A look at the most read stories on eprivateclient this week...
Monday
International law firm Withers appointed private client and tax partner, Wei Zhang, as managing director of its Hong Kong office, as of July 2022. Ms Zhang joined the ranks of a growing number of women leaders at the firm, alongside Withers' chief executive Margaret Robertson in UK, Withers' chairperson Justine Markovitz in Switzerland, and Singapore managing partner Deborah Barker.
The number of estates worth more than £1 million left by wealthy people in the UK rose by over a third in the last five years. With this, has come an increased number of will-related disputes. London law firm Forsters revealed that the number of estates worth over £1 million increased from 8,340 in 2013/2014 to 11,210 in 2018/2019.
Tuesday
Investor services firm IQ-EQ hired Jason Laity as a non-executive director. Mr Laity, who has worked in the financial services sector for over 30 years, has significant board and partnership-level leadership experience, including as chairman and senior partner of KPMG in the Channel Islands until September 2019.
Young entrepreneurs under 35 accounted for only two percent of the gains made from all UK businesses sold in the past year, UK private wealth law firm Boodle Hatfield revealed. These entrepreneurs made just £556 million in profits out of £28.9 billion made in total by individuals selling their businesses. Entrepreneurs aged 55-64 made the most out of any age group when selling their business, with profits of £10.2 billion.
Wednesday
New figures showed a 432 percent increase in the amount of tax HMRC believes wealthy individuals underpaid on their cryptocurrency investments, international law firm Pinsent Masons discovered. HMRC identified £2,280,000 in suspected underpaid tax relating to crypto assets in 2021-22, up from £428,000 the previous year.
Trust and fiduciary services provider Zedra launched a new pensions focused offering – Pensions & Incentives. Pensions & Incentives was launched as the UK pension trustee and governance services sector is undergoing significant changes and facing challenges that will require both dedicated effort and investment from long-term owners, the firm said.
Thursday
The UK government published a draft Finance Bill 2022-23 with CGT rules for divorcing couples set to change. Legislation will be introduced that will mean that separating spouses or civil partners will be given up to three years after the year they cease to live together in which to make no gain or no loss transfers.
Fiduciary services provider Oak Group appointed Jo Gorrod as managing director of its Jersey office. Ms Gorrod has over 20 years’ experience and joined Oak Group in 2018 as a client services director, prior to which she held the same title at Equiom Group.
Friday
London private wealth and property law firm Forsters appointed Natasha Rees as it new senior partner. Ms Rees has worked at the firm since 2001 having joined fromPinsent Masons and became a partner in 2008. Until March this year, she was head of the firm's property litigation team. Ms Rees will take over as senior partner from Smita Edwards on the 1 September.
Accountancy and professional services group Sedulo unveiled plans to expand in the wealth management sector after switching its day-to-day banking to Santander UK. Santander UK provided Sedulo with a £2.85 million funding package, including a three-year revolving credit facility, to support the Manchester-headquartered business’ growth plans.