Canaccord Financial plans to hire high-profile London banker Alexis de Rosnay to be its European chief executive, part of an effort to build on the Canadian securities firm's recent acquisition of UK broker Collins Stewart Hawkpoint and increase its international standing.

De Rosnay, 42 years old, has held a number of senior investment-banking positions in London, most recently a short stint as co-head of global health care at Bank of America's Bank of America Merrill Lynch unit. Before that, he was co-head of UK investment banking at Lazard. He has advised such blue-chip health-care clients as GlaxoSmithKline and Abbott Laboratories.