DWP
Guy Opperman and Tom Purglove have both been appointed as minister of state in the Department for Work and Pensions.
Opperman rejoins the department after he quit as pensions minister.
Laura Trott has been named as parliamentary under secretary of state in the DWP.
Alex Burghart has been moved to parliamentary under secretary of state for the Cabinet Office.
He was previously parliamentary under secretary of state for the Department for Work and Pensions from 20 September 2022 to 27 October 2022.
The roles of the MPs appointed have not been announced.
Transamerica Life (Bermuda)
The insurer has hired Andy Wong as chief operating and transformation officer based in Hong Kong.
Wong previously worked in AIA Hong Kong, ING, FT Life, and most recently at Tai Kang Life.
T Rowe Price
Elsie Chan has been appointed as head of Asia Pacific distribution to head up the firm’s distribution teams based in Australia, Japan, Hong Kong and Singapore.
Chan joined T Rowe Price in Hong Kong in 2015 to build out the financial intermediaries business in Asia and took on an expanded role as head of Asia ex-Japan distribution in 2018 to oversee the institutional and intermediary businesses in the region.
She takes up the reins from Nick Trueman, who has become head of Europe, Middle East and Africa distribution.
Trueman joined T Rowe Price in 2007.
You Asset Management
The discretionary fund manager has hired Nick Heath as client relationship manager.
He brings over 20 years’ experience of supporting financial planners and their businesses, having previously held senior roles at Capital Asset Management, 7IM and Societe Generale.
Also joining the firm is Chris Ayton as a fund manager, Ayton, alongside Cormac Nevin and Shane Balkham, will manage You’s range of Model Portfolios and Multi-Asset Blend Funds.
Additionally, Kira Parker joins as investment administration manager. Most recently, Parker was working at Liontrust Asset Management.
Schroders Personal Wealth
The advice firm has appointed Makala Green as a personal wealth adviser as it continues to grow its presence across the regions.
She joins from St James Place Wealth Management, where she was the director of Green Wealth Planning Ltd for seven years.
In addition, Schroders Personal Wealth have made a number of hires across the north west and north wales.
Elaine Porter, Paul Innocent, Neil Whiteside and Michael Hart all join as a personal wealth advisers.
Porter will cover Chester and Wirral and previously held roles at Prudential, NatWest and Nationwide. Innocent will cover Blackpool and Flyde Coast after previous roles roles at Axa, Wesleyan and Wealth at Work.
Whiteside, who joins from Wesleyan Financial Planning, will cover Liverpool. Prior to working at Wesleyan, he held a number of roles at Lloyds Bank. Hart will be covering north Wales. He joins from HSBC, where he has spent the last eight years dealing with HNW clients.
Copia Capital Management
The discretionary fund manager has named Matthew Jones as sales manager for Wales and the south west.
He had previous roles at Legal and General, Scottish Life and most recently Quilter, where he has spent the last 18 years developing relationships with IFAs.
Federation of European IFAs (Feifa)
The professional body has reorganised its board with David Vacani becoming chairman.
Vacani is the owner and managing director of Beacon Global Wealth. He was previously director of Feifa.
All existing board members were re-elected. The existing chairman, John Westwood, had decided to stand down from the role but remains on the board.
Chris Marriott remains as vice-chairman and treasurer, and Jason O’Connell as secretary.
Paul Stanfield has also been retained as chief executive.
Financial Planning Standards Board
The standards-setting body for the global financial planning profession has named Dante De Gori as chief executive, effective 1 January 2023.
The appointment follows the announcement in May 2022 that Noel Maye would step down as chief executive at the end of December 2022.
De Gori previously served as chief executive of the Financial Planning Association of Australia (FPA) – the financial planning professional body in Australia.
