People Moves: Fidelity International, WHIreland, Bedell Cristin
Fidelity International
Fidelity International, the Bermuda-based asset manager, has named Christian Staub to succeed Jon Skillman as managing director of its continental European business.
Staub comes to Fidelity International from BlackRock, where he had headed up its Switzerland and Continental Europe institutional business. Before this he held a number of senior roles with other wealth managers, including Pimco and Allianz. He began his career as an investment analyst at UBS.
Staub, who will take up his new role in August, will report to Fidelity International’s interim president, Simon Haslam. He will join the company’s global operating committee, and will be based in Luxembourg.
As reported, Fidelity International named Huge Prendergast global head of product in January. Also in January, the company appointed Michael Gibb its first-ever head of stewardship and sustainable investing.
Fidelity looks after around £77.4bn in assets under administration on behalf of clients in 25 countries across Asia-Pacific, Europe, the Middle East and South America. These clients include central banks, sovereign wealth funds, large corporate clients, financial insitutions, insurers, wealth managers and individuals.
WHIreland
WHIreland International Wealth, the Isle of Man-based international wealth arm of London-based WHIreland Group, has named Mike Simpson a non-executive chairman, in what it said was a continuation of its local and international growth strategy.
Simpson is a former PwC partner who has more than 35 years’ experience in financial services in the Isle of Man and Bermuda, WHIreland said in a statement announcing his appointment. He has previously served as chairman of both the Isle of Man Society of Chartered Accountants and the Isle of Man Wealth and Fund Services Association.
Most recently he has specialised in insolvency and restructuring, which has seen him “dealing with a number of large liquidations, including banks, investment funds and corporate service providers”, WHIreland noted.
Simpson said he has been following the progress of WHIreland International Wealth, as it is now known, on the Isle of Man “with interest” over the past four years, and looked forward to being involved in its future growth.
“Although the Isle of Man business is only in its fifth year of operation, the WHIreland name has a heritage that stretches back to the 1800s in the UK,” he noted.
Bedell Cristin
Bedell Cristin, the Jersey-based international law firm, has named Craig Paynter a senior associate in its Singapore office.
Bedell Cristin didn’t say who, if anyone, he succeeded in the role.
Paynter comes to Bedell Cristin from Gowling WLG, where he had been the principal associate in the firm’s Singapore private client team.
He is described by Bedell Cristin as a dual qualified solicitor, having been admitted to advise on the laws of both England and Wales and the British Virgin Islands, and, it says, “advises in all areas of private client trust and estate planning law, corporate law and regulatory law”, while specialising in advising Southeast Asian high-net-worth individuals, families and corporations on structuring and governance matters.
His clients have included professional trustees and private bankers as well as Southeast Asian business families from Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, India, Thailand and the Philippines, Bedell Cristin said.
Bedell Cristin dates back to 1939, when an advocate named George Bedell set up in practice in St Helier, Jersey, after previously helping to introduce income tax to the island. Bedell joined forces in 1958 with another lawyer, Dick Cristin, according to a history on the Bedell Group website. The firm has had an office in Singapore since 2012.
