Leila Alamaddine has been appointed as market manager for Lavant, Shereen Ghobrial has joined as a sales manager and Utku Balik has been made business strategy and initiatives execution manager.
Alamaddine and Ghobrial will both report to Tamar Rashad, head of Middle East at Merrill Lynch Wealth Management. Balik will report to Rashad and Michael Tolentino, chief operating officer at Merrill Lynch Wealth Management EMEA.
In her new role, Alamaddine will be based in Beirut and have responsibility for growing the wealth management business and enhancing the company’s offering to clients. She was previously executive manager at Audi Saradar Private Bank where she covered clients in Europe and the Middle East. Before this, Alamaddine worked at Europe Arab Bank as head of private banking for EMEA in London.
Ghobrial will work with financial advisers and sales specialists in the Middle East. He previously worked at Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank, as regional head of wealth management for Abu Dhabi and Al Ain. Prior to this, he worked at Deutsche Bank in Cairo, as a financial adviser covering Egyptian clients.
Balik will be responsible for leading regional initiatives and project management the strategy and operations areas in Dubai. Before taking up the post, Balik worked at Emirates NBD Private Banking as head of business development where he was responsible for business strategy and project management.
Merill Lynch Wealth Management has been operating in the Middle East for 49 years.