The bank has appointed Jane Niles as chief executive.

She is taking over the role from Brendan Stewart, who is stepping down after five years.

Niles joined Investec in 2016, initially leading the corporate and family office segment, and more recently, acting as head of offshore real estate and head of lending.

Irwin Mitchell

The law firm and advice group has named Craig Marshall as group chief executive.

This is following the death of the firm’s former chief executive Andrew Tucker.

Marshall joined Irwin Mitchell in 2007 when the firm merged with Scottish law firm Golds before being appointed chief executive of Irwin Mitchell’s personal legal services division from 2014 to April 2021.

He then became group chief operating officer in 2021.

Legal & General Investment Management (LGIM)

The asset manager has named Pauline Plunkett as chief executive of its European operation and managing director of Ireland, subject to regulatory and board approvals.

She was previously head of insurance clients, having joined LGIM in March 2014.

Brown Shipley

The Quintet Private Bank subsidiary has hired Andrew Kyle as chief financial officer, subject to regulatory approval.

Kyle, who served as chief financial officer of Coutts for the previous five years, will join Brown Shipley in October 2023 as chief financial officer designate, working alongside the firm’s outgoing chief financial officer Andrew Curran, who will retire in March 2024 after serving at the UK private bank for over 20 years.

Standard Chartered

Mike Tan has joined the bank as global head of wealth planning and family advisory.

He was most recently part of the wealth advisory team at JP Morgan NA, Singapore.

Lombard Odier

The wealth manager has appointed Alexandre Meyer as managing partner.

Meyer joined Lombard Odier 25 years ago.

Annika Falkengren, who joined the group in 2017, has decided to step down as managing partner at the end of 2023.

MKC Wealth

The independent wealth management firm has appointed Rick Eling as managing director of its authorised investment management business MKC Investment Management.

He joins from Quilter, where he was latterly head of adviser propositions and spent four years as investment director of its advice network Quilter Financial Planning.

Alexander Peter Wealth Management

Claire Taylor has joined the advice firm as a transatlantic financial planner.

She was previously at Forth Capital, where she was an international planner.

Indosuez Wealth Management

The global wealth management arm of Crédit Agricole Group has named Emile Salawi as head of the Middle East.

He joined Indosuez Wealth Management in 2020 as head of key clients and family offices of CA Indosuez (Switzerland) SA.

EFG

The company has named Francesca Speroni as team leader and deputy head of private banking of EFG Private Bank, the UK private banking arm of EFG International.

Speroni has joined EFG from Credit Suisse, where she was a managing director and served as team leader UK for more than five years.

Earlier this year, EFG also hired Inbal Shiloach as client relationship officer focusing on Israeli ultra-high net worth individuals (UHNWI).

She joined the bank from Julius Baer, where she spent 12 years and most recently served as head of Israel out of London.

Vivian Yuen also joined EFG in London earlier this year as client relationship officer with responsibility for UHNWIs based in Hong Kong and Greater China.

She previously worked for Julius Baer Hong Kong, where she was most recently an associate manager serving private clients booked in Hong Kong, Singapore and Switzerland.

HSBC

The UK private banking arm has recruited a team of relationship managers in its London office.

Phil Aleppo will lead the team and joins from Credit Suisse where he led a team of ultra-high net worth and high net worth bankers in the UK domestic team.

Joining the team are Henri Etchegoyen, Brad Werner, Usmaan Aziz and Oliver Beasant.

Elsewhere, Lok Yim has been named as regional head of global private banking, Asia Pacific.

Yim joins HSBC on a designate basis on 1 November and commences formally on 1 January 2024, subject to regulatory approval.

Yim succeeds Siew Meng Tan, who is retiring after an almost forty-year career in banking.

He joins HSBC from Deutsche Bank where he spent 16 years, most recently as chief executive for Hong Kong SAR.

Belasko

The financial services provider has appointed Alex Le Prevost as associate director.

Le Prevost was previously at Suntera Global, where he was a senior trust manager.

UBS

Ulrike Hoffmann-Burchardi will join the firm’s chief investment office as head chief investment officer for equities, effective 23 October 2023.

Hoffmann-Burchardi joins from Tudor Investment Corporation, where she has been a partner and senior portfolio manager since 2009.

Holborn Assets

The Dubai-based firm is launching a major expansion of its residency and citizenship investment (RCBI) division.

It has appointed Pablo Ostrick to be the managing director of its RCBI unit, known as Holborn Pass.

