LONDON — AMO Partnership, the corporate/financial agency network led by Havas agencies Abernathy MacGregor and Maitland, is aiming to expand its global presence with the hire of its first full-time senior advisor.

The network has begun a search for a chief marketing officer who will help improve AMO's competitive offering versus such global brands as Brunswick and Finsbury. 

The role is being funded by Havas, and follows the group's acquisition last year of German consultancy Deekeling Arndt Advisors (DAA). That took the number of Havas agencies in AMO to 5 —  with Havas Paris and Hong Kong's Porda Havas joining Abernathy MacGregor, Maitland and DAA. 

The full AMO network numbers 11 partners, including six other independent agencies: Llorente & Cuenca, Hallvarsson & Halvarsson, EM, National PR, SPJ, Ad Hoc Communication Advisors and Hirzel.Neef.Schmid Counselors.

"Havas has made a strategic commitment to AMO," Maitland CEO Neil Bennett (pictured)  told the Holmes Report. "The role will be to work with the 11 different agencies at AMO, to develop the presence of AMO in the investment banking community but also among large corporates, and to develop existing clients into network clients."

The move is part of an overall plan to build the global AMO brand at a time of increasing consolidation among agencies. In recent years, financial rivals such as Finsbury/RLM and CNC/Kekst have either merged or begun to work in a more integrated fashion across global markets.