James R Brown has rejoined law firm’ Ropes & Gray’s tax practice as a partner in New York. Brown (pictured) previously practiced at Ropes & Gray for 15 years. He rejoins the firm from Willkie Farr & Gallagher in New York, where he was a partner and co-chair of the tax department.    Clients will benefit from Brown’s more than 25 years of experience as he provides broad-based tax support for hedge funds, private investment funds, and regulated investment companies. He regularly advises fund sponsors on tax structuring and operational issues relating to these funds, including the taxation of registered

Ramius chief executive officer Michael Singer is leaving the alternative investment manager to pursue new career opportunities. Fred Fraenkel, vice chairman of Cowen, has been named interim head of asset management.   “We thank Michael for his significant contributions to our business and wish him all the best in his future endeavours,” says Tom Strauss, chairman, Ramius and vice chairman, Cowen. “We are also pleased that Fred will lead our asset management business as we undertake a formal search process for a permanent replacement.”   “I thank Peter Cohen, Jeff Solomon and Tom Strauss for the opportunity to lead Ramius

The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) has appointed Derek West, former senior director of derivatives oversight at the Quebec Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF), as executive director and chief compliance officer for the firm’s European Global Trade Repository (GTR) business. West (pictured) will be responsible for ensuring GTR Europe remains in full compliance with European Market Infrastructure Regulation (EMIR) trade repository requirements, as well as other applicable laws and regulations.   In addition, he will coordinate EMIR supervisory activities and examinations, as well as work closely with GTR senior management and the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA).   At

MSCI has appointed David Zhang has head of securitised products research, a newly created role. Zhang, who previously headed modelling of securitised products at Credit Suisse, will oversee MSCI’s development of models that help traders, portfolio managers and other institutional investors analyse risk and return for securitised products.   “David Zhang is among the top fixed income modellers in the financial industry,” says Remy Briand, MSCI’s global head of research. “We are thrilled to welcome him to MSCI.”   In 11 years at Credit Suisse, Zhang designed models for measuring risk to mortgages from factors such as prepayment, volatility, home

Markus Ruetimann has joined the board of Global Prime Partners as senior non-executive director. Having worked in the financial services industry for over 25 years in Zurich, Geneva, New York and currently London, Ruetimann (pictured) was previously group COO of Schroders (2004 – Nov 2016), global head of technology and portfolio services at UBS Global Asset Management (1999 – 2004) and COO of Phillips & Drew (1988 – 1998).   He was born and educated in Switzerland.   Ruetimann holds a number of non-executive positions and is a trustee of Action for Children.   Julian Parker, chief executive of GPP

Law firm Goodwin has expanded its private equity and private investment funds practices with the appointment of six new partners, 15 associates and five trainees in the London office, all of whom join from the London office of King & Wood Mallesons (KWM). The group comprises the bulk of the former SJ Berwin investment funds team and includes Michael Halford, Ed Hall, Laura Charkin, Shawn D’Aguiar, Patrick Deasy, and Ajay Pathak. They join Goodwin as partners.   “A fully built-out, integrated private investment funds offering is instrumental to the continued growth of Goodwin’s international private equity practice,” says David Evans,

Sprott has appointed Ron Dewhurst to its board of directors, effective 9 January 2017. He will stand for re-election at the company's next annual general meeting.   “With more than 40 years of experience in the asset management and investment banking industries, Ron has a long track record of guiding the growth of successful asset managers and we are pleased to welcome him to the board,” says Peter Grosskopf, chief executive officer and director of Sprott.   Over the course of his career, Dewhurst has held many senior leadership roles in the US and Australia, most recently serving as executive vice

New York law firm Kleinberg, Kaplan, Wolff & Cohen has appointed Jared R Gianatasio, Jason W Soncini, and Christopher M Terry as partner at the firm. "Jared, Jason and Chris each have a proven track record of excellence and a commitment to exceptional client service,” says managing partner Andrew Chonoles (pictured). “They have shown a great ability to collaborate with their colleagues and to advise clients on complex legal issues to help them achieve their goals. We are honoured to call them partners, and look forward to their future successes.”   Gianatasio has extensive experience representing market participants in the

itarle UK, a provider of multi-asset best execution technology, has appointed Tom Middleton to head its quantitative services department. A Cambridge PhD and Olympic rower, Middleton was a founder member of the team developing the first set of algorithms at Citigroup.   He went on to lead the team from 2005 to 2009 while building Citi’s European smart order router (SOR) from scratch and looking after the release of CitiMatch (EMEA), which went on to become one of the most successful dark pools in Europe.   Between 2010 and 2016, Middleton held roles in quantitative trading and quantitative risk management

BGC Partners, a brokerage company servicing the financial and real estate markets, has appointed Arran Rowsell as head of credit strategy in London. Rowsell will report to Tony Warner, executive managing director and head of BGC's brokerage business in London.   Rowsell will oversee the coordination of credit strategy across BGC Partners, Mint Partners and RP Martin in the UK. He worked most recently as a head of flow credit trading for several major sell‐side US and European banks, including Commerzbank, Barclays and Credit Suisse. Earlier in his career, he worked in credit trading at Goldman Sachs and Lehman Brothers.