M&G Wealth has appointed Shanti Kelemen as its first chief investment officer.

She joins the wealth manager from Brown Shipley where she was investment director.

Prior to Brown Shipley, Ms Kelemen spent 7 years at Coutts including as a director on the investment management team where she managed multi-asset advisory and discretionary portolios.

M&G Wealth has appointed her to lead the development and management of discretionary investment solutions, including model portfolio services.

Ms Kelemen said: “We are living in a time of incredible change and uncertainty - but also opportunity. Providing the right investment solutions and experiences to our customers in a robust and planet-friendly way has never been more important.

“Companies that want to be a trusted partner for investment solutions need to be innovative, financially capable, and completely focused on their customers. I firmly believe that M&G Wealth has these attributes and I’m excited to join the team.”

David Montgomery, managing director at M&G Wealth said the wealth manager aims to help close the advice gap and that hiring the right people is integral to achieving this aim.

M&G has already invested significant sums in M&G Wealth which in August acquired financial advisory group Sandringham Financial Partners for an undisclosed sum. The deal added £2.5 billion of assets under advice to M&G as well as 180 Sandringham advising partners and more than 10,000 individual clients. 

M&G Wealth was formed in September 2020 to expand M&G's interests in the advice and platform sector.