Fehr succeeded Manuel Jetzer, who served in the position for six years. Fehr joined Credit Suisse in 1996 and has 30 years of industry experience.

Europe

Swiss Life in Luxembourg made two senior appointments with senior managers who previously worked at rival firm Lombard International Assurance. It appointed Loïc le Foll to head its private clients unit. In his role, le Foll is deputy to Beat Reichen, the firm’s chief executive in Luxembourg. Joining le Foll’s unit as head of business development was Stephen Cotter, formerly head of business development at Lombard International Assurance.

Jersey-headquartered law firm Bedell Cristin appointed Valerie Georges-Thomas to head up its Tortola office in the British Virgin Islands. Georges-Thomas advises on all aspects of structuring and forming hedge and private equity funds, as well as on corporate and commercial law transactions. Prior to joining Bedell, Georges-Thomas was a partner with offshore law firm Appleby in the firm’s corporate and commercial practice group.

Deutsche Bank named Pavel Teplukhin chief country officer for Russia, a role in which the development of the bank’s private wealth management business is one of his main areas of focus.  Teplukhin is known for being a co-founder of Troika Dialog, the Russian investment bank.  He reports to Stephan Leithner, Deutsche’s CEO for Europe. Teplukhin succeeded Igor Lojevsky, who stayed for a few months before his eventual departure. 

Liechtensteinische Landesbank announced top-level boardroom changes with two members, Dr Felix Ehrat and Konrad Schnyder, stepping down for personal and professional reasons.

MFS Investment Management announced new hires for the German and Swiss market: Heiko Dahse and Karin Moritz joined the firm’s institutional sales team.

Dahse, who holds the post of managing director, Swiss institutional sales, reports to David Mace and is based in London. Dahse previously worked at Hermes Fund Managers. Moritz, a director for German institutional business, is based in Frankfurt and reports to Lars Detlefs, managing director, Germany institutional sales. She joined from Vontobel.

JP Morgan Private Bank named Regis Molowny as head of its wealth advisory unit in Spain, to work with ultra high net worth families in that country. Based in Madrid, he reports to Juan Manuel Soto, head of JP Morgan Private Bank in Spain. Molowny was formerly branch manager of Merrill Lynch in Spain and Portugal.

Senior wealth management professional Wendy Buckley joined Sinels, the Jersey-based law firm, as its new operations and client services director. Buckley has worked in the industry for 25 years; most recently she project managed the launch of local training consultancy business IBEX Education.

Rothschild appointed Gary Powell as group head of strategy and corporate development, switching from his previous role as head of the firm's UK wealth management division. Powell now works with Nigel Higgins and Olivier Pecoux, chief executives of the Rothschild group. Powell joined Rothschild in 1994 as an investment banker and transferred to the wealth business in 2006. Mark Kary was  named head of UK wealth management. Kary joined Rothschild in 2010 from Polar Capital, where he had been CEO since 2005 following 19 years with Morgan Stanley’s wealth management business.

Deutsche Bank appointed Christof von Dryander as general counsel for its asset and wealth management segments as well as its private and business client divisions globally. Von Dryander, who is also be general counsel for Germany and Central and Eastern Europe, was to take up his position at the bank at the start of 2013, holding a consultancy role prior to that point. He had been a partner of the law firm Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton for over two decades.

International

Offshore law firm Mourant Ozannes hired ex-Ogier senior lawyers as new partners in the British Virgin Islands and rolled out a BVI litigation and insolvency practice. Michael Williams, who relocated to the BVI from the Channel Islands, was joined in the BVI by two new Mourant Ozannes partners, Rachael McDonald and Shaun Folpp.

Fairbairn Trust appointed industry veteran Rosemary Marr as a new senior director to head up its Jersey-based team. Marr has more than 30 years’ experience within the financial services industry, with experience at managing director and director level of both banking and non-banking-related trust company businesses. She is vice president of the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners and a former chairman of STEP Worldwide.

RBC Wealth Management appointed Steve Sokić as head of ultra high net worth, trust, fiduciary and tax - a newly-created role for which Sokić relocated from Jersey to Toronto. He reports to Paul Patterson - who was recently named deputy chairman of RBC Wealth Management for UHNW, international.

Jersey-headquartered wealth structuring company Hawksford appointed Matt Haynes as new business development director. He joined Hawksford from offshore law firm Ogier.

Bruce Weatherill, the chief executive and founder of his eponymous Weatherill Executive Consulting firm, an executive consulting company for wealth managers, joined JDX Consulting as an executive director. Weatherill, a qualified chartered accountant by training, has an extensive track record in the global financial services industry. He was a partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers for more than 20 years, providing a range of audit and consulting services to global private banking, wealth management and investment management clients.

