Erik Halvorssen will lead the operation in Miami, and has been appointed as a director of LGA. Halvorssen, a native Venezuelan, founded PAX Advisors, an independent wealth manager based in Miami. Before founding his own business Halvorssen held senior international private banking roles at Banco Venezolano de Crédito, Bank of America and Banco Santander. Prior to joining the financial services industry he was a telecommunications entrepreneur in Venezuela.

“Erik’s leadership and experience will enable Lowenhaupt Global Advisors to serve the growing number of wealthy individuals and families in the US and in Latin America,” said Charles Lowenhaupt, chief executive.

The latest annual wealth report from the Boston Consulting Group highlighted the divergence in growth between “new” and “old world” economies last year: there was a 10 per cent jump in private financial wealth in the Asia-Pacific region , Latin America, Eastern Europe and the Middle East and Africa in 2011, compared to a global average of 1.9 per cent.

Latin America particularly is home to an unusually high number of UHNW individuals relative to its wealthy population. It has a HNW population of around 0.5 million, according to the Merrill Lynch/Capgemini World Wealth Report 2011, but around 2.4 per cent of these count as ultra wealthy, compared to a global average of 0.9 per cent.