The advice network has appointed Helen Ball as chief executive.

Ball was previously managing director of Tenet and has over 40 years’ experience in the sector.

She has previous experience undertaking strategic reviews and has been working on the firm’s strategic review to date.

Following this change, Mark Scanlon, chief executive, and Martin Tyler, chief financial officer, will be leaving the business with immediate effect.

Progeny

The financial planning group has named Caroline Hawkesley as UK managing director as part of a restructure to strengthen its position in the UK market and prepare the business for future international growth with the imminent acquisition of The Fry Group.

Hawkesley will move from her current role as chief operations officer in the business.

She began her career in the banking industry before co-founding her own financial advisory firm Evolve. When this was acquired by Progeny in 2018, she went on to head up the operations team.

In her new role, Hawkeseley will manage and direct Progeny’s activities in the UK.

Progeny founder Neil Moles remains in position as chief executive.

Nedgroup Investments

The asset manager has hired Apiramy Jeyarajah as chief commercial officer for its international business.

She is based in London.

Before joining Nedgroup Investments, Jeyarajah was head of UK wholesale distribution at Aviva Investors and the head of financial institutions for UK and Israel at HSBC Global Asset Management.

Suntera Global

Anne Baggesen has announced she is stepping down from her role as managing director of the firm’s private wealth division.

She said via a Linkedin post: “I am going to taking a break for a few months before I decide what I should venture into and explore what new opportunities are out there for me.”

Baggesen has spent 19 years at Suntera Global.

PKB

The private banking company has named Alfonso Rivolta as group head of wealth solutions.

He joins the bank from EFG, where he was global head of wealth planning.

Bank of Singapore

Ranjit Khanna has joined the bank as chief executive of its Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) branch and global market head of the Middle East, subject to regulatory approval.

He was most recently the chief executive of the Singapore office of Union Bancaire Privee as well as its head of private banking for south Asia.

Khanna is a replacement for Alexandre Lotfi as chief executive of the DIFC branch, who is relocating to Singapore to continue in his other role as global chief risk officer.

Meanwhile, Vikram Malhotra, who previously oversaw the business growth of the DIFC branch from Singapore, will now focus on expanding the bank’s coverage of the non-resident Indian segment across Asia as global market head of south Asia.

Julius Baer

Marco Parroni, currently head of global brand partnerships and sponsoring, has been promoted to chief marketing officer at the bank.

Parroni joined Julius Baer in 2013.

Antje Hembd will succeed Parroni as head of global brand partnerships and sponsoring.

Also, the private banking group has expanded its operation in Brazil with the hiring of a team from Grimper Capital.

The team that will join Julius Baer Brazil during the course of April includes:

• Sylvio Castro, founder, and main partner at Grimper Capital. He will be responsible for all the relationship managers at Julius Baer Brazil and hold the title of head of client management Brazil;
• André Szasz is a partner at Grimper Capital; and
• João Freitas is the third partner at Grimper Capital.

Other senior members of the Grimper Capital team who will join Julius Baer Brazil include Mariam Dayoub, Alexandre Mastrocinque, Sidney Uejima, Thiago Marchiore, Rafael Ribeiro, and Vito Ferreira.

Asset Co

Gary Collins has stepped down from his role as head of distribution at the wealth and asset management consolidator, according to a Linkedin post.

He joined the firm in July 2021 from Columbia Threadneedle Investments, where he was head of distribution for Emea and Latin America.

Weatherbys

The private banking group has hired Maya Lewis and Anthony Rawlinson as private bankers.

Lewis was previously at Investec, where she worked with a focus on sports and entertainment clients.

Rawlinson previously served as a discretionary portfolio manager at Coutts and head of private banking for Standard Chartered in Abu Dhabi.

Robeco

Ralf Oberbannscheidt has been appointed as global head of thematic investing at the asset manager.

In this role, he will oversee the teams and further development of the active thematic investing offering.

Oberbannscheidt joins from Global Thematic Partners, New York (GTP), of which he was a founding partner and portfolio manager.

The insurance group has named Jeremy Porter as group chief risk officer.

He joins FWD from Axa, where he was chief risk officer, Hong Kong and Macau.

Porter succeeds Niall Grady, who had been serving as interim group chief risk officer as well as group chief compliance officer since April 2022.

Grady will remain in his role of group chief compliance officer and will report to Porter.

Amundi

The asset manager has bolstered its managerial teams in Europe.

