Britannic chief marketer poached by Halifax/BoS

Halifax has recruited Britannic Asset Management marketing director Douglas Ferrans to be its chief executive in charge of asset management.

Halifax has recruited Britannic Asset Management (BAM) marketing director Douglas Ferrans to be its chief executive in charge of asset management.

Ferrans joins Halifax just as the bank’s merger with Bank of Scotland is expected to result in redundancy for 2,000 employees.

BAM has promoted retail managing director Francis Ghiloni to the new role of sales and marketing director following Ferrans’ departure.

Ghiloni will be responsible for marketing in BAM’s retail and institutional divisions and will have control over the sales department.

The handover to Ghiloni starts this week, with Ferrans due to leave by the end of the week. Ghiloni will report to Leslie McIntosh, chief executive of BAM.

Ghiloni was head of sales for BAM’s institutional and retail divisions from January 1998 to May 2000.

BAM invests in the stock market on behalf of private investors, charities, corporate pension schemes and insurance companies. It currently has £19bn of funds under management.

Based in Glasgow, the company employs 350 people, including a 50-strong investment team. The company was formerly owned by Britannia Building Society, when it was called Britannia Asset Management, but was bought by Britannic plc in 1999.

Last month BAM became the £1.5m sponsor of the Lawn Tennis Association tournament at Eastbourne.