Bank of America Merrill Lynch has promoted from within for two senior equities roles covering emerging markets and South Africa as it looks to build out its EMEA division.

Neil McDermott has been appointed head of equities distribution for emerging markets after serving for 15 years with Bank of America, most recently as its head of Asia Pacific and emerging market equity distribution, according to an internal memo seen by The TRADE.

In his new role, McDermott will be based in London and be responsible for “driving gains in market share across emerging markets”.

Alongside McDermott’s new role, Alex Saffy has been promoted to head of equities for South Africa, based in Johannesburg and reporting to McDermott.

Saffy joined Bank of America two years ago from JP Morgan and was promoted to managing director in January.

“As we continue to build our EMEA Equities business, we are pleased to announce the following appointments,” said Erik Koenig, head of EMEA cash distribution and author of the memo. “Please join me in congratulating Alex and Neil on their new roles.”