Empira Group

Empira Group, an investment and asset manager for institutional real estate investments focused on the DACH region, has named Edward Berry as managing director and head of its new London office, effective immediately.

With more than sixteen years of experience working in the investment management industry, Berry will be instrumental in developing Empira's institutional client footprint in the UK. As part of this drive, he will raise awareness of Empira Group's investment solutions across the real estate capital structure.

Based in London, he will report to Lahcen Knapp, founder and chairman.

Prior to joining Empira, Mr Berry worked in senior client facing positions at PIMCO and Centerbridge Partners.

He worked at PIMCO from 2008 to 2020 as a senior vice president with responsibility for fundraising and managing relationships with PIMCO's major UK institutional clients and their consultants.

At Centerbridge Partners he was a principal with responsibility for fundraising across the UK investor base. Earlier in his career he was a banks sector equity research analyst at Dresdner Kleinwort and an associate strategy consultant in PWC's Private Equity advisory business.

Knapp said: "We are delighted to welcome Edward as our newly appointed Managing Director to drive our business development strategy for the institutional market in the UK. He has an impressive track record and extensive distribution experience. As we continue to lead the industry in sustainable institutional real estate investing, Edward joins at an exciting time to help build Empira's presence in the UK."

Elucidate

Elucidate, a leading financial crime risk platform, has announced that David Lewis will be joining its advisory board. Lewis' appointment follows his move from Executive Secretary of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) to global head of anti-money laundering (AML) advisory at Kroll.

This was driven by his recognition that governments and financial institutions are in desperate need of more practical help to better implement global standards and have a greater impact on financial crime.

By joining Elucidate, Lewis will help set a global standard for measuring financial crime risk that can be easily implemented by financial institutions and regulators. Doing so will help overcome the challenges the FATF, governments and regulators have faced for decades - the failure to convert policy into effective action.

He will provide advice to Elucidate in the evolution of its financial crime standard and modeling and will chair a Delphi panel of industry experts to monitor Elucidate's FinCrime Index (EFI).

He previously served as Executive Secretary of the FATF and was senior advisor to the G20 from 2015 to 2022, leading the FATF Secretariat and bringing together governments from around the world to tackle money laundering, financing of terrorism and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.

Shane Riedel, CEO of Elucidate, said:"David is internationally renowned for his work advancing preemptive and reactive measures to counter all aspects of financial crime. His experience across the public and private sectors has proven invaluable in understanding how public-private partnerships can be implemented to fight all aspects of financial crime regardless of jurisdiction!

IQ-EQ

IQ-EQ has appointed Rebecca Brown as new head of legal, UK, Ireland & Crown Dependencies to provide legal advice as the regional sector continues to grow.

Brown qualified as a UK solicitor in 2012 and has a wide range of in-house and private practice experience, including seven years' experience in the investor services sector.

During her career, she has worked in the UK, Ireland and Jersey, and internationally in Luxembourg, Netherlands, India and Australia. This has given her great insight into changing regulations, including FCA requirements and GDPR, as well as managing risk.

Prior to joining IQ-EQ, she was head of legal, projects at Link Group, where she led special projects in the technology function and across the wider business.

Brown will be working closely with Christopher Marsden, Group General Counsel, and John Legrand, the Regional CEO for the UK, Ireland & Crown Dependencies.

Brown said: "It's such an exciting time in the evolution of IQ-EQ, and I'm thrilled to lead the IQ-EQ legal team in the UK, Ireland and the Crown Dependencies into the next stage of growth and consolidation. I look forward to working with my new colleagues to manage legal risk effectively and efficiently, and to play a part in driving new opportunities across the region."

School of International Financial Services

The School of International Financial Services has appointed a new director to to lead its expansion into other international finance centres.

Damien Chaddock, who joins from BPP, previously held roles including Head of Commercial and Head of Professional Development.

In his new role at SIFS, he will lead professional development and events across the global markets in which the school operates.

"I'm excited to have joined the team at SIFS and feel that we can really support the provision of high-quality training and education on a wide variety of disciplines, including compliance, governance and financial crime prevention," he said "Through our network of truly world-class experts, we bring valuable insight to the challenges facing service providers and assist in the continued development of our most valuable asset, our human capital."

