It will integrate the technology tools that advisers use within a single, data-driven platform.

Pershing X president Ainslie Simmonds said: “When building Wove, we went beyond just having integrations and created interconnected experiences for advisers so they can go from planning and portfolio building to account management without having to re-enter data.

“The goal is to help them be more productive and efficient with their time, so they have the ability to serve even more clients.”

Core applications

Wove will feature core applications such as advanced data reporting and analytics; financial plan building, flexible billing, cross-custodian trading and rebalancing.

Advisers will also have access to direct indexing investment strategies, including the new BNY Mellon Precision Direct Indexing S&P 500, managed by Mellon, BNY Mellon Investment Management’s indexing specialist. The strategy seeks to match the performance of the S&P 500 Index and enables advisers to offer clients customised solutions.

Pershing X also announced that BNY Mellon Advisors  will deliver investment solutions through the new platform, by using an in-house team of senior investment professionals from across BNY Mellon.

Jim Crowley, chief executive of BNY Mellon | Pershing, added: “The Wove platform is unique because it has the power, scale and security of BNY Mellon behind it.”

“By leveraging the breadth of innovation from across the firm to create Wove, we are able to provide advisers with seamless technology and best-in-class investment tools to help revolutionise how they serve their clients.”

The asset management giant has named Peter Hall as chairman of Schroders Wealth Management and Mary-Anne Daly as global head of wealth management.

Hall will continue to oversee Schroders’ global wealth strategy and to chair the Cazenove Capital and Benchmark Capital boards.

Daly retains her role as chief executive of Cazenove Capital, while also taking ultimate responsibility for the wealth management offices in the Channel Islands, Switzerland, and Singapore.

She will chair the boards of Schroders Channel Islands. Schroders Bank, and Schroders Asia.

Dominic Emmerson has also become deputy chief executive of Cazenove Capital.

Novia Financial

The platform business has appointed Lucy Bristow as chief customer officer, with immediate effect.

Bristow moved to Novia from the Wealthtime platform in March last year to take up the role of strategic partnerships director with responsibility for senior relationships with strategic adviser partnerships across the group and she had more recently stepped into the role of people experience director.

To support Bristow, Nicola Clark, who previously worked at Novia’s sister platform Amber, rejoins the business as customer service transformation lead.

Man Group

The global investment management firm has appointed Robyn Grew as chief executive.

This comes after Luke Ellis informed the board of his decision to retire.

Grew is currently president of Man Group and a member of the senior executive committee, based in the US.

She will take over from Ellis as chief executive as of 1 September 2023, at which time she will also join the Man Group Board as an executive director. While she will relocate to the UK following her appointment, she will continue to spend a substantial proportion of her time in the US, given the firm’s presence there.

Ellis will continue as chief executive and remain an executive director of the company until 1 September 2023 to ensure an orderly transition and oversight of the company’s 2023 interim results.

BNY Mellon Pershing

The provider of global financial business solutions has named Colin Murphy as chief commercial officer of its Emea business, effective May 2023.

Murphy joins from SmartTrade, where he was chief revenue officer.

The Openwork Partnership

The UK financial services network has recruited Warren Vickers as commercial development director.

He was previously managing director at Tenet Compliance Services.

Nucleus Financial

The adviser platform has appointed Heather Hopkins as chair of its advisory board.

Hopkins is managing director and founder of consultancy firm NextWealth.

Stonehage Fleming

Natasha Newell has been named as director to the group’s family office team in Guernsey.

She has extensive experience of offshore trusts, having worked as a senior lawyer for some offshore law firms, most recently Carey Olsen.

The Independent Investment Management Initiative (IIMI)

The boutique asset management think tank has named Dani Hristova as chief executive.

Hristova joins from Nordea Asset Management, where she was responsible for building the firm’s presence in the UK insurance market.

M&G Wealth

The advice firm has appointed Ella Hugh as its director of proposition and marketing.

Hugh joins the company from Abrdn. where she was latterly group chief of staff and head of client proposition having held senior strategy, planning and management roles since 2016.

Close Brothers Asset Management

The wealth firm has named Adam Finlay as investment manager.

With over 10 years’ experience in the wealth management sector, Finlay began his career at Capelin Financial Management, a West Midlands IFA firm, before joining Investec Wealth & Investment in 2016.

Tyndall Investment Management

The wealth manager has appointed three investment professionals to its private client practice.

Mark Jenkins and Dennis Cooper join the firm as investment directors, while Joe Holland assumes the role of assistant investment manager.

All three join Tyndall from Walker Crips.

Deutsche Bank International Private Bank (IPB)

The banking group has appointed Arjun Badhwar as the deputy head of its global south Asia team.

Badhwar, who is based in Singapore, will take on his role immediately and report to Rajesh Mahadevan, the head of global south Asia.

Julius Baer

Marcel Suhner has taken on the role of head of intermediaries for German- and Italian-speaking Switzerland at the wealth manager.

