Six Degrees is an independent wealth manager for UK-based families, entrepreneurs and business leaders which it says has a purpose driven approach, cutting-edge technology and a unique client-aligned fee structure.

Founders Waller and Saiman are committed to addressing the ‘High-Net-Worth Advice Gap’ in the UK while offering clients clear mobile visibility over their entire financial lives through the Six Degrees app.

To read more on this topic, visit: 1 in 30 HNW individuals relying 100% on their homes to fund retirement

The firm’s investment philosophy favours an evidence-based approach to index-investing and its pricing structure will significantly reduce clients’ costs it reported.

Alongside Waller and Saiman, Victoria Sena joins as chief operating officer who has previously worked for the Bank of England and a boutique asset manager.

Six Degrees has also appointed three members to its Advisory Council which includes Fleur Hicks, Ian McCaig and Matthew Truman.

Bill Maldonado has been named as the chief executive of the firm’s asset management business, Eastspring Investments.

Maldonado has been serving as interim chief executive since April this year and, having joined Eastspring Investments in September 2021, has been chief investment officer since May 2022.

Prior to joining Eastspring, Maldonado served as the Asia Pacific chief investment officer and global chief investment officer for equities at HSBC Global Asset Management.

A chief investment officer for Eastspring Investments will be appointed in due course.

RBC Wealth Management

The wealth manager has appointed Rod Ireland as interim head of RBC Wealth Management Asia.

This in addition to his current role as head of global markets Apac for RBC Capital Markets.

He replaces Terence Chow, who has left RBC.

Redington

The independent investment consultancy firm has appointed Gavin Howard as chief financial officer.

With more than 30 years’ experience in financial services, he has been chief financial officer at both IFG Group and Nucleus Financial, as well as having held senior executive positions at firms including Partnership Assurance and Octopus Lifestyle.

Brooks Macdonald

The wealth manager has appointed Henrietta Walker as head of the investment specialist team.

She joins Brooks Macdonald from her senior associate partner role at Sarasin & Partners, where she was deputy portfolio manager of its MPS.

Close Brothers Asset Management (CBAM)

Chris Hutchinson has joined the firm as senior investment manager.

He previously worked at Investec Wealth and Investment.

Janus Henderson Investors

The asset manager has made multiple hires in its Asia distribution team.

Alexis Lavergne has joined the investment manager as investment specialist for fixed income, while Andrew Cox has joined as investment specialist for equity. Both are newly created roles and are based in Singapore.

Meanwhile, Stephanie Joeson and Keith Chan have joined in Hong Kong as director and sales manager for intermediary sales respectively.

Lavergne joins Janus Henderson from H2O Asset Management, where he was client portfolio manager responsible for global macro fixed income and currencies strategies.

Meanwhile, Cox has joined Janus Henderson following a brief sabbatical. He previously served as head of investor relations and corporate development at real estate firm Globalworth.

Meanwhile, Joeson joins from Invesco, where she was senior manager for intermediary sales covering private bank distributions. She previously worked at Income Partners Asset Management and Citibank.

Chan was mostly recently an associate in the financial institutions group at Lazard Asset Management. He also worked at Bank J Safra Sarasin.

JM Finn

The investment manager has named Lucy Coutts as head of its York office.

Coutts, who has been at JM Finn since 2011, takes over as head of the recently relocated York office, effective immediately.

The intermediary proposition will provide investment management to British expats that need an EU-domiciled investment manager.

Post Brexit, UK advisers are not allowed to advise EU residents, which has left many clients without ongoing financial advice.

Ian Kloss, head of nationals, networks and international distribution at RBC Brewin Dolphin, said: “RBC Brewin Dolphin’s Ireland business is an important part of the company’s structure for delivering an EU compliant proposition to European clients.

“Brexit rules around passporting caused considerable confusion for advisory firms that work with British expats across the EU. We hope with this new offering we can provide them with a tangible, seamless solution for their clients’ investment needs.”

RBC Brewin Dolphin’s Irish business manages €4bn (£3.44bn, $4.27bn) of clients’ money, as of 30 April 2023.

Hire

To support the proposition, the company has appointed Lorraine Reddaway as business development manager for Europe.

She brings over 30 years’ experience of working with intermediaries internationally. Reddaway was previously a partner at Global Wealth Management Solutions.

Reddaway’s role at RBC Brewin Dolphin will be to develop the intermediary proposition and continue to build relationships with adviser firms in the EU.

She said: “There are expatriate clients without advisers, and advisers who have been left without a great discretionary investment management offering that is suitable for British expats, so I’m really excited to be able to help meet the demand from advisers and their clients alike.”

The RFI – which highlights the areas of interest to the Bureau – invites market participants and Canadians to submit relevant information to assist the bureau with its investigation.

The bureau is investigating whether the proposed acquisition is likely to result in a substantial lessening or prevention of competition for services provided by the companies, including personal and business financial services across Canada.

The watchdog is seeking information to further assess potential impacts on competition in personal and business financial services.

The type of information requested about competition for these products and services includes:

• • rivalry among RBC and HSBC and with other companies;
  • impacts of entry or expansion on price, quality, or choice;
  • differences in price, quality, or choice among urban, suburban and rural communities;
  • differences in price, quality, or choice available to different consumer groups;
  • ease of switching service providers; and
  • the prevalence and impact of bundling more than one product or service with a single service provider.

The bureau wants information by 1 June 2023. The review is ongoing and no conclusions have been made at this time.

The team, led by president and chief executive Dan Daviau, holds just over 21% of the company’s outstanding share capital, and intends to buy the firm at C$11.25 (£6.90, $8.30, €7.80) per share.

The offer was publicly announced on 9 January, and it comes in at a 30.7% premium to the firm’s closing share price of C$8.61, on 6 January.

This would take the business private, making it employee owned.

However, a section of the Canadian Stock Exchange announcement was dedicated to arguing against what the company deemed to be an “unrealistic and flawed” valuation by RBC Dominion Securities, the investment and wealth management firm that Canaccord had instructed to undertake the formal valuation.

RBC valued the company’s shares higher than the buyout offer, judging them to be worth between C$12.75 and C$15.75. However, Cannacord’s senior management team has argued that the “unrealistic” figures are the result of a valuation process that was overly theoretical.

It added that RBC’s valuation could only be reached by selling the company off in its constituent parts, something that was not practicable given the co-reliance of the firm’s separate entities.

The largest external shareholder, who owns 10.7% of the share capital, is said to be in full support of the senior management team’s offer.

Daviau said: “We are pleased to be proceeding with our formal offer, which provides immediate certainty of value and liquidity for shareholders at a substantial premium in a volatile market. The offer has received strong support from the company’s largest independent shareholders, in addition to the most senior and tenured executives and employees of the company.”

The offer remains until 11:59pm on 13 June unless it is extended, accelerated, or withdrawn.

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