Cinzia Tagliabue has been appointed chairman of Amundi Italy’s board of directors, Gabriele Tavazzani named chief executive of Amundi in Italy, and Franck Du Plessi appointed chief executive of Amundi in Austria.

Novia Global

David Field has been promoted to director of proposition and development at the platform, according to his Linkedin profile.

He was previously director of business management and IT.

IWP

The UK advice consolidator has announced David Inglesfield left the firm on 31 December when his role as chair of IWP Investments came to an end.

Inglesfield was previously chief executive of IWP.

IWP has not named his replacement as chair of IWP Investments yet.

LGT Wealth Management

The wealth manager has appointed Adam Burniston as lead portfolio manager of its model portfolio service (MPS).

Previously a portfolio manager at Sanlam, formerly Thesis Asset Management, he managed a range of multi-manager MPS propositions, multiple private fund-of-funds and was head of the investment risk committee.

Evelyn Partners

The wealth management and professional services group has hired David Rankin as managing partner covering its Edinburgh and Aberdeen offices.

Rankin joins Evelyn Partners from Investec’s Edinburgh office, where he was most recently senior wealth planning director.

Julius Baer

The private banking group has expanded in its Swiss home market and has formed a new sub-market for the regions of Aargau and Solothurn.

As of 1 January 2023, Claude Luethi joined Julius Baer as head of this market, which he will build up and manage from Zurich, and also Josef Zellweger started at Julius Baer to set up an area for advising Swiss non-profit foundations.

Luethi joins Julius Baer from Credit Suisse Switzerland, where he had held various specialist and management positions in private banking since 2002. Zellweger was previously at Credit Suisse Switzerland, where he was most recently as head of partnerships, foundations and acquisitions for six years.

Close Brothers Asset Management (CBAM)

Simon Long has joined the wealth firm as an investment director.

He joins from Investec Wealth & Investment, where he predominantly managed investments for advisers and private clients within a variety of wrappers.

BlackRock

The fund management giant has named James Raby as Apac head of wealth.

Holding more than 15 years’ experience at the firm including leadership roles across strategy, corporate development, finance and audit in London, San Francisco, New York and Hong Kong.

Nedbank Private Wealth

The wealth firm has made four appointments to its private banking team as part of a planned expansion in its Jersey office.

Richard Tribe has been appointed as a senior private banker and brings more than 35 years’ experience in the offshore financial industry.

Supporting Tribe will be Matt Gollop, who has joined the team as a private banking officer. He is experienced in working with private clients and intermediaries both locally and internationally.

Paul Treacy has been appointed as a corporate trustee relationship manager. He has more than 30 years’ experience working for major financial institutions in Jersey and will be focusing on managing and growing the business’s trust and corporate book.

Laura Love has also joined the team as a senior private banking officer. Love has 25 years’ experience in financial services, having worked previously as a relationship manager and private banker.

Rothschild & Co

The financial services firm has appointed Richard Brass to its UK wealth management business as a managing director.

He will lead a client adviser team and is joined by former colleague Becky Orme as an assistant director.

Brass was Berenberg’s UK head of wealth and asset management.

Orme began her career at Berenberg in 2010 in mid office operations and client services; since 2018 she has worked as an investment adviser to ultra-high net worth private clients based in the UK and the Channel Islands.

Lombard Odier

The Swiss private banking group has hired Rogerio Zanin and Juliana Lage to its office in São Paulo.

Zanin joins Lombard Odier from Julius Baer Family Office, where he headed the commercial area and was part of the executive committee. Lage also joins Lombard Odier from Julius Baer Family Office, where she held the position of senior relationship manager.

Dynamic Planner

The risk-based financial planning tech provider has appointed Michael Whitfield as chair.

He founded Thomson Online Benefits in 2000, which he led for 17 years as chief executive.

Leo Wealth

The wealth firm has hired Vivian Hu as managing director and senior client adviser, effective 3 January.

Hu started her career in wealth management in New York, before moving to Hong Kong in 2019 to join Pictet Wealth Management.

VG

The financial services provider has made six promotions within its private wealth team.

Christie Barette has been promoted to senior manager.

James Amos, who joined VG in 2018, has been promoted to manager.

Also, Charlotte Manby has been promoted to assistant manager, Tommy Ling and Tyler Hine to trust officer and Jonathan Chamberlain to trust administrator.

Step

The global professional association for practitioners who specialise in family inheritance and succession planning has named Tony Pitcher as chair,

He is chair of the Jersey Board of Altum Group.

