After 22 years at the Swiss financial services giant, Zeno Staub will step down as chief executive at the next shareholders general meeting on 9 April 2024, in order to become more actively involved in Swiss civil society.

Staub’s successor as chief executive is to be determined by the end of 2023.

Also, Felix Lenhard, chief operating officer and a member of the executive committee of

Vontobel Holding AG and of Bank Vontobel AG, will step down from his role at the end of 2023.

This will allow him, among other things, to devote more time to his family in the future.

His successor will be determined by the end of 2023.

Lazard Asset Management

Middle East chief executive Farah Foustok is leaving her role at the asset manager, a spokesperson has confirmed.

Foustok joined the firm in 2014.

Fadi El Haddad will assume responsible for Middle East operations in the interim.

Progeny

The financial planning group has named Sam Murton as chief operating officer.

She has been working with Progeny as a consultant since 2022.

Murton has worked with a diverse range of businesses and sectors, including Aegon, easyJet, Three, Orange (EE) and Next.

Sesame Bankhall Group

Paul Wilson has been appointed as chief operating officer at the adviser network.

Wilson joins from Aviva, where he was chief marketing officer at Aviva.

Currently a non-executive director of SBG’s board, Wilson will officially start his new role on 3 July.

He replaces Richard Howells, who left the business.

Weatherbys

Chief executive Roger Weatherby is to step up to the role of chairman at the banking group.

Roger Weatherby, who was appointed chief executive in 2000, will take over from current chairman David Bellamy.

Bellamy will step down in March 2024 after six years in the role.

Quentin Marshall, the current managing director of Weatherbys Bank, will take over as chief executive of Weatherbys Banking Group from September 2023.

Armstrong Watson Financial Planning

Stewart Crockett has been appointed managing director and partner of the advice firm.

Crockett joins Armstrong Watson after 23 years with Close Brothers Asset Management, where he was managing director.

The firm also announced senior financial planning manager Justin Rourke has been promoted to financial planning director – head of advice.

Walker Crips Investment Management

Alan Kinnaird has joined the company as business development manager.

He has worked in financial services for 27 years, with the last three years as a senior private banker at Kleinwort Hambros Private Bank.

Matthews Asia

Beonca Yip has joined the investment management firm as head of Asia Pacific.

Yip previously led the distribution and client service teams at China Asset Management, where she was managing director, head of global client group.

Morgan Stanley Investment Management

Michael Levin will be joining the company as head of Asia.

The role is a newly created position and Levin is expected to join the firm in July.

Levin has been in the industry for over 25 years and was most recently managing director at Goldman Sachs Asset Management.

Lombard Odier

The international wealth and asset manager has appointed Amit Ben Sira as market head Israel.

Ben Sira joins from family office Globe Invest, where he was head of private assets.

ValidPath

The IFA network has appointed Tim Clark as succession director.

Clark joins from M&G, where he was recruitment and acquisition director.

Withers

The international law firm has grown its Swiss practice, based in Geneva, through the addition of partner Berry Bloomberg, who joins the firm from Burges Salmon.

Bloomberg is a tax and trust specialist, representing clients on asset holding structures, the taxation of offshore trusts and companies and negotiating tax disclosures with tax authorities. His clients include internationally mobile individuals and families, trust companies and financial institutions and he has a particular focus on helping clients with US connections.

Schroders Personal Wealth (SPW)

The advice firm has appointed Justin Blower as regional director for the south and south Wales.

He will be responsible for leading SPW’s advice business across the region including Bristol, Cardiff, Oxford and the south West.

Prior to joining SPW, Blower held the role of sales director at M&G Wealth.

HSBC

The banking group has appointed Kai Zhang as the head of its wealth and personal banking (WPB) team for south Asia.

Zhang, who is based in Singapore, will take on her role from 26 June.

As part of her role, Zhang will look at accelerating the WPB team’s expansion in south Asia across eight markets: Singapore, India, Taiwan, Australia, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam and the Philippines.

Zhang joins HSBC with over 25 years of financial services experience in North America and Asia, including leadership roles at Citi and McKinsey & Co.

Liontrust

The asset management company has appointed Victoria Stevens and Matt Tonge as fund managers of the Liontrust Special Situations and Liontrust UK Growth funds, joining existing managers Anthony Cross and Julian Fosh.

They were founding fund managers of the Liontrust UK Micro Cap Fund when it was launched in March 2016. They have also been fund managers of the Liontrust UK Smaller Companies Fund since 2016.

