French Nexus clients are those that have a financial interest in both the UK and France, or French-speaking parts of Europe. There are an estimated 250,000 French nationals living in the UK and 139,000 British citizens living in France.

The newly formed French Nexus team will be led by Gwenolé Le Blevennec and will consist of private bankers Jeremy de Lagarde, Laure Gazzolo, Jerome Giet, Jean Olivari, Cécile Viera and Jenny Willison.

In addition to private banking services, the French Nexus business in partnership with Societe Generale can offer clients a range of services, including property, wine investments and vineyard banking, art, lifestyle interests and passion investing. Clients will also be able to receive verbal investment services in French or English as desired.

Olivier Paccalin, deputy head of Societe Generale Private Banking, said: “As part of the dynamic expansion of Societe Generale Private Banking throughout Europe, this represents an important step for our business and an opportunity to better serve our clients, while exceeding their expectations. By addressing one of the largest private banking markets in the world, we will capitalise on growing interest in French and British property, assets and investment.”

Derek Hammond, head of private banking and commercial director at SG Kleinwort Hambros, added: “Our objective is to help clients simplify their financial challenges by helping them manage their wealth and interests based between the UK, France and further abroad. As part of Societe Generale Private Banking, we have brought together the very best people, expertise and service for our French Nexus clients.”

This comes several weeks after Mouhammed Choukeir, chief executive at SG Kleinwort Hambros, told International Adviser that the firm is looking to focus on three target segments which are entrepreneurs, French Nexus, and external asset managers.

The rebrand brought “together two centuries of British and European heritage with a modern entrepreneurial culture”.

Mouhammed Choukeir, chief executive at SG Kleinwort Hambros, told International Adviser: “The first thing we wanted to do was to really celebrate the deep heritage that Societe Generale and Kleinwort Hambros have over centuries.

“The organisations have existed for many years with deep roots that have made an impact on society, to economies and to clients over those years. In fact, our vision is to become a leading responsible bank for client service and expertise. We also wanted to achieve a second objective, which is to really modernise the brand and position it for the future.

“We like to think of ourselves as an entrepreneurial organisation with deep roots. Or, to put it another way, a start-up with 200 years of experience is the way we characterise ourselves.”

Sale rumours

The rebrand brushes aside any rumours that parent company Societe Generale (SG) wants to sell the UK wealth manager.

In 2020, IA reported that French banking giant had scrapped plans to sell then-named Kleinwort Hambros after allegedly failing to attract suitable offers.

Choukeir said: “We’re very much an integral part of Societe Generale. We work very closely with them to do a better job for our clients, but also to really enhance the staff experience.

“We’re an important part of an organisation that has a strong reputation for being a leader in its respective sectors.

“We’re proud of that, to be honest, and helps us with what we want to achieve, which is to simplify life’s financial challenges for our clients.”

Growth strategy

In terms of the rebrand, SG Kleinwort Hambros has three areas of growth for the future.

Choukeir added: “The target segments that we’re focusing on are entrepreneurs, French Nexus, and external asset managers.

“The entrepreneurs segment is an established book that we have been able to serve for many years. It’s about sitting in front of them and in looking at their end-to-end requirements, such as banking, lending, investment management, we can help them derive a lot of value from what we can do for them. That’s a sector that has inevitably got good growth potential and provides an opportunity for us to add value.

“French Nexus is naturally playing to our strengths as an organisation, given the SG link and presence in different jurisdictions in the French Nexus markets of France, Switzerland, Monaco and Luxembourg.

“We would work with clients that may need multiple booking centres and or multiple solutions.”

EAM

External asset management, also known as independent asset management, is a big sector in places like Asia and Switzerland.

EAMs are private wealth management companies that provide bespoke asset management services to high net worth and ultra-high net worth clients.

Choukeir believes the UK’s EAM market is set for a boom.

He added: “We have a proposition that we feel is valuable for our clients, but the question is whether it could be helpful for other financial institutions and their clients. That’s really part of our growth plan.

“I think the UK market has the potential for growth in that area, but equally EAMs that are multi booking centres as well. We have an opportunity to support them.

“I do think that the sector has growth potential, particularly in its proximity to the client. Some of these EAMs know their clients extremely well, and clearly, we would need to work with them on that client book, but what they are looking for help with is the ability to deliver value to those clients.

“We have a tried and tested model that they can benefit from. I think the growth is there in the market, but it’s for us to hopefully deliver on it. If there is an EAM that is looking for us to help, over time we’ll strengthen that relationship as their business grows.”

Nausicaa Delfas will become chief executive of The Pensions Regulator, effective from the end of March 2023.

She currently serves as executive director for governance at the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), and she also was interim chief executive and chief ombudsman at the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS).

Societe Generale

SocGen has promoted Bertrand Cozzarolo to head of Societe Generale private banking, effective from 1 February 2023.

