The ombudsman has named Abby Thomas as chief executive and chief ombudsman.

She currently works for Virgin Media O2, where she leads its B2B transformation programme. Thomas will take up the role at FOS in the autumn.

Thomas replaces Nausicaa Delfas, who will stay on as interim chief executive and chief ombudsman until the autumn.

PraxisIFM

The financial services firm has hired Nathan Taylor as associate director of the UAE office.

Taylor was previously associate director at BKS Family Office in Jersey.

Canaccord Genuity Wealth Management

Sue Tummon has been named as sales development manager at the UK wealth manager, according to her Linkedin profile.

She was previously sales support officer at CGWM UK.

GBST

The fintech firm has hired Bryan Beeston as regional sales executive of Emea in a bid to bolster its UK business development team.

Before joining GBST, he spent six years at Dunstan Thomas as business development director, where he was responsible for new client acquisition and supporting product innovation.

EQ Investors

The wealth manager has appointed Luke Powell as head of Sales for its sustainable DFM business.

He joins from JM Finn, where he has been business development manager for the last three years.

Tilney Smith & Williamson

The wealth management and professional services group has appointed Adrian Lowcock as investment communications director.

He was most recently head of personal investing at Wills Owen.

Julius Baer International

Nick West has been named as the firm’s first head of learning and development for the UK and Guernsey.

West was previously the head of learning and innovation at UK Finance.

Gam Investments

The asset manager has recruited Christian Zeitler as head of Switzerland wholesale distribution.

He will join the firm on 1 September 2022.

Zeitler was previously head of sales at ResponsAbility Investments in Zurich.

Carmignac

Marnix van den Berge has been named head of the Benelux distribution team at the asset manager.

He will oversee the business development teams for Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands.

Van den Berge joins Carmignac from Capital Group, where he led the distribution efforts in Benelux and the Nordics since 2014 and then took additional responsibility for France in 2016.

He is based in Luxembourg.

On 25 May, the wealth manager ‘re-launched’ the investment platform, which has been re-imagined as a hybrid digital service “aimed at supporting the UK’s growing ranks of DIY investors”.

The pandemic saw an influx of first-time traders come into the market, as lockdown restrictions left people stuck at home looking for ways to redirect their excess cash, and platforms have been looking to capitalise on this trend.

During a press briefing at Tilney S&W’s new London headquarters, chief executive Chris Woodhouse said the relaunch sets the business up to take advantage of the convergence of digital trading and face-to-face customer relationships in the wealth management space.

Clients will still be able to choose investments from thousands of funds, investment trusts, ETFs and shares held on the platform. But they will now have unlimited access to investment ‘coaches’ free of charge.

The coaches, all of whom are qualified financial planners, are there to help clients with an array of topics, spanning best practices for how to invest, key cash-flow planning decisions and thinking about investment goals.

For those requiring personalised advice, “bite-sized” advice packages are available for a one-off fixed fee. This includes a £295 “investing for your goals” offering, which includes advice on selecting ready-made portfolios and asset allocation, or a £495 ($625, €591) “portfolio health check”.

Bestinvest’s new website, which is now live, also contains digital tools to help savers monitor their progress against their investment goals.

Closing the advice gap

Woodhouse said the revamp is designed to help the 13.2 million people currently being underserved by the wealth management industry.

“It is estimated that there are 9.2 million people in the UK who already have some form of long-term savings but who are not getting professional advice and have low confidence in their investment knowledge. A further four million people are estimated to have excess cash savings that they would be willing to invest, but many just don’t know who to turn to,” he said.

“This is an important strategic initiative for us that offers great value for existing DIY investors while also enabling us to support less confident savers, consistent with our corporate purpose of placing the power of good advice into more hands.”

Guidance vs advice

Bestinvest stressed there is a clear ring-fence around its coaches to distinguish them from the army of financial advisers and wealth management professionals at the wider Tilney S&W business.

“We have done hundreds and hundreds of these,” Oliver Plant, head of Bestinvest proposition, said of the coaching sessions. “We ran a six-month pilot – loads of scrutiny, compliance partners in the room. We haven’t had a single person that said I think you gave me advice when you didn’t or when you didn’t think so.”

The coaches themselves have gone through extensive training and competency assessments to make sure there is no confusion with the end client, Simonetta Rigo chief marketing officer, added.

“We have done a lot of work with our coaching team and compliance team to not use jargon around guidance versus regulated financial advice.

“What we explain to them at the beginning of the call is a coaching conversation tells you what you could be doing, an advice conversation tells you what you should be doing.”

However, asked whether he was concerned about receiving complaints from clients not appreciating the guidance/advice distinction, Woodhouse admits to being “worried about it”.