Middle East and North Africa

VAM Funds, the Luxembourg-domiciled fund manager, added to its South African sales efforts, hiring Mark Van Der Walt as regional sales manager. Based in Johannesburg, Van Der Walt drives VAM’s funds business in South Africa. Van Der Walt was latterly a sales manager with Russell Investments in South Africa, where he was responsible for regional sales and client service.

The Stonehage Group, the multi-family office firm, opened a MENA representative office in Dubai. It also appointed Brian Williams, director of family office development for the MENA region as head of the new office. Before joining Stonehage in 2012, Williams had fulfilled a similar role at Mourant Private Wealth.

Asia-Pacific

Nick Pollard, the CEO of Coutts in Asia, stepped down to be replaced by the firm's London chief of staff for wealth management, Michael Blake. Pollard moves into the newly-created role as head of international learning and development at the UK-headquartered private bank. He will continue to be based in Asia.

Blue Sky Alternative Investments, the Australian alternative fund management firm, bolstered its private equity unit with a new manager. Lachlan McMurdo takes the role of investment manager for the PE division, responsible for building the firm's existing portfolio.

SJ Berwin named George Pinkham as head of its Hong Kong office effective 1 October 2012. His focus will be on private equity, corporate and litigation/dispute resolution.

PineBridge Investments made four new appointments to its equity analyst teams in Hong Kong and Singapore. Kenneth Tang starts as director, portfolio manager, Asian equities, based in Singapore, from Black River Asset Management. Dennis Lam started as equity analyst, Hong Kong & China equities, based in Hong Kong. He has worked at Franklin Templeton, Schroders and Baron Asset Management. Kim-Peng Ang started as equity analyst, ASEAN equities, also based in Hong Kong from IMC Investment in Hong Kong. Jacob Lee and Samantha Kwong both started as equity analysts, based in Hong Kong. Lee joined from Deutsche Bank’s investment banking division where he was an associate. Kwong was at Kim Eng. Additionally Wilfred Son Keng Po, managing director and portfolio manager, who was previously based in the Philippines, relocated to Hong Kong to oversee ASEAN equities portfolio management.

ETF Securities is relocating Fred Jheon from the Tokyo branch, where he serves as Asia-Pacific head, to lead the new Hong Kong business. Nigel Phelan also moves from the Sydney office to become head of regional sales for ETFS.

Hong Kong’s Eden Management Partners hired Julio Benitez and Sarah Lewis to focus on planning and advisory services and tax planning, respectively.

Pictet hired Pauline Dan to lead a new 20-person global emerging markets equities unit. Dan joined the company from Samsung Investment Trust Management, where she was head of Greater China equities. Pictet did not reveal the names of the other newly appointed staff, although it said that some would be transferred from its Europe offices.

UBS India named Nitin Jain as a new head for its fixed income, currencies and commodities for India, reporting to Thomas Siegmund, the head of the Asia ex-Japan fixed income, currencies and commodities business at UBS.

L&T Mutual Fund named Soumendra Nath Lahiri as a new equity head.

Australia and New Zealand Bank hired a new managing director of wealth for Asia, from UK rival Barclays. Bret Packard will start in mid-October reporting to Joyce Phillips, ANZ’s global chief executive of wealth and private banking.

UBS hired a team of two from rival Credit Suisse. Cindy Chang joined as managing director, cluster head, based in Hong Kong. Stella Lau starts as executive director and is based in Singapore.

ABN AMRO is planning to as much as triple its Asian business within the next five years, with a focus on private banking. The group wants Asia to contribute 20 to 30 per cent of its global revenue within the next five years, up from 10 per cent now. The growth drive will focus on Hong Kong, Singapore, Shanghai, Tokyo and Sydney and will target private banking, among other sectors.

Coutts named Jonathan Lee as a new head of treasury services for Asia, based in Hong Kong.

Coutts hired a team of four for its Middle East business, to focus on wealthy non-resident Indians in the region. Rishi Mansukhani joined as executive director from HSBC’s private banking division. Mahesh Ram joined as a director from ABN Amro. Jai Prakash Paliwal joined as a director from ICICI Bank.
Amit Tyagi joined as a vice president from HSBC’s private banking division. The UK bank said that the new quartet will precede plans to hire additional staff across the region this year.

Australia and New Zealand Bank made three senior appointments. Matthew Boss will starts as managing director, products & marketing, from Bank of America in North Carolina. Glenn Haslam started as appointed general manager of transformation, a newly created role to simplify the Australian business. He is currently acting managing director, product & marketing. Jeremy Dean was appointed general manager of Australia operations. He is currently general manager, business execution, for corporate and commercial Australia.

