Sovereign Group
The firm has made changes to its operations in Dubai, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.
Nicholas Cully, who also sits on the group board of the Sovereign Group as sales director, will be stepping down as managing director of Sovereign’s Dubai office on the 1 December 2020 after five years in the role and over a decade in the Emirate.
He will be relocating to Zug, Switzerland, in March 2021, where he will concentrate on developing business in central Europe and on managing the group’s global sales efforts in Europe, Africa, the Middle East and south east Asia.
Cully will remain on the boards in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and Dubai and will continue to oversee the Middle East with regular trips to the region.
Simon Gordon, currently a director in Dubai and Bahrain, has been promoted to the position of managing director of Sovereign’s Dubai office.
He has spent seven years with the company and two years in a sales director role at Sovereign Dubai.
Paul Arnold has also been appointed as managing director of Sovereign’s Saudi Arabia office in Riyadh, from where he will lead the firm’s Saudi expansion plan, which is set to commence in January 2021.
He has been working in the Gulf region for 13 years and joined the Sovereign Group three years ago as head of new market development based in Dubai.
Further changes include the appointments of Zana Jablan Mousa to the board of its Dubai office and Philip Gilboy to the board of the firm’s Bahrain office.
Mousa heads up the onshore team in Dubai, where she advises her clients on corporate structuring and on UAE regulatory matters, while Gilboy is legal counsel for the Sovereign Middle East region.
Amundi
The asset manager has made several appointments, effective January 2021:
- Christian Pellis will be chief executive of Amundi in Germany. He has been head of third-party distribution at Amundi since 2013;
- Xiaofeng Zhong named chairman of Amundi greater China. He joined Amundi Hong Kong in November 2011 as deputy chief executive, sales and marketing, and was appointed chief executive, north Asia in September 2012;
- Philippe d’Orgeval will become chief executive of Amundi in the UK. He will join from Axa IM, where he was head of its UK arm;
- Laurent Guillet has been named as head of solutions and services department within the distribution and wealth division at Amundi in Paris. He has been chief executive of Amundi UK since April 2013; and
- Thierry Ancona is appointed head of third-party distribution. He has been deputy director of coverage for institutional and corporate at Amundi since 2019.
Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA)
Bryan Stirewalt will retire from his role as chief executive of the regulator at the end of his term in September 2021.
He has served in various functions at the DFSA for more than 12 years.
The DFSA Board will undertake a global search to recruit a successor.
Stonehage Fleming
Bev Stewart has been appointed as a director in the firm’s Jersey family office division.
She joins from Absa Bank in South Africa, where she served as a director in the investment banking global finance team.
Crestbridge
The financial services provider has appointed Daniel Channing as a director in its family office services team.
Channing was previously a director and senior wealth planner at HSBC in Geneva.
Gam Investments
The investment firm has named Stephanie Maier as global head of sustainable and impact investment, a newly created role.
Maier joins from HSBC Global Asset Management, where she was director for responsible investment.
Bedell Cristin
The law firm has recruited Robert Christie, a litigation lawyer, to join the practice in Jersey as a partner.
He specialises in trusts, company, commercial and insolvency litigation.
