A look back at the most read stories on eprivateclient this week…
Tuesday
UK house buyers need to act fast if they want to be in their new homes ahead of the festive period, following reports that house purchase completion times have extended to 16 weeks and with the Stamp Duty tax holiday coming to an end. Fuelled by the temporary cut to stamp duty and house buyers' desires to move to new territories due to an influx of remote working, the UK housing market has enjoyed a boom across the past 12 months – with house prices soaring by 13 percent year on year.
Specialist financial services firm, Frenkel Topping Group, announced a new joint venture (JV) between its IFA arm and law firm Pattinson & Brewer. The advice division, Frenkel Topping Limited, and 1890-founded Pattinson Brewer, will provide services jointly under the trading name Pattinson & Brewer Financial Services with the aim of delivering a “consistently caring” legal and financial advice service to clients after injury, the firms said in a statement to London Stock Exchange.
Wednesday
Offshore law firm Walkers announced that Walkers Professional Services (WPS) is expanding its operations to the British Virgin Islands. WPS - which provides governance, regulatory compliance and fiduciary services to corporate and institutional clients across global financial centres - already operates in the Cayman Islands, Bermuda, Ireland and the UAE.
Research by the estate agent comparison site, GetAgent.co.uk, revealed that locations of high value where property prices are concerned, more often than not, come with heavy traffic congestion in the immediate surrounding area. In England, the average house price currently stands at £284,029 while the national average traffic delay on any given journey is 44 seconds per vehicle per mile.
Thursday
Fiduciary services provider IQ-EQ hired Alex Dean as the group’s first head of private wealth UK. Mr Dean has senior level experience working with HNW and UHNW private clients and their advisers. Prior to joining IQ-EQ, Mr Dean was a director at EFG Private Bank in London, where he was responsible for driving the development of its UK client base. He has also held roles at Rathbone Brothers, RBC and Barclays.
Recent winners of the inaugural wealth planning eprivateclient Excellence Award – The Private Office’s chief executive Stuart Phillips sat down with eprivateclient to find out the firm's secret to success.
Friday
Fiduciary services provider Saffery Champness Registered Fiduciaries hired Stefan Aegerter and Tim Parkinson as client directors in the firm’s Zurich office. Mr Aegerter joined the firm from Credit Suisse Trust Limited, where he was head of trust and estate advisory IWM & SUB. Mr Parkinson previously held the position of head of trust and estate advisory at Credit Suisse Trust AG, based in Zurich, while he also served as interim head of trust and estate advisory in Credit Suisse’s Hong Kong office.
US-headquartered taxadvisory group Andersen Global reinforced its presence in the Middle East with collaborating firm Naji Khairan Law Firm in Saudi Arabia, providing additional coverage to its existing platform in one of the region’s key markets. With offices in Riyadh and Jeddah, Naji Khairan Law Firm (formerly Naji Law Firm) provides services to corporate clients and high net worth individuals.