Marianne Kafena will start at Kleinwort in November this year in the newly-created role, reporting to Guy McGlashan, head of wealth management.

At Lombard Odier, Kafena was a senior wealth planner involved in providing legal support to private bankers. Prior to this she worked as a senior trust officer and legal counsel for Lombard Odier in Bermuda.

In her new role, Kafena will head up a team of tax and financial planning client advisors and be responsible for implementing Kleinwort Benson’s strategy with external professional advisors.

“With her legal and private client background, as well as her experience of working with some of the best global professional advisors, Marianne brings valuable expertise to our ultra high net worth proposition,” said Sally Tennant, chief executive of Kleinwort Benson, and Kafena's erstwhile boss. In January Tennant joined Kleinwort Benson from the position of CEO of Lombard Odier's UK operations, where she tripled assets under management in her tenure between 2007 and 2010. 

In July, John Derrick, a former senior vice president and a close lieutenant of Tennant's, left Lombard Odier to join Barclays Wealth as a director in the UHNW and family office business.

A spokesman for Lombard told this publication: "Marianne Kafena is one of our 35-strong estate planning team. She joined Lombard Odier in London in January 2009 and we wish her well for the future. Marianne is working out her notice. We have no plans to replace her." 

The spokesman added last month that the Geneva-based bank has been expanding fast globally and in the UK. It has made a number of senior hires in recent months, including Frederic Rochat, who took over as head of Lombard Odier in London last October, and Vincent Duhamel, who joined as head of Asia-Pacific and Japan from SAIL Advisers in February.