Helen Hatton, executive director at SIFS, added: "Damien is a widely recognised professional development specialist in the Islands as well as on the global stage, having organised world-class conferences and events locally and in many other jurisdictions, including Switzerland, Hong Kong and Singapore.

"He brings invaluable experience to the team and will help take the school, founded in Jersey, further onto the international stage, promoting Jersey as a leading financial centre of excellence."

HSBC AM

HSBC Asset Management has appointed John Dewey as head of alternative solutions, HSBC Alternatives.

He will initially be based in London and will report to Joanna Munro, CEO, HSBC Alternatives.

In this newly created role, Dewey will be responsible for leading business development for HSBC Alternatives, working with the Alternatives business heads and the Asset Management sales teams.

He will lead a team of alternatives client professionals. Given the expansion of HSBC AM's activities in Asia, the intention is for John to relocate to Singapore later this year to take on the additional role of Regional Head of Alternatives - subject to regulatory approval.

Joanna Munro, CEO HSBC Alternatives, said: "We have seen significant growth in our alternatives capabilities in recent years and are building out our Asia and sustainability strategies. John's extensive experience with alternative solutions will be crucial in helping us bring these to our clients."

Carey Olsen

Carey Olsen has appointed experienced practitioner Rachel Yao to continue the expansion of its trusts and private wealth offering in the Asia-Pacific region.

She has joined the firm's Singapore office, having most recently led Taylor Wessing's private wealth team in Greater China.

Yao, who will lead Carey Olsen's trusts and private wealth offering in Asia, regularly acts for professional trustees, family offices, wealth managers, financial institutions, settlors and beneficiaries, and advises on the establishment and restructuring of a wide range of trust structures.

Yao also has particular experience on cross-border matters and advising high net worth individuals and ultra-high net worth individuals from China and the wider Asia-Pacific region with their family wealth preservation and global asset allocation.

Yao said: "I am delighted to be joining Carey Olsen's Singapore office at such an exciting time for the firm as a whole across the Asia-Pacific region. I am also looking forward to working with the global trusts and private wealth team and contributing to Carey Olsen's incredibly strong reputation and success in this area."

MDOTM

MDOTM, the European leader in AI-Driven investment strategies, has appointed Fabio Angelini as the company's chief technology officer.
The appointment is another milestone in MDOTM's international expansion plan following its successful Series-B funding round that brought the fintech's total funding to €8.2M (£6.8M).

Angelini joins MDOTM from Gruppo MutuiOnline, an Italian-listed provider of outsourcing services to the asset management and insurance industries. As Head of Software Engineering, Angelini was responsible for developing and supporting mission-critical applications that run on enterprise data centres.

Trium
Trium, the family office-backed alternative investment manager, has appointed Bogdan Popescu as director of its European business. He will be working closely with Trium's UCITS team in Ireland.

Popescu joins Trium following over 6 years at J O Hambro Capital Management, where he was European Sales Director. Prior to this, he built up 13 years of experience working with Europe-based investors at firms including Skandia Investment Group, East Capital Asset Management and SG (Société Générale) Asset Management.

Popescu brings extensive client-facing experience in the world of traditional, liquid investments and will focus on accelerating Trium's evolution from its traditional alternatives focus towards a more diverse business model aimed at offering investors a wider spectrum of liquid investment solutions.

iM Global Partner

iM Global Partner has announced it is expanding its business development in EMEA with the appointment of Simon Frey as director, distribution in Switzerland and the promotion of Julien Froger to managing director, distribution EMEA.

Frey joins iM Global Partner from Swiss Rock Asset Management, where he was head of sales and client relations.

An experienced business development manager specialized in the financial industry, he has also worked for Mirabaud Asset Management, Morgan Stanley Investment Management and Complementa Investment-Controlling.

Jamie Hammond, Deputy CEO - head of EMEA said: "Switzerland is a very important market for us. It is one of the most competitive places in the world for asset management and clients are very receptive to our business model. Simon will be instrumental in servicing our existing clients and expanding our business further".