UK - After 18 months as managing director of Brown Brothers Harriman (BBH) in London , David Bilbé has reigned. This is for personal reasons, as he wishes to pursue alternative career opportunities, he said.

Bilbé joined BBH in January last year as managing director of investor services from State Street Bank where he had been head of the London office. At that time, he replaced Paul Chapman who had moved to Pershing.

In his role at BBH, Bilbé was responsible for relationship management and business development for the regions serviced by London office.

Of his time with BBH, he said: “I have come to appreciate the excellent standards which the firm has strived for and achieved as it has grown to industry prominence in Europe. The past year has probably the most challenging the financial services sector has ever experienced and I am pleased to say that BBH has strengthened its business during this period.”

The bank said its respects Bilbé’s decision and expressed its appreciation of his contribution to its development in the time he was there.

BBH said that no decision had been taken as yet about a replacement for Bilbé. In the meantime, Andrew Tucker, a partner at the bank based in London will be taking over his responsibilities.

The bank has 687 billion euros of assets under custody, according the IPE magazine survey in June 2003 of banks providing global custody services, of which 299 billion euros was in respect of European business.