Jarvis to head BoA-Merrill prime brokerage consulting

Ashley Jarvis, who recently departed as head of global prime brokerage consulting at Morgan Stanley, is understood to be joining Bank of America-Merrill Lynch in a similar capacity.

It marks another turn of events for Jarvis, who was initially based in Morgan Stanley’s Hong Kong office after joining the bank in 2011 before relocating to London later that year.  

Jarvis had co-headed Morgan Stanley’s global hedge fund consulting business with New York-based Jim Flanagan. A spokesman for Morgan Stanley confirmed that Jarvis has left the bank but declined to say if he would be replaced.

The role of head of global prime brokerage consulting is understood to be one that is newly created at BoA-Merrill. For the past few years, it has been operating with regional heads in Asia-Pacific, the Americas and Europe. 

News of Jarvis’s departure from Morgan Stanley emerged last month, with reports from London at the time speculating that he would either join another prime brokerage or jump to the buy-side to work for a hedge fund.

He is expected to take on his new post at BoA-Merrill in the coming months and will remain based in London, according to industry sources. 

A BoA-Merrill spokesperson in London was not able to provide comment by yesterday evening, UK time.  

Prior to joining Morgan Stanley in 2011, Jarvis was global head of business and capital consultancy at UBS, based in Hong Kong. His time at UBS coincided with that of Stu Hendel, who served as the Swiss bank’s global head of prime services from 2009-11.

Hendel has been the head of global prime brokerage at BoA-Merrill since 2011, previously holding the same title at Morgan Stanley from 2007-09.  

BoA-Merrill’s prime brokerage operations globally have seen several major executive shifts since Hendel’s arrival, with a number of senior positions being taken by people who have previously worked at UBS or Morgan Stanley during his tenure at the banks.

The title of global head of capital introduction at BoA-Merrill was held by Michael Terry for 19 months, until his departure in March. Terry, who had worked at Morgan Stanley pre-crisis – and as a professional comedian for three years, post-crisis – joined US hedge fund Bridgewater Associates as a client advisor this month. 

Terry’s post at BoA-Merrill has subsequently been filled by Robert Sachs, who joined from UBS where he served as global head of cap intro.

Similarly another UBS veteran, Charlotte Burkeman, who was BoA-Merrill’s head of prime brokerage for Europe, the Middle East and Africa from mid-2011, left in January for reportedly “personal reasons”.   

Burkeman’s position was filled in February by Martina Slowey, who joined from now-defunct hedge fund Edoma Partners. Slowey had previously worked with Hendel at UBS, where she served as head of European prime brokerage.

Closer to home, Deepak Abraham joined BoA-Merrill this month as head of Asia-Pacific capital strategy for prime brokerage. He hails from Morgan Stanley, where he most recently served as head of prime brokerage for Middle East and North Africa, based in Dubai.