JPMorgan Chase has appointed Cassander Verwey as the co-head of EMEA Mergers & Acquisitions alongside Dwayne Lysaght, according to a memo seen by Reuters.

Verwey, who has been with JPMorgan for nearly 25 years, is currently serving as the lender's Senior Country Officer and Head of Investment Banking for the Netherlands.

He will remain based in Amsterdam, the internal note said.

The appointment comes as M&A activity is starting to pick up. M&A volumes hit $1.6 trillion globally in the first half of the year, up 20% from a year earlier, Reuters previously reported.

Carsten Woehrn, the former EMEA M&A co-head, departed JPMorgan and joined Goldman Sachs in July.

(Reporting by Shanima A in Bengaluru and Anousha Sakoui in London, Editing by Louise Heavens)