Pitcher qualified as a chartered accountant in 1986 and over the course of his career has worked for PwC, EY, RBC and Barclays Wealth before joining Altum Group in 2014.

Old Mill

The wealth manager has hired tax specialist David Gage as partner and head of VAT.

He joins from Evelyn Partners, where he was director of VAT.

Alex Picot Trust

The trust company has promoted Solange Rebours to the board position of operations director.

Rebours joined Alex Picot Trust in 2002 as part of the acquisition of the trust company that she had worked for since 1985.

June Wong has been named as chief executive of the asset manager.

Wong joined Value Partners in October 2021 and she most recently served as the group’s president.

She was appointed as an executive director of the board of Value Partners on 24 January 2022.

Nutmeg

Chief executive Neil Alexander has left the digital wealth manager one year after its acquisition by JP Morgan Chase.

Alexander succeeded Martin Stead as the firm’s top boss in January 2020, having previously been joint chief financial officer and chief operating officer.

A filing from Companies House, published Thursday, shows he was terminated as a director on 30 April 2022. According to his Linkedin profile, he is “taking a break” and has been self-employed since June.

Sanjiv Somani, head of Chase’s international consumer business in the UK, will now take on responsibility for Nutmeg.

He will continue to work closely with chief operating officer Matt Gatrell, chief investment officer James McManus and chief risk and compliance officer Darragh Geraghty on the day-to-day running of the Nutmeg business, a spokesperson told our sister publication Portfolio Adviser.

Brooks Macdonald International

Matthew Wintour has been promoted to head of intermediaries of the wealth manager

Wintour was previously head of adviser solutions – a role he has held at Brooks Macdonald International for over three years.

Quilter

The financial services giant has hired Jenny Davidson as head of strategic propositions.

She has responsibility for defining the over-arching proposition for Quilter’s platform and investment solutions.

Davidson joins Quilter after more than a decade at Abrdn/Standard Life. Most recently, she held the role of global head of wealthtech solutions and prior to that was head of platform investment solutions.

AXA Investment Managers

Laurent Caillot has been named as global chief operating officer, effective 1 September 2022.

Caillot is currently global head of technology and operations.

He will take over from Godefroy de Colombe, who will pursue a career in a different professional sector.

Newton Investment Management

The BNY Mellon Investment Management subsidiary has bolstered its multi-asset senior leadership team with the appointments of Paul Flood as head of mixed assets investment, and Hilary Meades as head of charities investment.

This follows the decision by Rob Stewart, current head of multi-asset balanced and charities, to retire later this year, and will see Newton separating the leadership of its mixed assets and charities investment capabilities.

Flood, who is currently lead manager of the BNY Mellon Multi-Asset Income Fund and BNY Mellon Multi-Asset Diversified Return Fund, will assume Stewart’s responsibilities as lead manager of the BNY Mellon Multi-Asset Growth Fund on 1 July.

He will also join the management team of the BNY Mellon Multi-Asset Balanced Fund and BNY Mellon Multi-Asset Global Balanced Fund, working with lead manager Simon Nichols.

Meades will be responsible as head of charities investment for leading on the investments of Newton’s charities investment team and for managing the team of other portfolio managers focused on those investments.

Nedbank Private Wealth International

The wealth manager has promoted Simon Prescott to head of wealth planning, according to his Linkedin profile.

He will be based in London.

Prescott was previously a senior wealth planner at the firm.

Time Investments

The investment firm has hired Tom Hardy as regional business development Manager for the east of England.

He was previously at Seven Investment Management.

Rupert Bloomfield takes on the role of regional business development manager for the south east, having spent four years at Octopus.

Gareth Perry has been appointed as regional business development manager for the south west, having had similar roles at Seven Investment Management and Zurich.

Oliver Papa has been promoted to regional business development manager south central, having been in an office-based business development role at Time for four years.

Harriet Warren has been hired from Seven Investment Management in a business development role focusing on the London region.

Finally, Amy Henderson has joined Time as strategic partnerships manager from BNY Mellon Investment Management, where she spent three and a half years working within the strategic partnerships team.

Avellemy

The UK asset manager has appointed Paul Nathan as non-executive chair of its board, effective immediately.

He has held senior positions at companies including Railpen, where he was chief operating officer of investments, and Old Mutual Global Investors, where he was the was chief operating officer and director on the UK asset management board and all fund boards across the UK, Ireland and Cayman.

Nathan’s appointment follows Steve Lloyd’s promotion to managing director and Graham Bentley’s appointment as chief investment officer in January 2022.

