Thomas Cook group chief executive, Manny Fontenla-Novoa, is to step down with immediate effect as the board seeks to “restore market confidence” after the poor performance of its UK business. He will be replaced by his deputy, Sam Weihagen, on an interim basis.
Betfair, the online betting exchange, is radically overhauling its sport sponsorship activities by introducing four brand ambassadors and ending its relationship with FC Barcelona after two years.
Starcom MediaVest (SMG) has appointed John Sheehy as president of global operations reporting to Laura Desmond, chief executive of the group.
AUERBACH GRAYSON & CO LLP
The New York-based brokerage firm that specializes in providing global trade execution and local research to U.S. institutional investors, has appointed Tim Slaughter to lead its newly launched global fixed income and sales trading platform for frontier and emerging markets as managing director. Previously, Slaughter served as managing director, head of fixed income distribution at Cowen and Co.
LAZARD ASSET MANAGEMENT
The global financial advisory and asset management firm named Jennifer Millar as a regional sales manager within the UK third-party distribution team. Previously, she was an investment director with Standard Life where she was responsible for retail distribution in Scotland, North England, Isle of Man and Ireland.
BANK OF AMERICA MERRILL LYNCH
The unit of BofA announced three senior appointments to increase its coverage of the Polish market. Dimitri Danilenko joins from HSBC as head of corporate banking for Central and Eastern Europe while Artur Kozieja joins from Barclays Capital as head of investment banking for the same region. Michal Krupinski joins as head of global banking and markets for Poland from World Bank Group.
CB RICHARD ELLIS GROUP
CBRE appointed Adam Wilton as senior director to its UK debt advisory division, based in London. Wilton joins the team from Barclay Corporate, where he was a director of the bank’s real estate structured finance business.
RBC CAPITAL MARKETS
The investment banking arm of Royal Bank of Canada named Frederic Lainé as a managing director and head of fixed income & currencies, Asia ex-Japan. Previously, Lainé was regional head of the financial institutions group in Asia ex-Japan at Credit Agricole .
SCHRODERS PLC
The investment manager appointed Gareth Isaac as senior portfolio manager within the London-based fixed income multi-sector team. Isaac joins from GLG Partners where he managed the GLG core plus sterling bond fund and the GLG total return bond and GLG gilts funds.
