Schroders Private Banking has hired a further three private bankers from Merrill Lynch Global Wealth Management’s London-based discretionary team, closely following the defection of a four-strong team of directors earlier this month, according to reports.

News of the departures of Nico Coats, Dominic Liversedge and Grant Hamilton brings the number of bankers who have gone over to Schroders from Merrill’s discretionary team to eight. Schroders did not respond to enquiries from this publication about the latest three recruits at the time of going to press.

Rob Rydon, Tim Gibbons, Alex Roe and Graham Harrington resigned from Merrill in early February, with news that they had joined Schroders emerging last week.

The moves follow Schroders’ recruitment of Andrew Clark, formerly Merrill’s head of discretionary management. Mr Clark will join Schroders in April as a member of the private banking executive committee and the board of Schroders & Co.

In yet another appointment to ramp up its discretionary capability, Schroders has also appointed Guy Christie, who formerly managed discretionary private client portfolios at Newton Investment Management as a senior client director. Mr Christie, who also joins in April, will have similar responsibilities in his new role and will report to Kate Leppard, team head of relationship management.