The appointment reflects FinSource's aggressive growth strategy in local and overseas markets, following the acquisition of FinSource by international professional services firm, Maitland, last July and the merger of its fund administration business with that of Maitland.

Schuhen, 47, brings a wealth of international experience in financial services, with a focus on strategy/management and marketing in banking and asset management.

He joins FinSource from Citibank, where he was the CEO of Citibank (Switzerland), and responsible for all of Citibank's Swiss banking operations as well as Citigroup's Swiss client base. Prior to this, he worked for Julius Bar Holding AG in Zurich, a leading Swiss private bank, where he was Member of the Board and headed the bank's asset management and investment funds division.

In the 90's Schuhen was CEO of JP Morgan Fleming Asset Management in Luxembourg, currently the largest fund administration business in Luxembourg with in excess of euro 250 billion of assets under administration, where he was responsible for the funds business in Continental Europe, the Middle East and Latin America. Prior to this, he spent four years with the bank's Frankfurt operation and was responsible for its operations.

Schuhen has also worked for DB Capital Markets (Hong Kong), Hypo Vereinsbank (Munich and Hong Kong) and, Deutsche Bank where he started his impressive career as a trainee.

Reporting to CEO Dale Lippstreu, Schuhen will be responsible for development and management of the specialised funds unit which provides comprehensive accounting and Net Asset Value production and underlying shareholder or transfer agency administration services to local and international hedge funds. Substantial growth has been experienced in the area with the team growing from two staff members to 29 with 33 clients and 99 funds. The total assets administered in this unit presently amount to the equivalent of R20 billion.

Schuhen's appointment emphasises the growing sophistication of fund administration. Lippstreu said: "FinSource, as a Maitland group company, is tapping into the growth of the hedge fund industry which, according to the Financial Times, is 'the story of the past year' in fund administration.

FinSource offers an additional advantage for European fund administration, as it represents a lower-cost jurisdiction, Cape Town, which is nonetheless known for high technical and professional standards, and is furthermore in a 'user-friendly' time-zone." said Lippstreu.

FinSource assets under administration at end-July comprised R207 billion local assets and R20 billion international assets.