NM Rothschild and Sons, the blue-blooded merchant bank, has picked
James Murray as its worldwide head of communications.
Murray, who has been head of corporate affairs at Deutsche Morgan
Grenfell since 1994, takes up the new role of group corporate affairs
director at the end of April. The job is believed to carry a salary
package of around pounds 150,000 a year.
Based in London, Murray will head a department of three or four staff
and take overall responsibility for media relations, corporate identity,
advertising, internal communications, public affairs, and
sponsorship.
He will report directly to NM Rothschild chairman Sir Evelyn de
Rothschild but will also have a dotted line to the group’s vice chairman
Baron David de Rothschild in Paris.
The role covers NM Rothschild’s banking activities and its fund
management business and involves liaising with its PR agencies Lowe Bell
and Fishburn Hedges.
PR direction at NM Rothschild has remained uncertain since the departure
of Anthony Fry last April. Then corporate finance director Fry was
handed the additional communications brief after previous corporate
affairs director John Antcliffe left to join Dewe Rogerson in 1994.
A company source said that NM Rothschild was especially keen to boost
its profile in the international corporate finance market. The bank is
also set to announce changes to its structure next month.
’The decision was taken at a senior level that they needed a more
proactive communications function,’ the source said. ’NM Rothschild is a
high flyer in the corporate finance field but it doesn’t get the credit
for it.’
The NM Rothschild job is the latest in a string of top City PR posts to
be filled. In February Merrill Lynch appointed Jane Ageros as its
communications chief, while ING Barings and NatWest Group have appointed
Peter Krijgsman and Terry Collis respectively in the last three
months.