In his new role, Ostrick will hire 25 advisers this year to work alongside the firm’s 250 wealth managers.

He was previously general manager of Holborn Pass.

Macquarie Asset Management

Henry Middleton has joined the firm as managing director and head of wealth distribution for Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia.

He was previously at Barings, where he most recently led its US institutional and global wealth distribution activities.

Tucker passed away on 16 August 2023 following an unexpected illness.

He joined the firm in 1985 and became a partner in 1988 and, then, in April 2014, he was appointed group chief executive.

Glyn Barker, chair of the Irwin Mitchell Group, said: “Andrew’s many strengths, including intellect, commerciality and integrity, have ensured that Irwin Mitchell has grown and prospered under his leadership. His legacy is a robust business with a strong culture and widely admired reputation.

“As well as being a hugely respected leader, Andrew was a much-loved colleague, always with the best interests of colleagues and clients at the forefront of his thinking, and we will miss him hugely.

“We’re working to support Andrew’s family at this very sad and difficult time and request that their privacy is respected.”

Research by the CMA has identified the services as an area of concern involving potential risk to customers.

In terms of Will-writing, the watchdog is concerned about:

• consumers being misled by advertising which offers an extremely low initial fee for advice but does not indicate that final costs can increase significantly;
• the use of potentially unfair contract terms, such as exclusions of liability, failure to provide cancellation rights, and terms which automatically appoint the firm as executor (often for a fee); and
• reports of pressure selling and coercion of vulnerable customers.

The CMA is also looking into pre-paid probate plans, as concerns include:

• pressure selling techniques being used on elderly and other vulnerable people;
• lack of transparency about what costs are covered;
• plans that are unnecessary or fail to serve their purpose, leading to delays in the probate process and bereaved relatives being left unable to settle bills or sell property; and
• lack of customer awareness that their money may not be adequately protected, even if held in trust.

Sarah Cardell, chief executive of the CMA, said: “These services are essential to people, often at the most challenging times in their lives. The CMA is aware that rising living costs mean people are watching their spending, so shopping around for a more affordable option is attractive and sometimes a necessity.

“These may not be frequent purchases, but they are life-changing. That’s why it’s so important that we investigate so that people can select the right legal service for them – for divorce or probate or Will-writing – with confidence. It’s essential that firms get the basics right, including complying with general consumer law which applies to all traders. Customers must get a fair deal.”

Sarah Coles, head of personal finance at Hargreaves Lansdown, added: “Online legal services have opened up cost-effective and efficient routes to get help with some of the toughest legal challenges we face. However, unfortunately, they’ve also flung the door open to unscrupulous rip off firms, which could leave us far worse off. The CMA has found some worrying practices and opened a consultation to explore how to better protect people.

“Many of the services that we traditionally ask a solicitor for help with can actually be done by anyone – like divorce, Will- writing and probate. It means that technically we can tackle it alone, and if we want a bit of help without the cost of a lawyer, we can go to an unregulated adviser. There are some innovative and effective firms operating in this area, however, unfortunately, there are also some rip-off companies too.”

Statutory legacy sum increase

In other news, the UK government has confirmed that the statutory legacy fixed net sum will increase to £322,000 ($413,523, €374,013) from £270,000 on 26 July 2023.

The statutory legacy sum is the amount, set by the UK government, to which the surviving spouse or civil partner of a person who dies intestate, but with children, is entitled to first from the estate before the remainder is shared.

Ian Bond, lifestyle and estate planning partner at Irwin Mitchell, said: “Where a person dies in England and Wales without a valid Will in place then, under the rules of intestacy, the estate of the deceased is distributed in a specific way depending on who survives, how they are related to the deceased and how many individuals there are.

“The order of priority for who inherits is: spouse or civil partner, children, parents, siblings, grandparents, aunts/uncles. The rules tend not to take into account modern relationships and make no provisions for co-habitees, step-children, friends, or favoured charities. This is good news for people struggling with the cost of living crisis and rising inflation.”

The UK lifeboat scheme has announced its chief executive Caroline Rainbird has left.

Fiona Kidy, chief financial officer, has agreed to step up to lead the organisation while it starts the search for a successor.

The Money and Pensions Service (Maps)

Caroline Siarkiewicz has confirmed to the board that she will not be taking up a second term.

She was appointed as chief executive in January 2020 having been acting chief executive since June 2019.