He is taking over from Michel Yigit, who has decided to pursue a new opportunity outside the bank.

Suhner has been with Julius Baer since 2015, when he joined the intermediaries northern Europe and UK business development team.

Since 2016, he has been head of intermediaries Europe.

David Reymond, head of intermediaries Apac and Emea, will take over as head of intermediaries Europe ad interim.

Progeny

Freya Robertson has been appointed to the new role of chief of staff to the chief executive.

She previously spent four years as executive assistant to chief executive Neil Moles.

Impax Asset Management

The asset manager has hired Leah Wood as global head of marketing and client experience.

She joined Impax in 2016 to build and lead the client service function in North America, and most recently held the role of head of global client experience.

Artemis

The fund manager has hired Toby Gibb as head of investment solutions.

He joins in June from Fidelity International, where he most recently held the role of global head of investment directing.

Also, Artemis has announced that David Hollis will take over management of its multi-asset, absolute return vehicle, the Artemis Strategic Assets Fund.

Hollis joined Artemis in October 2022 to develop systematic, multi-asset solutions for retail and institutional clients.

Evelyn Partners

The wealth management and professional services group has hired Ciara Oliver as a financial planner in its London team.

Oliver was previously at UBS Wealth Management and Killik & Co.

TrustQuay

The technology provider for trust sector has named Diane Betts as global head of professional services.

She previously led digital transformation and payment solution programmes for global banking clients at Fiserv and Dovetail.

Quilter Cheviot

The investment manager has hired Margaret Schmitt as responsible investment analyst.

Schmitt joins Quilter from infrastructure consulting firm AECOM, where she held the role of climate and sustainability consultant.

Tim Sargisson is set to leave his post as chief executive of the IFA firm next year.

He has been chief executive of Sandringham Partners since 2015 and led the sale of the business to M&G.

The existing management of Sandringham will remain in place.

Huddersfield-based Sandringham sits alongside M&G Wealth’s existing advice, platform and investment businesses and will continue to operate under the Sandringham brand.

Novia Financial

The platform business has appointed Eden Scrivenger as chief technology officer.

Scrivenger, who will join in September, joins from Investec Wealth & Investment, where she is chief technology officer.

Pershing

The financial business solutions provider has named Cécile Nagel as chief executive of its Emea business, effective October 2022.

Nagel is currently the chief executive of the European Central Counterparty.

Sovereign Group

The trust services provider has hired Matt Boyd as business development manager, according to his Linkedin profile.

Boyd was previously senior business consultant at Continental Group International.

Melbourne Capital Group

The cross-border wealth firm has named Jamie Bubb-Sacklyn as a financial planner in Kuala Lumpur.

He was previously a financial planner at Infinity Financial Solutions.

Emily Schlosser has been hired as chief operating officer at Pershing, the global financial business services provider of BNY Mellon. 

She joins from Goldman Sachs where she served as head of change for the global markets division.  

Santander International  

The international business of Spain’s Santander has recruited Richard Settle as chief risk officer. 

He was previously at security depositary business Euroclear UK and Ireland, where he held a similar role. 

Settle will be responsible for operational and credit risk, general and financial crime compliance for both Jersey and Isle of Man branches. 

Brewin Dolphin 

Tom Blathwayt and Kelly Eva have been named as head of sustainability and sustainability manager, respectively. 

Blathwayt will lead the sustainability team, including the company’s ESG strategy and responsible investment propositions. He was an associate at systems change business SystemIQ. 

Eva has been promoted to sustainability manager at the wealth firm after working as an investment manager in the charity team. She has been at Brewin Dolphin for eight years. 

Morningstar 

The independent investment research provider has promoted Hortense Bioy to director of sustainability research for the Emea and Apac regions. 

In the newly created role, she will be responsible for driving and promoting sustainable research across the two geographies. 

Bioy used to work as a director for passive strategies and sustainability research, Europe at the firm; she will be based in London. 

Sandringham Financial Partners 

Paul Handford has joined the financial planning firm as an advising partner. 

He used to work at HSBC in Manchester as an independent financial adviser for over nine years, and held a similar role at Barclays for over four years.  

Sanlam UK 

The international financial services group will welcome a global equity income team at the end of 2020. 

It will be led by Mark Whitehead, who will also manage the global equity income fund alongside Alan Porter and Laurie Lochtie. 

Whitehead will join the firm at the end of the year from Martin Currie, where he served as head of income, when Sanlam will unveil a global equity income fund focusing on sustainable dividends. 

But amid global lockdowns, social distancing measures and a complete overhaul of ‘business as usual’; the believers have been proven right. 

From video conference calls, to electronic signatures, to augmented investment platforms – the majority of adviser and wealth manager tasks are enabled by clouds, software or apps of some sort. 

But not all have inspired great confidence – for instance, video conferencing app Zoom faced massive backlash from the financial services industry when security loopholes were exposed and calls infiltrated. 

