Ex-Links partner becomes head of finance after April hire from RBS

Berwin Leighton Paisner (BLP) is shaking up its finance department, with ex-Linklaters partner Matthew Kellett appointed to head the practice.

Kellett (pictured) took over as head of the department last week (1 September), having joined BLP in April this year with a brief to develop the firm's structured finance capacity.

Kellett was previously head of the financial structuring group at RBS, having moved in house from Linklaters in 2003, when he left for a role at AIG. In his new role Kellett will head the 100-lawyer finance group as well as the 45-lawyer banking and capital markets group, which sits within the finance department.

Kellett said: "It is a very exciting time for finance and a very exciting time for BLP as a firm. I am very eager to build the next stage of BLP's finance practice. There are a lot of opportunities in the market and with our strong team and relationships we are in a good position to attack those opportunities."

Previous finance head Simon Allan has taken on a broader role as part of the central management team. He already sits on the firm's board and strategy group and will lead a drive to develop the firm's finance practice in emerging markets, with a special focus on the Asian market.

Allan said: "The first priority is to position the firm in relation to the opportunities in the Chinese market followed by the Indian market and, to a lesser extent, the other Asian economies. First it is going to be an exploration to understand how we can build on the existing work that we do for Chinese corporates."

Allan has headed the firm's finance department for over a decade, having first taken on the role in 1999.