He will be based in London, reporting to David Semaya, head of UK & Ireland Private Bank. He starts his role in September.

Berchem worked most recently as co-head of European sales at JP Morgan after the acquisition of Cazenove and as head of European equity sales from 2006 to 2010. Prior to this he was co-head of equities for Germany at JP Morgan and a managing director at Merrill Lynch.

“Christian’s appointment comes during a period of intense growth for UK & Ireland Private Bank and his leadership will be crucial to enable the smooth rollout in the next phase of our growth plans,” said Semaya.

“As a result of our investment into the business and ambitious banker hiring - this year alone we’ve appointed over 50 client-facing professionals - the UK business was up 25 per cent in 2010 from the previous year, in terms of net income growth, and continues to grow strongly this year,” he added.