PEOPLE MOVES: PFS, Credit Suisse, Radiant Financial

Personal Finance Society chief executive Keith Richards to step down

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Personal Finance Society (PFS)

Keith Richards is stepping down as chief executive at the PFS.

His last day at the industry body will be 3o June 2021, after eight years at the helm.

The PFS did not state where he will go next or who will succeed him as chief executive.

Credit Suisse

The Swiss wealth giant has made several changes to its executive board.

Investment bank chief executive Brian Chin will step down on 30 April 2021 alongside chief risk and compliance officer Lara Warner, effective from 6 April.

The resignations are believed to stem from the collapse of two businesses linked to the wealth giant, namely Greensill Capital and hedge fund Archegos.

From 1 May, Christian Meissner will take on the top job for the investment bank. He has served as co-head of international wealth management investment banking advisory and as vice chairman of investment banking since October 2020.

Joachim Oechslin will take on the role of interim chief risk officer, effective from 6 April 2021. Between 2014 and 2019 he served as chief risk officer for the group and then as a senior adviser and chief of staff to the chief executive.

Lastly, Thomas Grotzer will become interim global head of compliance from 6 April. He has served as general council and member of the executive board of Credit Suisse (Schweiz) since 2016.

Radiant Financial Group

Minesh Gajjar will become chief investment officer at the IFA consolidator, effective immediately.

He will build the group’s investment management capabilities as well as hire additional staff to grow the investment team.

Gajjar was previously at HSBC where he served as senior manager for global discretionary services and managed solutions for three years.

Embark Group

The platform and retirement solutions provider has hired David Barral as chairman.

He currently works as a senior independent risk director at LV Financial.

Barral succeeds David Etherington who stepped down after three years as chairman and eight years at the group.

Bravura Solutions

The financial software provider has recruited Christine Kiener as Emea business development director.

She will be based in London and focus on driving the firm’s business strategy to increase its range of solutions as well as exploring additional opportunities across the region.

Kiener was previously Emea head of enterprise data specialist sales at Bloomberg.

VG

James Amos and Chris Hamon have both been promoted to assistant managers.

Amos joined in 2018 as a senior trust officer, while Hamon joined in 2019 in a similar position.

National Friendly

Bristol-based insurance provider National Friendly hired Gavin Brooks as business development manager.

He joins from Express Mortgages, where he held a similar role.