The acquisition, which is subject to regulatory approvals, will strengthen Suntera Global’s offering as well as extend its reach with an operation in Guernsey.

Nedgroup Trust has a 70-strong team across the Channel Islands, with 50 of those based in Guernsey, and supports an international client base including in South Africa.

Currently owned by Nedbank Private Wealth, Nedgroup Trust provides a range of services to high net worth, ultra-high net worth individuals, family offices and owner managed businesses.

The Nedgroup Trust team will add expertise to Suntera Global’s existing office in Jersey and the firm’s wider international footprint in Cayman, the Bahamas, the Isle of Man, Luxembourg, Malta, Hong Kong and Switzerland.

‘Exciting plans’

David Hudson, group chief executive of Suntera Global, said: “This acquisition will strengthen our current service offering, enhance our Channel Islands’ capability and expand our reach to an additional jurisdiction.

“Nedgroup Trust combines strong operational expertise with building lasting relationships and providing a personal, flexible and tailored service – attributes that align perfectly with our own emphasis on creating a high-quality international business established on a strong platform delivering sustainable, responsible growth.”

Stuart Cummins, chief executive of Nedbank Private Wealth, added: “Under the new ownership of Suntera Global, our trust company clients will have access to enhanced global structuring capabilities.

“Once completed, this transaction will also provide continuity of service to our clients from their existing client teams in Guernsey and Jersey, together with certainty of employment and career opportunities for our people.

“We have exciting plans for the Nedbank Private Wealth business as we continue to provide investment advice, wealth planning, lending and banking services to our clients, through our wealth management teams in Jersey, Isle of Man, UK and Dubai, together with our group wealth management operations in South Africa.”

Polygamy is currently legal in South Africa, under certain conditions, but only applies to men.

A husband can lawfully marry another woman under the country’s Recognition of Customary Marriages Act (RCMA), but permission needs to be given by a competent court.

Former South African president Jacob Zuma, for instance, currently has four legally-recognised wives.

Financial advice can be fairly complicated when dealing with one spouse and one family, but what needs to be done when there are more to take into account?

International Adviser spoke with Tracy Muller, head of fiduciary advice at Nedbank to understand how estate planning needs to adapt to cater to polygamous clients, their wives, and respective families.

Human rights issue

Muller said that estate planning should always start with five objectives:

• Structuring wealth optimally;
• Planning for significant life events;
• Factoring in the financial impact of death,
• Making provisions for the cost of dying; and,
• Having a valid and up-to-date Will.

Marital status is incredibly significant in this process as it determines the “proprietary rights of each spouse in respect of assets held and responsibilities for any liabilities incurred”, Muller said.

But before the RCMA came into force in November 2000, women were not entitled to such rights.

Muller said: “Polygamous customary marriages entered into before 15 November 2000 were still governed by often archaic, discriminatory and patriarchal customary laws. Under these laws, women had no rights of ownership since property ownership and control became the sole purview of the husband, including for purposes of divorce and death.

“The court in Ramuhovhi and Others v President of the Republic of South Africa and Others 2018, therefore, found the provision to be constitutionally invalid based on it limiting the right to human dignity of, and unfairly discriminating against, women in these customary marriages on the basis of gender, race and ethnic or social origin.

“The court directed that the provision be amended within a 24-month period and ordered that, in the interim, wives in polygamous customary marriages entered into before 15 November 2000 should enjoy equal ownership rights in matrimonial property between each of them and their husband.”

Amendments

An updated version of the RCMA came into effect on 1 June 2021, and Muller says that its marks a “significant step towards equality for women in South Africa”.

It sets out that in any polygamous marriage, regardless of whether it was entered into before 15 November 2000, spouses have joint and equal ownership and rights to, as well as management and control over, marital property.

This includes houses, family, and personal property.

Muller added: “It is also worth noting that the Green Paper on Marriages in South Africa was published for public comment by 30 June 2021. The green paper aims to work towards the development of a new Single Marriage Bill and will align the country’s marriage regime with the constitutional principle of equality, as well as modern social dynamics.

“Specifically, the green paper proposes to fill the gaps in the current legislation relating to religious marriages such as the Hindu, Muslim and other customary marriages that are practised in some African or royal families.

“It will also deal with polyandrous marriages – a marriage of a woman to two or more men at the same time – as well as the solemnisation and registration of customary marriages that involve non-citizens especially cross-border communities or citizens of neighbouring countries.”

