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.

As part of the deal, Withers will partner with the technology company to help clients and their families securely manage their assets and affairs.

Withers will initially offer Zenplans to clients in the UK and will roll it out in other markets in due course. The Withers team working on the partnership arrangement included partners Philip Munro, James Shaw and Kenneth Mullen, with associate Jing Wei Luo.

Zenplans was launched in 2021 to enable individuals and their advisers to hold all essential estate planning information and documentation, including wills, financial information and details of digital assets, in a cloud-based platform.

Once an account is set up, it can be shared with family members, advisers and executors so that everyone has access to the system at the appropriate time. Data is end-to-end encrypted.

Changing nature of estate planning

Jay Dinwoodie, chief executive of Withers’ private client and tax team, said: “The digitisation of information and the development of digital assets has changed the nature of estate planning. As the world’s premier law firm for estate and wealth planning, we prioritize offering our clients the best new digital services, while ensuring that their information is totally secure.

“We are really impressed by how Zenplans provides that solution and are so convinced of the value of the product that we have backed it in its most recent funding round and look forward to making it available to our clients.”

Stephen Moses, managing director and founder of Zenplans, added: “Zenplans makes planning for the future simple by making details of your assets and your wishes available to your successors and representatives. The product has seen very enthusiastic take-up and we’re delighted that a firm of Withers’ stature is offering the service to clients and has gone one step beyond that by investing in our growth as we expand the scale of our business.”

The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Withers Hakawati is to be led by Hawasli, who will serve as a consultant within Withers and work closely with lawyers across the law firm’s international network, particularly with London-based partners Chris Groves and Stephen Nerland.

Hawasli, who is co-founder of asset manager Darin Partners, said: “Families in the GCC region are hugely outward-looking and are looking to receive best in class advice and, at the very least, fair treatment from commercial or financial partners in other regions of the world.

“This responsibility to support and protect my clients is an Amanah which is dear to my heart. Creating relationships of reciprocity, mutual confidence, and understanding is key to deal-making, and that is what Withers Hakawati aims to establish, building on Withers’ reputation as the leading international law firm for successful people and private capital.”

Justine Markovitz, Withers’ chairperson, added: “Our clients rely on us to address all of their legal needs around the world, and our lawyers frequently act as close and long-term advisors to them, their families and their businesses. Withers Hakawati is a natural extension of this, focusing particularly on clients from the GCC region.

“However, instead of applying the generic approach of many US- and UK-based law firms, we will offer the assistance of advisers who share the cultural background of GCC families and businesses and who put their interests first.”

ISN will assist individuals, family offices and other professional advisers on international succession matters around the world.

The network assists private individuals who want to plan their succession efficiently, both from a legal and tax perspective, as well as individuals or advisers who need assistance in succession proceedings, claims or wish to defend inheritance rights.

It will pool together the knowledge and skills of succession advisers around the world to help families find the right solution.

Will planning, succession agreements, trusts and generational business transfers are just some of the tools the network can employ to ensure the transition of assets across generations.

The initial membership consists of Italian notaries Remo Bassetti and Arrigo Roveda, French notary Caroline Deneuville, Swiss notary Gilles Benedick and English solicitor Mara Monte, partner at Withers.

In the coming months, ISN plans to announce new members in Spain, Germany and the US and is enlisting other succession advisers in other key locations to bring together a select group of notaries around the world.

ISN said: “More than one million families worldwide deal with succession issues each year and, despite the implementation of the European Succession Regulation in 2015, international succession continues to be complex and raises many difficulties for families.”

Ingrid Johnson will become the president of the insurer’s Asia operation.

She will be responsible for the Asia operation which covers life, health and wealth management businesses in eight markets – China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Vietnam.

Johnson succeeds Léo Grépin, who left Sun Life on 15 October to pursue other opportunities.

Most recently, Johnson was the group finance director of Old Mutual and a member of its various subsidiary boards.

Time Investments

The investment manager has appointed Victoria Barber as head of strategic partnerships.

Barber joins Time from LGT Vestra, where she was business development director – UK and European distribution.

Julius Baer

Thorsten Hartmann will join the private bank on 1 February 2022.

As of 1 April 2022, he will take over as head of the Julius Baer branch in Basel. Hartmann previously worked in various functions at Credit Suisse for over 17 years, mostly in the Basel region.

He will replace Claude Scharowski, who has led the office since its opening in 2000.

Scharowski has decided to focus on client advisory services until his retirement in 2024, while gradually reducing his working hours.

Tilney Smith & Williamson

The UK wealth manager has appointed Neil Thornton as a financial planner based in its Exeter office.

He joins the firm from Aviva, where he has worked as a financial adviser in Devon and Cornwall for the past three and a half years.

Withers

The international law firm has boosted its private client and corporate tax practice in Singapore with the hires of Lian Chuan Yeoh and Chin Chin Koh as partners, and Wei Ling Wong as special counsel.

Yeoh and Wong joins from Deloitte Legal (Sabara Law), where they were managing director and counsel, respectively. Koh joins Withers from EY, where she was an associate partner.

Finance Isle of Man

The Isle of Man’s department for enterprise has appointed Paul Blake as head of banking and fiduciaries for Finance Isle of Man.

He joins from boutique trust and corporate service provider Fiducs, where he was director.