UBS Warburg is losing Brian Keelan, a senior managing director in corporate finance, to Jardine Matheson, the Hong Kong conglomerate and one of the bank's main clients in Asia.

Keelan will work at Jardine as strategy director with responsibility for its mergers and acquisitions strategy. The 46-year old Keelan, who is based in London, has in the past few years kept a relatively low profile, concentrating on client relationships rather than deals. Among the biggest clients have been Jardine and Pacific Century Cyberworks, the Hong Kong telecoms group which acquired Hong Kong Telecom for £27bn (€44.7bn) last year.