Mr Cooke will deliver a “co-ordinated risk and governance agenda for Barclays Wealth globally”, the UK  firm said in a statement.

He has been at UBS for 12 years, most recently serving as chief operational risk officer for Europe, Middle East and Africa responsible for global risk control within its equity business.  Mr Cooke’s career also includes experience at Deutsche Bank and Indosuez Bank.

"The effective management of risk is one of the prerequisites of success for any financial services organisation and the injection of further experience and bandwidth will significantly help us deliver ‘best in class’ standards whilst capitalising on the many market opportunities that lie in front of us," said Thomas Kalaris, Barclays Wealth’s chief executive.

Mr Cooke will report to Mr Kalaris and will be a member of the Barclays Wealth senior infrastructure team.

Additionally, Colin Bell, also formerly of UBS, will join Barclays Wealth as head of risk projects, reporting to Mr Cooke.  At UBS, he was senior operational risk controller for the investment banking division.  Meanwhile, Barclays Wealth said it has completed the hiring of more than 20 specialists across the credit risk, risk management and business continuity management areas in recent weeks.