Ex Killik man Couch replaces Beatson-Hird as Rowan Dartington boss

Astaire has appointed former Killik partner David Couch to replace Jonathan Beatson-Hird as boss of its Bristol-based wealth management subsidiary Rowan Dartington.

Couch started working for Rowan Dartington in February, initially as the finance director. Prior to joining the company's board, he was the head of private wealth management services at Morse Group, a wealth management consultancy.

In a financial services career spanning more than 20 years, Couch has held a number of roles, including chief financial officer and partner at Killik & Co for six years.

During this period, he was involved in establishing what is now Raymond James Investment Services and helped to launch a range of new products and services, including Seven Investment Management.

His predecessor, Beatson-Hird, who joined Rowan Dartington in 2007, has resigned from the firm 'to pursue other business interests'.

Beatson-Hird was believed to be closer with the old Astaire board, which served under the Blue Oar name, before it was ousted in a hostile takeover by current chief executive Edward Vandyk.

He was also said to be in favour of a tie-up between Astaire and private client stockbroker WH Ireland, which fell through at the last minute.

Prior to joining Rowan Dartington, Beatson-Hird spent several years as managing director at both Barings and Deutsche Bank, where he was in charge of equity research, sales and trading for Latin America, managing a team of 180 employees across nine different offices.

Couch will assume his new role with immediate effect.