Bank of America Merrill Lynch has appointed the former head of sovereign wealth fund coverage at Royal Bank of Scotland to its own team serving the giant investors, which have stepped up their direct dealmaking this year.

Rebecca Manuel joined the US bank last month as a senior coverage banker for SWFs, according to people familiar with the situation. She will report to Elif Bilgi-Zapparoli, head of global sovereign wealth funds coverage and co-head of emerging markets, ex-Asia, investment banking.