Square Mile

David Holder has been named as senior investment research analyst at the firm.

Holder joins from Edison Group, where he was an associate director.

Collidr

The digital asset manager has appointed Barry Cowen and Bradley Mitchell as senior investment strategists.

Cowen joins Collidr having spent the past 10 years running the Model Portfolio Service at Sanlam Wealth (now Atomos), and

Mitchell re-joins Collidr after a period as portfolio manager at Criterion Capital.

The digital investment platform has appointed Colleen McHugh as permanent chief investment officer (CIO) after joining on an interim basis earlier this year.

She has been a member of Wealthify’s investment committee since 2019 and has over 20 years’ experience in the investment and financial services industry.

Michelle Pearce-Burke, Wealthify co-founder and previous chief operating officer has returned from maternity leave in November to a new role as chief strategy officer.

Lucille Bellec has stepped into the role of chief operating officer.

She previously worked at Aviva, where she held a number of senior roles, including running the group chief executive office.

Seccl

The platform technology provider has further strengthened its leadership team, with the appointment of Alex Henderson as chief risk officer.

Henderson spent the last nine years at Virgin Money, where she is currently head of capital management.

Vontobel Swiss Wealth Advisors (VSWA)

The Vontobel subsidiary has named Peter Romanzina as chief executive, effective 15 December.

It is planned that Romanzina will also lead the new unit that will be created as a result of the legal and operational merger of Vontobel Swiss Financial Advisers (SFA) and VSWA at the end of the first quarter of 2023.

Jürgen Wegner, chief executive of the former UBS Swiss Financial Advisers – today Vontobel SFA – will become deputy chief executive of the newly merged unit, which is to also operate under the Vontobel SFA brand.

Vontobel completed its acquisition of UBS Swiss Financial Advisers AG (SFA) on 1 August 2022.

Jacqueline Hess, former chief executive of VSWA, has decided to hand over operational responsibility for the wealth management business with North American clients and to join the board of directors Vontobel SFA as vice chair.

Alongside his existing role, Jean-Philippe Bertschy will take over the management of the Vontobel Swiss Equity Research team from Romanzina.

The DIFC Insurance Association (DIFCIA)

The association has appointed Simon Price as chief executive.

Price is currently head of market management Middle East at Zurich.

The DIFCIA serves as the representative body and ideas hub for an important sector of the DIFC community.

J Safra Sarasin

The banking group has hired Michael Leutwyler and Rupesh Singh as managing director.

They both join from Julius Baer, where they were managing directors and senior advisers.

Stonehage Fleming

The multi-family office has hired Laura Perkins as senior trustee in Jersey.

She joins Stonehage Fleming from Collas Crill, where she was a group partner.

Amati Global Investors

The independent asset manager has named Tom Whitfield as sales director.

He will have responsibility for clients in London and the broader south east region.

Whitfield joins Amati from Sanlam Investments UK, where he was an account director with responsibility for wholesale and institutional clients across the London region.

Praxis

The private wealth and corporate services firm has appointed Dominic de Mariveles as commercial director.

De Mariveles previously had three years at Crestbridge as group business development director and 10 years as global client relationship director at Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner.

Chief operating officer Lynzi Harrison has left the business with immediate effect, the platform confirmed to International Adviser.

She resigned citing personal reasons, after 10 months in the role.

It is not clear who will succeed her or where Harrison will go next.

Department for Work and Pensions (DWP)

The DWP named Laura Trott as minister for pensions, succeeding Alex Burghart who was in the role for around a month and a half under Liz Truss’ government.

She became a member of parliament in 2019 representing Sevenoaks.

Nuveen

The investment manager has hired Harry Bush as director of UK wealth.

He is tasked with expanding the firm’s offering to private clients.

Bush joins from Allianz Global Investors, where he was a director for the UK wholesale market.

Amundi

Ziad Sikias has been promoted to chief executive officer for the Middle East, Africa and central Asia at the French asset manager.

He joined the firm in 2001 as an investment adviser looking after Middle Eastern institutional clients.

Sikias then moved to Amundi’s Abu Dhabi office in 2005 as deputy head of the Gulf region and became head in 2008. In 2011, he returned to Paris to develop business with institutions in Europe and central Asia.

Ares Wealth Management Solutions

The wealth arm of the global alternative investment manager has recruited Mark Serocold as a partner and head of Emea, a newly created role.

He will be based in London and oversee product development, distribution and partnerships in the region.

Serocold most recently worked as a managing director at Blackstone for four years.

