DeVere Acuma
John McKellar has joined DeVere’s Middle East financial advisory business as general manager.
He was previously at Friends Provident International where he spent over 11 years and was most recently a regional sales manager.
He will be based in the firm’s Dubai office and oversee the regulatory changes in the region, namely BOD49, as well as the roll out of digital solutions in 2020.
Close Brothers Asset Management
The asset management business has hired Tim West as a managing director.
He will focus on the high net worth (HNW) client proposition, based in London.
West joins from Rathbones where he was a senior investment director for 22 years.
Aviva
Chairman Sir Adrian Montague is to retire in 2020 once a successor has been appointed.
Having held the role since April 2015, he joined the Aviva board as a non-executive director in January 2013.
Montague said: “When I became chairman in 2015, the board asked me to commit to serve for at least five years. Now that [chief executive] Maurice [Tulloch] has launched Aviva’s strategy, a new senior management team is in place and the board has been refreshed, it is also time for a new chairman.”
Lombard International Assurance
Nicolas Demarest has been promoted to country head for Benelux, with Didier Debroux succeeding him as manager for the Swiss insurer’s Belgium branch.
Debroux joins from Puilaetco Dewaay Private Banking Belgium where he was responsible for business development.
Brooks Macdonald
The firm’s director of business development, Andrew Davis, will step down after 15 years.
It is not clear what his next move will be.
In a separate announcement, however, Brooks Macdonald said it will be making two senior hires in London.
Mirabaud
The Swiss wealth management firm has expanded its London team by hiring Martin O’Hare as a managing director and senior private banker.
He was previously an executive director at JP Morgan Private Bank.
Additionally, Rosalind Booth has been named first vice-president and senior relationship manager in Zurich.
She joins from HSBC Private Bank, where she was a director for over seven years.
Tobam
Tatjana Puhan has been appointed as managing director and deputy chief investment officer at Tobam.
She will be based in Paris and joins from Swiss Life Asset Managers where she was head of equity and asset allocation.
Zedra
The trust, corporate and fund services provider has promoted Joanna Bodell to managing director for the Isle of Man.
She has been working at the firm as a director since 2017. Before joining, she was a managing director of The Law Trust.
Sanlam
Paul Clifford has been appointed as a wealth manager at Sanlam UK’s Cumbria office.
He was previously the founder and managing director of Integritas Wealth, which he created in 2016; and before that Clifford was an investment director for the Royal Bank of Canada in the wealth management division.
According to his LinkedIn profile, Clifford spent seven months as a wealth manager at Vantage between January and July 2019.
