Aitchison is latest name 'poached' by Quilter

Wealth manager Quilter has made another raid on Deutsche Bank as expands its new Edinburgh operation.

Alan Aitchison, the head of Deutsche Bank in Edinburgh, is moving to Quilter to run the office it opened in the capital in January. He will be joined there by Mark Hallam, currently investment manager at Deutsche's office in the city.

Quilter, which provides discretionary investment services for private investors, charities, pension funds and corporates, now has a team of five in Edinburgh, having already appointed former Deutsche Bank man Murray Clark as its business development manager at the new premises. The new branch compliments the firm's Glasgow office, which opened a decade ago.

Aitchison has worked at firms including Royal Bank of Scotland, Edinburgh Fund managers and Tilney Investment Management in an investment management career spanning more than 35 years.

He said: "Providing a personalised investment management service is the key to meeting clients' needs and, as this is an integral part of Quilter's ethos, joining the company was an easy decision to make. It is also very exciting to be in on the ground floor when a new office is being established."

David Loudon, head of Quilter's onshore offices, said: "Alan and Mark are both experienced and highly respected investment managers and I am delighted they decided to join Quilter. We are very pleased to have opened an office in Edinburgh which will enable the firm to build upon the success of our Glasgow office and, further enhance our presence in Scotland."

Quilter, part of the Morgan Stanley Smith Barney group, now has 12 offices in the UK, Jersey and Ireland and had 7.4 billion of funds under management at the end of 2010.