Ecobank has appointed Edward George as its new head of group research, replacing Paul-Harry Aithnard.

George was previously head of soft commodities research at the pan-African bank, a role he held for three years. Before joining Ecobank, he was a senior economist at the Economist Intelligence Unit, specialising in commodities in Africa.

George will head a team of nine analysts, based in the UK and throughout Africa, which will focus primarily on the fixed income currencies and commodities (FICC) space.

Aithnard becomes head of securities and asset management (SAM) at Ecobank. “I’m going to continue to co-ordinate very closely with Paul-Harry,” George tells GTR.

“Finger’s crossed, so far the transition between myself and Paul-Harry has been easy. The business of SAM and the business of research are very closely aligned because the SAM team relies heavily on our research,” he adds.