UBS

Damian Vogel will succeed Christian Bluhm as group chief risk officer at the global wealth manager, effective from May 2023.

Bluhm’s will step down to focus on his photography business and to pursue opportunities in academia.

Vogel currently works as chief risk officer for UBS’ global wealth management business.

Vontobel Asset Management

The European asset manager has hired Jean-Louis Nakamura as head of its sustainable equities boutique.

He will take over from Hans Speich who is retiring.

Nakamura joins from Lombard Odier, where he spent 14 years as chief investing officer for Asia Pacific and chief executive for the Hong Kong’s practice.

Farrer & Co

The law firm has named Jennifer Ridgway as a partner within its private client team.

She joins from Michelmores, where she held a similar position focusing on landed estates, tax, trusts and advising ultra-high net worth individuals in the UK and overseas.

Reed Smith

The international law firm recruited Romin Dabir as a partner within its financial industry group in London to boost the financial regulatory practice.

He was previously at Kirkland & Ellis International, where he held a similar role.

Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, he also expects “regional growth pain” going forward. Europe is heavily compromised, particularly given what has already happened with supply chains, while the US and Asia look slightly divorced, but obviously will be affected by the sharp rise in commodity prices, he explained.

“I think the inflation problem is far more serious than people are really appreciating, and especially the longevity of the inflation process,” Davies said.

Geopolitics

Echoing Davies’ view on inflation being a major risk facing investors, Paul Mitchell, senior investment specialist of fixed income at HSBC Asset Management, said that geopolitical risks must be considered by investors.

“When you have a ground force offensive surrounding nuclear power plants, that’s quite scary. That’s a new type of volatility in the market,” Mitchell said.

The geopolitical situation will make inflation higher in the short term, but the backdrop makes the tightening for central banks even tougher. And again, this will lead to a more volatile environment for investors, he added.

Mitchell also pointed out that the withdrawal of liquidity from markets is another risk which investors are under-pricing.

Unknowns

Henry Chui, head of private wealth of Asia Pacific at Nuveen, warned investors about “unknown factors” that could disrupt markets.

There is no doubt that the prolonged conflict is one of the biggest risks that people are seeing right now in global economic markets, Chui said.

However, whether it’s Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which could spill over into a larger conflict overall, or the monetary and fiscal tightening, as well as inflation, these are factors that investors already know about.

“But I think that what we’re not accounting for are the unknown factors, such as the resurgence of covid-19,” he said, adding that investors should keep a diversified portfolio, including different assets that would do well in different environments, and even different liquidity profiles to build resilience.

On the bright side

Aside from all the risks, Cosmo Zhang, research analyst at Vontobel Asset Management, also pointed to some potential opportunities for investors.

“In fixed income, before the second half of 2021, China was a much bigger risk than the opportunities it could offer, and that’s why we had been underweighting China bonds during the past 18 months.”

Now, Zhang believes China offers a bigger opportunity than a risk, especially for Vontobel AM as a fundamentals-oriented and bottom-up investor.

“Valuations don’t make sense. If you look at some of the valuation of the bonds trading in the Chinese high yield sector, even the liquidation value of some of the bonds trading at distress level should give us a very satisfactory return for the next 18 months,” he said.

For more insight on asset and wealth management in Asia, please click on www.fundselectorasia.com

The wealth firm will combine SFA with its subsidiary Vontobel Swiss Wealth Advisors (VSWA) to expand its existing business serving north American wealth management clients.

Swiss-domiciled VSWA provides investments solutions for US and qualified Canadian investors looking for “geographic diversification”.

SFA has CHF7.2bn (£6bn, $8bn, €7bn) in assets under management. At completion, the combined companies will hit AUM of more than CHF10bn.

The M&A deal is expected to finalise in Q3 2022.

‘Major step’

said Georg Schubiger, global head of wealth management at Vontobel and chairman of VSWA, said: “This transaction is reflective of our confidence in the US market and our ongoing strategic growth efforts in the region. This is a major step toward making Vontobel a global name that serves sophisticated clients around the world and builds toward our goal of increasing US client revenue and overall assets under management.”

Tom Naratil, co-president of UBS Global Wealth Management and president of UBS Americas, added: “We are pleased to partner with Vontobel, a leading global investment firm that’s client focused and committed to excellence.

“This acquisition not only ensures UBS’s US clients continue to have access to a Swiss-based money management firm, but it also simplifies our business structure and enables us to focus on core activities with scale in line with our strategic priorities.”