Access or lack there of

When a husband applies to the court to enter into an additional marriage, and if successful, the court is required to end his existing matrimonial property system to make sure that all spouses are entitled to a fair distribution of assets and property.

But this comes with problems, Muller said.

“In practice, most parties who enter into customary marriages are indigent people who are based in areas where there are issues of inaccessibility to courts, [As a result], the subsequent marriage would not be void but regarded as a marriage out of community of property.

“This could give rise to inequality where, for example, only the first wife is married in a more beneficial property regime, while the rest of the wives are out of community of property. It is, therefore, important for the husband and the further wives to understand these consequences.”

If this is the case, Muller explained, the husband is usually advised to place the subsequent wives in the position they would have been had their marriages complied with the RCMA requirements.

Muller said that this could be done, for example, by:

• Taking out appropriate life insurance cover payable to the subsequent wives, which should qualify for the spousal deduction for estate duty purposes; and/or,
• Making donations of his share of the joint estate to the subsequent wives during his lifetime, which should not be subject to any donations tax or capital gains tax. It should be kept in mind, however, that the consent of the first wife, if married in community of property, may be required in this instance.

Case study

But one of the most important tools in estate planning is having a valid and up-to-date Will.

“A Will can assist a testator/testatrix in controlling how assets are to be distributed after death and recording wishes in respect of the well-being of family and dependants when they are no longer there.

“If a person dies without a valid Will, they automatically forfeit this freedom of deciding what should happen to the estate. For example, where the husband has provided a house for each wife, as well as a family home; each wife will enjoy, jointly with the husband, equal rights of ownership in respect of her own particular house and the property therein.

“In respect of the family home, the ownership rights vest in all the wives and their husband jointly. On the death of the husband, the total value of his share in all the households and the common property will be included in his estate.

“The wives should each be able to claim for maintenance. In addition, in terms of intestate succession rules and assuming that the husband is survived by his wives and descendants, the wives will each inherit either an amount of ZAR250,000 (£12,500, $17,071, €14,500) or a child’s share – the equal portion the descendant of the deceased would have inherited – whichever amount is greater.

“The remainder will then be inherited by the descendants per stirpes and with representation.

“This may result in the household with the least number of descendants receiving the least share of the estate, whereas the household with the most descendants receiving the lion’s share of the estate.”

In this case, if all parties agree, they can enter into a redistribution agreement. But if that is not possible, it could result in forced sale of assets to settle the claims.

Trusts

Muller added that, even though life assurance may be used in this scenario to ensure that the respective families receive a fair share of the estate after death, the importance of a Will is evident.

“It would, therefore, be recommended for the husband to draw up a valid Will in terms of which he bequeaths his shares in the respective households in such a way that property belonging to a particular household remains in that family.

“This may be done either by nominating the specific wife of each household as the heir thereof or providing for a testamentary trust to be established after death to take over ownership of the husband’s shares in the event of his death.

“An alternative could be for the husband to establish a trust for purposes of holding his shares, during his lifetime. In that instance, at his death, the shares would not form part of his estate. The advantages of utilising a trust as an ownership option should then be weighed up against the cost thereof – both in terms of the initial transfer of assets as well as ongoing expenses.”

Tax

But making sure that everybody gets their share is not the only worry people should have when it comes to estate planning.

When the husband dies, all the wives need to understand whether they would qualify for tax relief on capital gains tax (CGT) and estate duty.

For CGT, the primary residence would receive a ZAR2m exemption; but the husband would have needed to choose which property is regarded as his primary residence.

When it comes to estate duty, Muller said that the deduction “should be allowed to the extent that assets devolve on any of the wives”.

“In addition, a primary abatement of ZAR3.5m should be allowed. In this regard, a roll-over of any unused estate duty abatement to the surviving spouse should apply. However, such amount should be apportioned between the total number of the spouses to determine the roll-over amount to be used for the deceased.

“In other words, a deceased spouse will be entitled to her primary abatement of ZAR3.5m, plus any remaining primary abatement of her predeceased spouse, divided by the number of her predeceased spouse’s surviving spouses.

“Spouses in a polygamous customary marriage should ensure that their estate is structured optimally for both during and after their lifetime. The mechanism to achieve this is a properly structured and well considered estate plan.

“This will ensure that the intended people benefit from their wealth in the correct proportions in order to avoid disputes amongst the households, as well as prevent assets (such as immovable property) having to be sold to cover estate expenses,” Muller added.