JP Morgan has hired John Williams to the new role of managing director in the financial institutions group at a time when advisers believe that consolidation in the sector will rise.

Williams, who quit Lehman Brothers in July after three years at the bank, joins JP Morgan on Monday. The appointment lends weight to advisers' assertions that financial services mergers and acquisitions activity will increase soon after a flurry of deals last month. While deal numbers dropped 13% in the sector in the first half of 2003 to 956 compared with 1,101 in the same period last year, deal value rose 33% to $95.5bn (€88.1bn), according to Dealogic, the investment banking research firm.