A look back at the most popular stories on thewealthnet last week....
10.
Swiss private bank Julius Baer warned that its full year 2023 profits are unlikely to be as high as its 2022 profits.
In a trading update for the first 10 months of 2023, Julius Baer said it has had “solid” operating momentum, with net inflows supporting assets under management (AUM) growth.
AUM increased by 3.0 percent from CHF 424 billion to CHF 435 billion.
This figure was supported by net new money inflows of CHF 10.3 billion, or 3.0 percent annualised to the end of October 2023. [Read more]
9.
Investec Wealth & Investments' (W&I) chief investment officer (CIO) Stacey Parrinder-Johnson has left her role following the firm's combination with Rathbones which was completed in September.
Her role will be taken over by Liz Savage, co-CIO, and Ed Smith, co-CIO of Rathbones.
Ms Savage has been at Rathbones for over 18 years, having been appointed co-CIO in 2021. Meanwhile, Mr Smith has been with Rathbones for over nine years and was appointed co-CIO at the same time as Ms Savage.
Ms Parrinder-Johnson will work with them until the end of the year to ensure a smooth transition for both businesses.
8.
UK Chancellor Jeremy Hunt’s Autumn Statement included national insurance cuts, commitments to the triple-lock pension and announcements for £500 million in UK AI investment.
Mr Hunt announced that employee National Insurance will be cut from 12 percent to 10 percent taking effect from 6th January 2024.
The Chancellor also confirmed the state pensions triple lock will be protected and that it would rise by 8.5 percent in April 2024. Read more from Nick Scott here.
7.
Maven Capital Partners has completed the sale of Titan Wealth to private equity firm Parthenon Capital, following regulatory approval.
The Maven UK regional buyout fund has backed Titan from its inception in July 2021, supporting its strategy to “disrupt” the discretionary fund management sector in the UK.
Titan was formed to provide a fully vertically integrated suite of services to investment managers and independent financial advisers.
The firm's growth strategy included the acquisition of Prism Financial Services in October, adding £630 million to its assets under advice. [Read more]
6.
Serial entrepreneur Konstantin Sidorov founded the London Technology Club as a solution to challenges he experienced as a private investor, Katie Royals reported.
Explaining these barriers, he said private investors face three major problems, namely: knowing where to find the right opportunities; getting access to these opportunities if they do manage to identify them; and affording the sums needed to invest as a private investor.
LTC was created to operate as an institutional investor, so its membership base of wealthy individuals, family offices, venture capital funds, private equity funds and some banks can access more opportunities.
5.
Instead of expanding the body of proven knowledge, the best that can be said about a lot of wealth management “research” is that it provides a few insights into the way in which the public relations firms that service the sector operate, Ian Orton wrote.
The article covers the limitations of PR-focussed research surveys including unrepresentative sample sizes and low response rates cautioning that although research should not just be left to academics and scientists, readers should "be very careful" when it comes to wealth management-related research.
4.
Seven Investment Management (7IM), a London-based wealth management group owned by Caledonia Investments, has appointed Russell Lancaster and Chris Justham as managing directors.
Mr Lancaster has been appointed to the firm's platform and intermediary partnerships, whilst Mr Justham will work in intermediary solutions.
He previously worked at Fidelity International, latterly as its head of intermediary sales.
Mr Justham has been at 7IM for over a decade, having headed the London and the Southeast intermediary business over the last four years.
3.
Chancellor Jeremy Hunt’s Autumn Statement may not have delivered as big a surprise as the scrapping of the pension lifetime allowance in the Spring Budget, but there were still a few areas wealth managers may want to pay attention to, Katie Royals reported.
The article includes five key takeaways for wealth managers relating to the economic outlook, the private market, EIS and VCTs, NatWest shares on offer and efforts to close the tax gap.
It highlights that, following the announcement that NatWest shares will be on offer to retail investors over the next year, all previous ownership opportunities for government shares have only been available to institutional investors.
2.
RBC Brewin Dolphin appointed Richard Betts as a wealth director at the firm's St James's office in London.
With over 25 years of experience in the sector, Mr Betts' most recent role was as a senior relationship manager at J Safra Sarasin where he worked for two years.
His industry experience includes working as an associate director at HSBC Private Bank from 2009 to 2017 and as a director at Standard Chartered Bank from 2017 to 2021.
1.
Katie Royals reported breaking news on Monday that Coutts appointed Fahad Kamal as chief investment officer (CIO).
Mr Kamal joined the private bank from SG Kleinwort Hambros, where he was CIO.
Earlier this month, SG Kleinwort Hambros named Gene Salerno as Mr Kamal's replacement. He was previously chief transformation officer at the firm.
He spent over 11 years at SG Kleinwort Hambros and, before that, worked at USAID and ISS, among other companies.