Goldman Sachs has hired family office specialist Darren Allaway from UBS, where he has worked for more than 18 years, thewealthnet can reveal.
Mr Allaway joins Goldman’s private wealth management division in London later this year, where he will continue to work with family offices, part of the firm’s ongoing commitment to this segment, people familiar with the matter said.
Mr Allaway is a UBS managing director and was one of the founders of its global family office business. He advises international family office and multi-family office clients on structured finance transactions, portfolio construction, and investment selection.
The move marks something of a homecoming. Prior to joining UBS, Mr Allaway spent three years at Goldman Sachs, where he was a financial analyst before being promoted to associate.
His wealth management career followed several years as a professional basketball player, and today he is involved with charitable organisations in London that help at-risk youth and incentivise athletic and academic performance.
Mr Allaway is the second senior European wealth hire made by Goldman Sachs in as many months. The firm has also hired Dominique Wohnlich, formerly of Lombard Odier, to run its Swiss wealth management business.
Mr Wohnlich will replace Marco Pagliara, who joined Deutsche Bank Wealth Management in June, as the market head for Northern and Eastern Europe.
Mr Wohnlich had worked for Lombard for five years, where he was head of private banking for Zurich. Prior to this he spent time at Credit Suisse and UBS Wealth Management.
Wealth management appears to be assuming greater significance in Goldman’s strategy. Both its Q1 and Q2 result statements made reference to the broadening or expansion of its wealth offering, as investment banking revenues dip.
While the appointments above pertain to Goldman’s traditional private client base – the very wealthy – it has made several moves over the past year to diversify into the mass-affluent market, including the purchase of US financial advice firm United Capital Partners in May. The $750 million is thought to be Goldman’s largest acquisition in more than a decade.