Northern Trust named former Citi exec George Hindmarsh as head of Asia-Pacific business development, to build business with the region's institutional clients, including asset managers and private banks.He joins from Citi Transaction Services, where he was most recently director, head of UK investor services product.

Chi Lo, the chief executive officer of HFT Investment Management , the Hong Kong branch of BNP Paribas' Chinese joint venture, announced his resignation to pursue other opportunities. Lo officially leaves on 31 October 2012. He has been with the company since 2010 when he set up the Hong Kong operation. He will be succeeded by Jelle Vervoorn as managing director. Vervoorn joined HFT HK as executive director in August 2011.

Australian Unity Investments, the funds management arm of Australian asset manager Australian Unity, added four senior positions to bulk up its investment management offerings. Jody Fitzgerald joined from UBS Wealth Management, where she was previously the head of investment and product research, Guy Sainsbury stepped in from Hastings Fund Management, where he used to serve as director of property originations, while Paul Ramsay was previously the head of researcher relationships at AUI. The fourth appointment has not been announced to-date.

Global hedge fund group Alternative Investment Management Association elected Philip Tye as the new chairman of its Hong Kong arm. Tye is the founding partner and managing director of Dragonback Capital, one of the member firms of AIMA. Also new to the senior ranks are Anthony Byrne as deputy chairman and Michael Gibson as treasurer. Byrne is the head of Asia-Pacific Prime Finance and managing director at Deutsche Bank, while Gibson is a partner at Lim Advisors.

QIC, the Australian investment management firm, hired former AMP executive Brian Delaney to lead an entire division at its Sydney office as business director of clients, products and marketing. In this new role, he reports to Damien Frawley, chief executive. He officially takes up his post on 15 October 2012.

HSBC announced nine senior appointments for the Asia-Pacific equities and prime services divisions in support of its core emerging markets buildout. Tim Franks, from Bank of China International, was named head of hedge fund sales in Hong Kong, Jeffrey Tan, from Nomura, was hired director in equity sales, while Eric Ang and Russell Jacobsen, both from Samsung Securities, joined as directors in equity sales trading in Hong Kong. Also newly-appointed were Edward Yen, from Goldman Sachs, as director of Taiwan equity sales based in Taipei and Jean-Paul Linschoten as director of prime services sales, Hong Kong. David Streatfield was named director in equity finance delta one sales, Hong Kong, Adrian Harrison became director in prime services sales, Hong Kong, and Ted Langworthy became director of equity finance delta one sales, New York.

China Renaissance Securities, the Chinese bank, strengthened its equities research offering with the hire of Wen Tianli as managing director and head of equity research based in Hong Kong. He was also named head of telecom, media and technology equity research. Prior to joining the firm, he was a director and head of TMT equity research at Mirae Asset Securities, also in Hong Kong.

BlackRock, the New York-headquartered investment management and advisory services firm, bulked up its Asian business with the hire of Rowena Kwok as director and head of corporate communications for Asia ex-Japan. Kwok joined from Fidelity Worldwide Investment, where she was part of the corporate communications team in Hong Kong and the Asia ex-Japan region for six years.

A team of at least five from Switzerland's Julius Baer who were set to move to the Hong Kong division of Banca della Svizzera, joined Lombard Odier instead, after BSI's parent was said to be looking to sell the bank. They include Betty Xu, former senior private client partner and team head for China at the Hong Kong division of Julius Baer, and Amy Wei, senior private banker on the China team. They brought with the three junior employees.

AMP Capital, the Australian fund management firm, expanded international chief executive Anthony Fasso's job description with leadership of the company's dominant Australian client base in Hong Kong. The amended position was announced shortly after the opening of the company's Hong Kong office.

State Street Global Advisors, the investment management division of the US' State Street Corporation, named Amy Johnston as its new vice president for wholesale sales based in Australia. Johnston moved from Goldman Sachs Asset Management, where she served as national accounts manager. Before that, she worked for Perennial Investment Partners and Merrill Lynch Investment Managers. She reports directly to Peter Mitchell, the head of business development for Australia and New Zealand.

ANZ Wealth announced the departure of investment management executive Simon Botherway after less than 18 months in the role. Botherway joined the company in April 2011 after serving as chairman of the Financial Markets Authority's establishment board. The company said it is 'reviewing options' for Botherway's old role. In the meantime, the investment management team is led by Graham Ansell, head of fixed interest, and continues to report to John Brody, managing director for ANZ Wealth.

US-based financial services firm Perella Weinberg Partners announced Daniel Chen as the new managing director and head of Asia. Chen is based in Beijing. Prior to this position, he was senior vice president at China Investment Corporation’s Special Investment Department.