He is currently head of sales and marketing of Societe Generale banking in France, and has been with the group for 19 years.

Additionally, Olivier Paccalin and Mathieu Vedrenne will become deputy heads of Societe Generale private baking while also maintaining their current responsibilities as head of sales and solutions and head of private banking France, respectively.

HSBC

HSBC has hired Caroline Bong as head of private banking credit risk for Singapore and southeast Asia.

She was most recently senior director and head of credit structuring for Singapore at Indosuez Wealth Management.

Investec Wealth & Investment

Pela Strataki has taken on the role of head of research at the wealth arm of Investec in London.

She joins from Architas where she led the AXA Group unit linked investment oversight function.

Attivo

The financial planning business has made two senior hires.

Steven Pennington and Stephen Heylings become financial planning director and finance director, respectively.

Pennington is based and London and joins from WH Ireland where he was head of wealth planning.

Heylings previously worked with FTSE 100 companies and SMEs.

Head of multi asset David Millar is going to retire at the end of March 2023 after 10 years in the role at the investment firm.

From January 2023, Goergina Taylor will take over as head of the multi asset team and Clive Emery will become head of multi asset strategies.

Julius Baer

The Swiss-headquartered wealth firm has made five senior appointments within its Americas team.

Lucas Rizzi has taken on on the role of chief technology office and joins from Itau Private Bank, where he was head of customer digital experience.

Greice Rabelo has been named as a senior relationship manager, she was previously at BNP Paribas, where she worked as head of private bank Belo Horizonte.

Antonio Monteiro also joined as a senior relationship manager from ASA Investments, where he was responsible for single and multi-family offices.

Laura Drummond and Kevin Liu have both become relationship managers, having previously worked at XP Investimentos and Messem Investimentos, respectively.

Societe Generale

Investment banking boss Slawomir Krupa has been promoted to chief executive of the French banking group.

He will succeed Frederic Oudea, who is due to step down next year.

Krupa has been at the French bank since 1996 and in his current role since January 2021.

STM Group

The cross-border product provider has named Therese Nash as interim chief financial officer.

She will also join the board on an interim basis for 12 months, as Nicole Coll steps down at the end of October 2022

Nash was STM’s chief financial officer between 2014 and 2021.

JM Finn

The UK-based wealth management firm has recruited Rob Deverell as chief operating officer.

He was previously at Rothschild Wealth Management, where he most recently served in a similar position.

LV=

The UK mutual insurer has promoted Adam Ruddle to chief investment officer.

He was previously a senior investment manager at the firm.

Novia Financial

Amira Norris has become head of sales at the adviser platform.

Most recently, she was at Nucleus Financial, where she was head of account management.

Mirova

The Natixis IM affiliate has hired Guillaume Abel as deputy chief executive, based in Paris.

He joined from Ostrum Asset Management, where he was head of business development.

Hampden & Co

The UK-based private bank has expanded its senior management with two hires.

Kevin Eagles and Alistair Macpherson join as banking directors based in London and Edinburgh, respectively.

Eagles was previously a private banker at Wetherbys Private Bank, while Macpherson joined from Homes England, where he served as a senor manager in the structured real estate finance team.

GSB

The Dubai-headquartered wealth firm has named Lloyd Simpson as partner.

He joins from advice firm Acuma, where he spent eight years as an executive wealth manager.

The so-called ‘accidentals’ are people who have acquired US citizenship either from their parents, or by being born in the United States but leaving shortly thereafter.

American citizens living abroad are subject to the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (Fatca) which requires them and their foreign financial institutions to share their information with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

But many financial services firms are turning down applications from US citizens because they don’t want, or don’t have the capability, to comply with Fatca.

In December 2019, International Adviser revealed that Goldman Sachs’ online saving platform in the UK, Marcus by Goldman Sachs, was refusing applications from US citizens because it did not have the right processes in place to share data with the IRS, despite it being an American company.

‘Clearly discriminatory’ 

The president of the Association of Accidental Americans (AAA), Fabien Lehagre, told French newswire AFP that Boursorama, an online subsidiary of Societe Generale, claimed that it would cost too much money for the firm to comply with the US legislation.

“Yet, it spent €6m (£5.4m, $6.8m) six months ago to get Brad Pitt for an ad campaign – even though he can’t even open an account with them,” he said.

The association coordinated the legal action brought by 278 ‘accidentals’.

French lawyer Antoine Vey, who is looking after the lawsuit, said: “You can’t exclude someone because of their nationality. It’s clearly discriminatory.

“I feel like the prosecutor’s office has not understood the significance of an issue that affects nearly 10,000 people in France.”

This is not the first time the AAA takes legal action: having lost in the French top court in July 2019, which prompted the association to bring the matter to the European Council in November 2019.