MALAYSIA: Both CEO Bridget Lai and chief operating officer, Shim Kon Teck have resigned from Alliance Bank following a board investigation on governance practices. The resignations take effect on the 1st April. Alliance Bank is the parent of Alliance Islamic Bank.

UAE: King & Spalding has promoted Jawad I Ali as managing partner of its offices in the Middle East, in place of Philip R Weems, who has to return to the firm’s Houston (US) office as co-head of King & Spalding’s global energy practice. Ali’s most recent posting was as partner and deputy head of King & Spalding’s global Middle East and Islamic finance practice.

MALAYSIA: Former chief judge Mohamed Dzaiddin Abdullah’s term as non-executive chairman of Bursa Malaysia has been extend to end-February 2011. He was appointed to the exchange’s board in March 2004. Bursa Malaysia operates the Bursa Suq Al-Sila’, which is a commodity trading platform specifically dedicated to facilitate Islamic liquidity management and financing by Islamic banks.

HONG KONG: HSBC has appointed William Ross as its new co-head of Islamic finance, global markets. He remains as managing director and head of financing solutions group for the Asia-Pacific. In his new role, Ross is responsible for incorporating Islamic elements into global infrastructure capital flows and tailoring financial solutions that meet Shariah standards. Ross had previous stints at ABN AMRO, Merrill Lynch as well as JP Morgan in the UK and New York. HSBC owns HSBC Amanah.

GLOBAL: Islamic finance technology service provider Path Solutions has named chairman Mohammed Kateeb as the firm’s new CEO. Kateeb, who has been on the board since 2004, will spearhead Path Solutions’ product strategy and development as well as its sales and services efforts for key emerging vertical markets. He previously worked at Microsoft Middle East and Al-Jareed Telecommunication and Technologies.

HONG KONG: JPMorgan has promoted its Hong Kong head of investment banking, Catherine Leung, as Asia vice-chairman of investment. She retains her Hong Kong role. JP Morgan has an Islamic banking group.

US: BNY Mellon Asset Management has appointed John F Herlihy as managing director for its broker/dealer relations business. He is responsible for providing a global perspective across the individual investment boutiques’ relationships with brokers/dealers, with a focus on driving higher levels of efficiency and effectiveness in service, execution and risk management. In addition, he will provide a single point of contact for brokers/dealers as the business develops strategic initiatives.

BNY Mellon Asset Management is a subsidiary of the Bank of New York Mellon that owns BNY Mellon Asset Servicing which is involved in Shariah compliant funds.

UK: Pricewaterhouse-Coopers (PwC) has promoted Mohammad Khan as its new UK Islamic finance leader. He was previously the firm’s director of Takaful services. Khan, who has been with the company for 11 years, takes over from Mohammed Amin who recently retired as partner. He will be responsible for leading and coordinating PwC’s Islamic finance practice in the UK, bringing together the firm’s efforts across the financial services industry. His other responsibilities also include collaborating with PwC’s global Islamic finance team.

AUSTRALIA: Kuwait Finance House (Australia) CEO Abdul Rahim Ghouse has reportedly left the company. Ghouse however did not provide any reason for his exit. He will be replaced by Kingsley Dawud David.

US: Deutsche Bank Securities has appointed Michael Linenberg as managing director and senior company research analyst within its global markets division. He will oversee airline and aircraft leasing research in the US. Prior to this, Linenberg worked at Merrill Lynch. Deutsche Bank Securities is a unit of Deutsche Bank which offers Islamic products.

MALAYSIA: Malayan Banking (Maybank) has confirmed that Maybank Investment Bank CEO Mohammed Rashdan Mohd Yusof will leave the group to take up a position at a national institution by June. It was reported that he will be joining the government’s investment arm, Khazanah Nasional.

The current managing director of the bank’s investment banking division, Amirul Feisal Wan Zahir, has been appointed acting CEO of Maybank Investment Bank.

The bank also announced that corporate banking head Tracy Ong Guat Kee is retiring on the 1st July.

UAE: The managing director of UK-based Barclays Bank’s Middle East and North Africa operations, Michael Miebach, has left the bank to pursue other opportunities. Zeeshan Saleem replaces him as interim managing director. Miebach joined Barclays Bank in July 2007 as managing director for Sub-Saharan Africa.

He was previously with Citigroup for 13 years. Barclays Bank’s subsidiary Barclays Wealth is involved with the UK-based Islamic Finance Council.

MALAYSIA: Kuwait Finance House subsidiary KFH Asset Management (KFHAM) has appointed Ian Tham Khean Hin as CEO and executive director. His most recent post was as CEO of Allianz Global Investors in Singapore, overseeing the Southeast Asian region. He was also previously at CMS Trust, Singapore’s DBS Bank, Singapore-based Merrill Lynch Capital Markets and AIG Investment Corporation (Asia) in Hong Kong.

US: Morgan Stanley has appointed Gary Shedlin as its new vice-chairman. Shedlin’s most recent posting was as chairman of Citigroup’s investment-banking effort for financial institutions, focusing on client relationships. Morgan Stanley is the majority shareholder of MSCI Barra which runs the Global Family of Islamic Indices.

UAE: Shuaa Capital has appointed David Deards as its new chief financial officer. Deards worked at Alliance Trust prior to joining Shuaa Capital.

HONG KONG: Barclays Capital has appointed Stephen O’Sullivan as managing director and head of equity research for non-Japan Asia. O’Sullivan will be responsible for building the firm’s equity research platform across non-Japan Asia, including Australia. He will be based in Hong Kong. He previously worked at Macquarie Securities in Hong Kong and Deutsche Bank. Barclays Capital is involved with the underwriting of Sukuk.