Siarkiewicz will step down at the end of January 2024 after four years leading the organisation through a period of significant change.

The search for a successor will commence shortly and will be led by Maps’ chair Sara Weller. The appointment will be subject to the approval of the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions.

SEI

Jim London has been named as chief executive of SEI Investments (Europe) Limited (SIEL).

He will continue to maintain his responsibilities as head of SEI’s UK private banking and wealth management business.

London will succeed Brett Williams following his retirement, effective 30 June pending regulatory approval.

With more than 25 years’ experience in financial services, London currently serves as chief operating officer for SIEL.

Hargreaves Lansdown

The investment firm has appointed Brown Shipley’s investment head Toby Vaughan as chief investment officer.

Vaughan was previously head of multi strategy solutions at Santander Asset Management, a fund manager at LV Asset Management, and director for asset allocation at F&C Asset Management.

Marwyn Acquisition Company II

Will Self has been appointed as chief executive of the London Stock Exchange-listed acquisition vehicle.

He was previously chief executive for the pensions division.

Prior to that, Self was at Curtis Banks Group, where he was chief executive.

Waverton Investment Management

Steve Chhoker has joined the firm as chief financial officer.

Chhoker has close to two decades of experience in wealth management, previously holding senior finance positions at WH Ireland, Saunderson House and Brooks Macdonald.

He replaces David Welch, who leaves after serving 26 years with Waverton.

Axa Investment Managers (Axa IM)

Caroline Portel has been named as global chief operating officer, effective 1 July 2023.

She will take over from Laurent Caillot, who will pursue a new professional endeavour outside of the Axa Group.

Verso Wealth Management

The advice company has hired Jonathan Fell as group chief operating officer.

He joins from Assurant, where as digital, CX and customer service director, he led the digital transformation programme for its European operation.

Before his time at Assurant, he spent three years as group operations director at Succession Group.

Barclays Private Bank

The company has strengthened its presence in Asia by making two senior appointments in its Singapore office.

Tom Road has been appointed deputy head for Singapore. Having worked for Barclays Private Bank in London for the past 13 years, covering UHNW and Global Family Offices, Road has relocated to Singapore to take up his new role.

Wengmun Loh has been appointed head of dealing and derivatives in Singapore. Wengmun has been with Barclays since 2008 and was most recently head of UK direct access for Barclays Private Bank in London.

In his new role, Wengmun will relocate to Singapore and is responsible for building up the capital markets and trading capability of Barclays Private Bank, Singapore.

Abrdn

The asset manager confirmed that its head of digital solutions, Paul Titterton, has left the business.

Titterton joined the provider in January 2022, and was responsible for developing the firm’s digital retirement advice proposition.

A spokesperson for Abrdn told International Adviser: ‘We can confirm that Paul has left the company, we would like to thank him for his contribution and wish him well for the future.”

NextWealth

The research firm has appointed Emma Napier as consulting director.

Napier as previously head of sales and proposition at Bravura and head of distribution at True Potential.

Vistra

Jonathan Ferrara has been named as managing director for the firm’s Channel Islands arm.

He has held senior roles at various global organisations, including Bank of America, UBS and most recently Sanne, where he was managing director for Channel Islands.

Irwin Mitchell

The law firm has added to its high net worth and international tax team in London with the appointment of partner Matthew Briggs.

He joins from boutique private client practice the Burnside Partnership and specialises in personal tax, estate and succession planning for UK and international individuals and families.

Clarion Wealth Planning

The advice firm has expanded its team with the appointment of Bradley Peet as an associate financial planner.

He has joined Clarion after more than three years at Carpenter Rees.

The deal will expand the investment management services of Irwin Mitchell Asset Management as well as provide Irwin Mitchell with the opportunity to offer its range of legal services to Andrews Gwynne’s clients.

The acquisition is expected to increase assets under management to £1.2bn ($1.5bn, €1.4bn).

Mark Smith, partner at Andrews Gwynne, is joining as head of the team and will report directly to IM Asset Management chief executive Richard Potts.

Potts said: “The addition of the Andrews Gwynne team gives us the opportunity to attract more clients from outside of Irwin Mitchell who come direct for our wealth management and investment planning services – as well as adding capacity and capability for existing Irwin Mitchell clients. We’re pleased to have the team on board and welcome them to IM Asset Management.”

This deal follows Irwin Mitchell Asset Management’s acquisition of Alderley Edge-based financial planning company TWP Wealth last year.