Chase Corporate Advisory, the Australian financial services firm, appointed Andrew Gale as the new executive director. Gale joined the company from Count Financial where he served as managing director. His appointment was announced alongside the hire of Chris Jordan, former New South Wales chairman of KPMG, as executive chairman.

BlackRock relocated its head of retail business for Asia ex-Japan to Hong Kong, and promoted a head of retail sales, to form a new team to tap private banking clients. Lin-Yun Chang, head of BlackRock's retail business for Asia ex-Japan, moved to the US investment manager's regional head office in Hong Kong, from Taipei, underlining the increasing importance of the retail segment to the firm. Heather Pelant relocated from the US to start a different role as head of retail sales for Hong Kong, Singapore and South East Asia. In this newly-created role, Pelant is tasked to create and oversee a team focused on the private bank client segment. She reports to Chang.

UTI Asset Management, the Indian mutual fund services firm, appointed Sunil Mehta as the new chairman and director. Prior to the announcement, local media reports said that Mckinsey and Co India senior advisor Leo Puri could be tapped for the position. Both parties declined to comment on the matter.

MLC, the wealth arm of National Australia Bank, named Scott Harley to the newly-created role of executive general manager for corporate and institutional wealth. Hartley was previously the general manager for LC Corporate and Institutional Wealth and managing director of Plum Financial Services since March 2009. He became part of MLC in 1999 and has since held various roles in the strategy and marketing and institutional businesses. He reports directly to Steve Tucker, group executive of NAB Wealth.

Emirates NBD hired Aazar Ali Khwaja, Barclay Bank's ex-regional treasurer for emerging markets and Africa, as its new group treasurer. In addition to his old role, Aazar also served as chairman of Barclays Bank's regional asset and liability management committee.

Mercer, the consultant, named Gaurav Garg to the newly-created position of regional leader, growth markets, responsible for the firm's businesses in Asia, Middle East, Africa and Latin America. Garg joined the firm from Chartis, the P&C insurance arm of American International Group, where he most recently served as chief executive and managing director of Tata AIG General Insurance Company in India. He reports to Julio Portalatin, Mercer president and CEO.

CITIC Bank, the Chinese bank, announced Dr Chen Xiaoxian as its new director and chairman. Xiaoxian replaced Dou Jianzhong, who resigned to focus on his roles as executive director of CITIC Group Corporation, executive director and vice president of CITIC Limited and director and chief executive of the parent firm CITIC International. Xiaoxian is the director and president of China CITIC Bank Corporation.

Wealth management software maker Bravura Solutions appointed Andy Gershon as sales director for life insurance solutions, Asia, based in Hong Kong. Gershon was previously a global accounts director for Sungard Systems. He reports directly to Roland Slee, managing director for Asia-Pacific.

Former Julius Baer relationship manager Patsy Cheung was hired as relationship manager for Swiss rival Lombard Odier's Hong Kong office. She worked for Julius Baer in Hong Kong for three years. Before that, she was at LGT Investment Management , the Asian arm of the Liechtenstein bank.

Cayman Islands-based investment management firm Leopard Capital named Richard Intrator as managing partner and chief investment officer for its Cambodia business. Intrator was the executive in residence at Stamford International University in Thailand. He assumed the position after Scott Lewis, who resigned to become head of corporate finance at Oryx Petroleum in Geneva, Switzerland.

Standard Chartered, the UK-headquartered financial services firm, appointed Patrick Lee as the new head of origination and client coverage head for its Singapore office. Lee assumed the position along with the role of co-head of Singapore wholesale banking. He was previously the South East Asia investment banking head at Nomura. He replaced Philippe Touati, who left the firm in April 2012.

JP Morgan Private Bank named Jacqui Brabazon as head of Asia marketing. Brabazon was the former global head of marketing and philanthropy at Standard Chartered. She now reports to Paul Pullano, head of international marketing.

Freshfield Bruckhaus Deringer, the international law firm, relocated Stephen Revell from Hong Kong to Singapore to take the lead role in its new office in the city-state. Revell is joined by Gavin MacLaren, who leads the Asian energy and natural resources practice. The firm's arbitration practice in Singapore is now led by Lucy Reed, global head of the international arbitration arm.

ABN AMRO Private Banking appointed Jacqueline Koo to the newly-created role of head of Asian discretionary portfolio management based in Hong Kong. Koo now reports to Hugues Delcourt, country executive for Singapore and chief executive officer for private banking in Asia and the Middle East, and Gerben Jorritsma, global head of discretionary portfolio management. She was previously the head of portfolio management for north Asia at Julius Baer.