Given the data protection, compliance and privacy requirements financial advisers face – and the plethora of options they can choose from – International Adviser spoke with firms and providers across Europe to find out what’s hot and what’s not. 

Not-so-temporary solutions 

Deutsche Bank Wealth Management (DB WM) started offering a ‘replay’ option to let clients re-listen to investment advice calls, which has proven successful considering different time zones and lockdown measures across the globe. 

A spokesperson for the firm said: “As soon as it was clear that covid was spreading beyond China, DB WM started to actively inform its clients and offered weekly investment advice calls with replay option for clients across different time zones.  

“Additionally, it posted related FAQs on its website, offering the functionality to submit questions, as it started discussing the world after covid.” 

While many of the measures have been put in place specifically because of the pandemic, some tools may be here to stay, the wealth management arm said. 

The spokesperson continued: “Next to engaging with clients in a bilateral context via virtual facilities, the chief investment officer also opened up to broader virtual expert forums, a format the bank is keen on maintaining in combination with physical meetings also after the covid crisis to further capitalise on the benefits of the global CIO platform that’s anchored regionally.” 

Don’t forget internal channels 

But communication had to evolve not only for clients but for colleagues as well. 

The DB WM spokesperson added: “Relationship managers (RM) have been able to connect with their clients bilaterally via video conferencing facilities. The tools all met the highest security and regulatory standards and have been greatly appreciated by both parties for running stably and establishing a sense of proximity. 

“RMs, like every other member of staff, benefitted from the same tools to have internal exchanges and get aligned in their daily work, but also to look out for one another and maintain a sense of community,” the spokesperson added. 

Duncan MacIntyre, UK chief executive at Lombard Odier, agrees with DB WM, as clear and easy internal communication has become more important than ever. 

He said: “Having our own technology platform has been critical in enabling Lombard Odier to maintain business continuity during the coronavirus pandemic. We use the My LO interface to share daily investment updates with clients, send banking correspondence and maintain up-to-date information on the evolution of their portfolios.  

“The ability to communicate easily with the bank is highly appreciated by our clients, but internal communication with colleagues is also critical and we have daily team calls, as well as informal weekly video catch-ups,” he added. 

No time to stall 

From the technology side of things, financial advisers and wealth managers have relied on providers to maintain and boost their services, considering the brusque transition to remote working, which happened virtually overnight.  

Andy Reeves, chief risk officer at BNY Mellon’s Pershing, said: “This crisis and in particular the speed at which it accelerated, has forced firms at all levels to exploit their existing technology as much as possible.  

“This period was unique; an industry-wide business continuity invocation overlaid with a period of severe market volatility, during this transition to remote working.  

“Good communication is the key to effective crisis management, especially in the early stages. Our wealth management clients needed to know that we would continue to provide the trading, clearing and settlement services, effectively the infrastructure they depend on, as they too moved to remote working. 

“The speed of the situation forced a steep learning curve in terms of exploiting existing collaboration technology to the maximum – there was no time to take on a new vendor – the key was maximising what you have to manage the situation.” 

Silver lining 

But Reeves argues that there is something to learn from the chaos that the pandemic brought about. 

He continued: “One benefit from this period is firms will have a much deeper understanding of the capabilities – and limitations – of their existing collaboration technology which will provide benefit long after this crisis has passed.  

“For example, wealth managers that had secure investor portals with document management systems in place were in a better position to maintain services, such as investor reporting for their clients.” 

Good old trusted video calls 

Of course, the main means of communication has now become video conference calls – whether it is to virtually meet with clients, co-workers or just to attend an online pub quiz. 

That is because they still keep the ‘face-to-face’ aspect of financial advice, even if it comes through a screen or display. 

Jason Bolton, director at Beaufort Financial (Three Counties), said: “Video calling applications like Facetime, WhatsApp video and WebEx have, of course, been invaluable whilst working from home.  

“All of them allow advisers to maintain a degree of the usual face-to-face contact, and Zoom’s additional screen-sharing feature is particularly useful. It enables us to talk through documents much as we would at a physical meeting.” 

Not all are tech savvy 

But differing needs and technological skills also mean finding different ways to contact clients, Bolton added. 

“Some clients, often older and less familiar with tech, have preferred the telephone as a primary means of communication. And although this has allowed us to keep in touch, it has also presented its challenges.  

“For instance, we’ve needed to postpone review meetings where it simply isn’t feasible to talk through certain graphs and charts without a visual element.” 

There is more to financial advice than video calls, however, as planners have had to resort to different applications and software for most of their daily tasks. 

Bolton continued: “The cash-flow modelling software, CashCalc, has also worked well throughout this period. It provides a live representation of a client’s progress towards their financial goals, showing how factors such as market movements could impact their journey.  

“By using a screen-sharing facility to enhance the client experience you can take them through a range of scenarios, making their financial decisions specific to their needs,” he added.