“I’m realistic about it. We deal with millions of people; you’re going to get complaints and things aren’t always going to work. Hopefully it will work the vast majority of the time, but you’ll get the odd Mr Angry from Tunbridge Wells as I’m sure we all do.”

Why Bestinvest is keeping its branding

Unlike the rest of the businesses under the Tilney S&W umbrella, Bestinvest will keep its branding when the company is renamed Evelyn Partners this summer.

Rigo said the decision for Bestinvest to retain a separate identity was driven chiefly by customer feedback.

“We did a piece of customer strategy with an extensive market segmentation and it was very clear the mindset of the self-directed investor differs very greatly from people who need support in managing their wealth,” she said.

“It is a household brand,” Plant said, “and it works well for search engine optimisation, helping clients find us, so I think it would probably be more value destroying to change it.”

For more insight on UK wealth management, please click on www.portfolio-adviser.com

Of the 2,000 UK adults surveyed by the DIY platform, the vast majority (89%) of those holding assets used a goal while investing.

For most (77%), this was either retiring early or being able to fund a more comfortable retirement alongside their state pension.

Other goals included greater financial security (40%); boosting lifestyle ahead of retirement (26%); paying for future costs such as weddings, holidays, school or university fees (23%), and building up wealth to pass on to the next generation (20%).

Alice Haine, personal finance analyst at Bestinvest, said: “It’s great to see that people are pairing their investment strategies with their life goals, as a number of academic studies have also found that individuals with clear goals are significantly more likely to do better financially than those who do not.”

Engagement

Surprisingly, 39% of people polled did not hold any investments at all, while 40% said they don’t regularly check how their assets are performing or even consider changing allocation.

Bestinvest also discovered a significant gender imbalance. While both men and women strongly believe that having a goal in mind helps getting better result, women are noticeably less likely to check if they’re on track to achieving their desired outcomes – with 57% of them keeping track compared with 72% of men.

A similar trend is also true according to age, as people over the age of 45 are less likely to check the performance of their investments – a critical time since many may be retiring soon.

Haine added: “It’s concerning that female investors and older generations are choosing to pay less attention to their investments than their younger counterparts. Women are more often vulnerable to pension poverty as they have less money squirrelled away than men either because of the gender pay gap or because they have taken time out of their careers to care for children or loved ones. Learn more about good investment options at by reading this Advantage Gold reviews.

“Therefore, it is key that they get their money working harder for them to secure a better future.

“For older investors, monitoring their money and investments is also imperative as they need to make sure they are not only diversifying their portfolio in the most tax-efficient way in the run-up to retirement and post-retirement, but also have enough set aside to cover all their financial needs once they stop working.”

The financial terms of the deals were not disclosed.

Both businesses, currently based in Coates Crescent in Edinburgh, provide financial planning, retirement and investment planning services to individuals, families, businesses and trustees.

Capital Risk Management directors Grant Walker and Willie Crockett, as well as eight staff, will move into TSW’s office in Edinburgh.

John Mortimer of Edinburgh-based MP2 Financial will also be joining TSW as part of the move.

‘Considerable interest’

Richard Dawes, head of strategic partnerships at TSW, said: “The agreements we have reached with the teams at Capital Risk Management and MP2 Financial Limited represent the third and fourth deals as part of our succession programme for financial advisers approaching retirement.

“We have had considerable interest in the scheme since we launched it late last year and invite other advisers who have built their own businesses who are starting to think about their own succession planning to get in touch.

“The programme allows firms to benefit from the significant investments we have made in recent years to our proposition and technology, while also providing a great new home for their clients through an orderly transition.”

This comes several months after TSW acquired IFA firm FP Solutions as part of the succession programme.

The wealth group has hired Neil Coxhead as chief executive of its host authorised corporate director (ACD) and fund administration business.

He joins from asset management servicing group Waystone where he was managing director.

Coxhead succeeds James Gordon who will retire at the end of July 2022 after 16 years at the firm.

GBST

Kirsty Worgan has re-joined the global technology and digital solutions provider, this time as chief commercial officer.

She was previously at Smart Pensions where she held a similar role.

Worgan worked for GBST between 2007 and 2014 as head of business development for Emea.

Stonehage Fleming

The international family office has made two senior appointments in its Jersey division.

Bruce Sinclair has taken on the role of trustee director, having worked at Standard Bank since 2017 as head of legal for the trust and fiduciary services arm.

Richard Stride has been promoted to head of family office. He joined the group in 2007 and was head of the family office division in Johannesburg before moving to the Jersey office in 2017.

Kingsley Napley

UK-based law firm Kingsley Napley has made several promotions across its business.

Lauren Evans becomes a partner within the family and divorce team after joining the company in 2010.

Laura Sylvester has been promoted to partner within the medical negligence and personal injury division. She joined in 2011.

Kim Vowden takes on the role of partner within the immigration team after seven years at the law firm.